films like The Last Picture Show and Five Easy Pieces. Some people advised Scorsese to let the film play in New York for a few months so it could build a reputation that would reach beyond the city. The film could then be rolled out gradually, with business bolstered by word of mouth and good reviews in each area. Scorsese would later agree that this is what he should have done, but instead he tried to open the film wide, received a few favorable reviews, and did no business over the two weeks the film played. Warner Bros. paid $750,000 to distribute the film, but the company was much more interested at the time in developing its campaign for the upcoming release of The Exorcist (Dougan 39-40).
Scorsese and Mardik Martin had written the script for Mean Streets in 1966 and spent several years trying to get backing for it, to no avail until after Scorsese had directed Boxcar Ber
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