SOURCE: A review of Who's That Knocking at My Door?, in The New York Times, September 9, 1969, p. 39.

Canby, long associated with The New York Times, is one of the most distinguished American film and theater critics. In the following review, a portion of which appeared in CLC-20, he praises Scorsese's eye for realistic detail, but faults him for not displaying a more sophisticated understanding of the world than that possessed by his characters.

J. R. (Harvey Keitel), a young, essentially decent Italian-American, has grown up in a comfortable New York City apartment that is protected by his mother, lit by holy candles and sanctified by china figurines of Virgin Marys who wear the wan, distant smiles of tired airline hostesses. J. R. goes to the movies—he cherishes the memory of Rio Bravo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—and he walks under marquees announcing Ulysses. Although...