De Niro’s first scene in Mean Streets shows him walking into a bar in slow motion to the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” It’s the first time Scorsese and De Niro worked together, and it set the foundation for one of the most important actor-director partnerships in American film. Scorsese had been impressed by De Niro’s performance in Bang the Drum Slowly and cast him as Johnny Boy, a reckless small-time hood. The energy and realism De Niro brought to the role shaped how Scorsese would app