Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)

Who’s That Knocking at My Door is director Martin Scorsese’s first widely released film. Originally titled I Call First the film contains two distinct story lines that Scorsese competently combines into a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. Both stories follow a young Italian-American in Little Italy. One story documents his interactions with his friends, the other, a beautiful young lady.


The young man, named J.R. played by a young Harvey Keitel, is quite content with the lazy life he lives with his friends. He doesn’t have a job, and when he’s not with his girlfriend played by Zina Bethune, he’s screwing around with his violent and immature friends. Most of the screen time dedicated to J.R. and his friends is spent with them yelling at each other, fighting with each other, or drinking with each other. One particular scene comes to mind as particularly disturbing. The leader of the group of friends pulls out a gun. J.R. and his friends start laughing and screwing around. The scene turns slow motion to highlight the terror that is on the face of the young man caught in a strangle hold with a gun pointed at his face. The viewer’s never quite sure if this is all a joke. Most of the characters onscreen either don’t care, or aren’t sure themselves.

Often times I asked myself “why are these guys friends.” I can’t imagine Scorsese wrote this for reasons other than the fact that that’s just how it was. J.R. seems to be a representation of Scorsese himself. Scorsese also grew up in Little Italy, and they both have a strong interest and passion for movies. The character of J.R. is the product of this environment. These scenes construct the violent, chauvinistic, and immature character of J.R. so that when we see him in the scenes with The Girl(we never find out her name), the differences are highlighted.

The first scene with J.R. and the Girl is a charming one. It’s early on in the film so we’re not sure if he really is the kind of guy he is with his friends or if this charming man chatting up a young lady about John Wayne in a French Magazine is who J.R. really is. For most of the movie, the scenes between J.R. and the Girl are very charming and enjoyable. Even their make-out scene on the bed made me believe that this was what real love and passion looks like. It was both sweet and sensuous. But again, it seems that the dynamics between J.R. and the Girl early on in the film serves as a foil to how things end up between them. It’s in his relationship with the Girl that we find what the movie is about. The emotional climax of the movie comes when the Girl confesses to J.R. that she’s not a virgin, that she was raped before they met.

This is something that J.R. can’t deal with. An earlier scene reveals J.R.’s attitudes toward women. There are girls and there are broads. Girls are virgins, broads are whores. You can’t marry a broad. The imagery throughout the film dictates a deep rooted Catholicism. The first scene of the film is one of a statuette of the Virgin Mary and there are many references throughout. He puts his girlfriend on a pedestal as the innocent virginal young woman that he believes he can marry. When his image of her is shattered he feels like he’s been betrayed and calls her liar. When he can’t forgive her into marrying him, (he believes she’s done something wrong) he outright calls her a whore.

The film is about guilt, Catholic guilt. Catholicism has led J.R. to see women as either the Virgin Mary or whores. Since no woman can possibly live up to that, all women in J.R.’s life are whores, and he treats them as such. He disrespects all real women and that is his greatest flaw and it’s one that he’ll never get over.

This film was shot in black and white and the camera work often includes long uninterrupted shots. This leads to a definite sense of realism that doesn’t shy away from awkwardness. This means that much relies on the abilities of the actors, and in this the movie does not disappoint. The acting is sound and never over the top. When a character yells a response to every muttering of his friend, it’s not because he’s overacting, it’s because his character would do that.

This film is Scorcese’s first film and I would say it was clear even then that Scorsese was going to be a force in filmmaking. This is not to say that the film was perfect, it wasn’t. Choppy editing made for a less than smooth viewing, however it doesn’t distract the viewer too much. Another detriment to the movie, a gratuitous scene representing J.R.s sexual fantasies, was required by producers to release the movie in America. Scorsese filmed it and put it in. It’s clearly a separate entity to the rest of the film. Despite any shortcomings, this film shows that Martin Scorsese has the ability to make a movie so purposefully and which such conviction that the viewer can understand exactly what the director is trying to say.

It’s a good film and a great first film. 7/10