King of New York (1990)

This is a fairly interesting look at a fictional New York gang led by recently released gangster Frank White (Christopher Walken). We see Walken being released from Sing Sing and being picked up in a limousine by a pair of young chicks. Concurrently with Walken's release, we see an assassination of some Latino thug while he was using a phone booth.

Meanwhile, at the Airport Travelodge, a dope deal is going sour. We learn later that the thugs that ripped off the dope are Walken's gang.

A gangster being released from prison and a pair of violent crimes, happening about the same time. That's how the film opens, and there is no real explanation except for what you can glean from watching the movie unwind. Walken is apparently somebody BIG. After his unspecified prison sentence he still gets picked up in a limousine and his apartment is a suite in the Trump Plaza Hotel. Nice digs.

Walken wants to be King of New York, and says so, however, it is a little unbelievable to think the single crime he does pull off - a $3,000,000 dope heist - catapults him into that rarified atmosphere that only someone like Scarface (or the real-life John Gotti) has breathed.

The King of New York is a movie by independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara, who is famous/notorious (pick one) for The Bad Lieutenant - Harvey Keitel's full frontal debut, at least on the big screen. Ferrara is stylish, there is no doubt about it, but the storytelling, well, it could use some work; like some backstory, for example.

Ferrara did get some excellent actors to do his characters, even though the story pretty much boiled down to a slice of life rather than having a real dramatic arc. Christopher Walken was very good as the lead character, Frank White. I didn't feel it was a challenging role for Walken, and it looked like he sleep walked through a scene a couple of times. Walken did have a nice four inch-high bouffant hairdo that must have taken a gallon of hair spray to support.

Walken's main man was Larry Fishburne, who had not yet made the splash he soon would with Boyz in the Hood. Fishburne plays the manicky two-gun Jump and his performance is the most memorable in the film. His shooting style looks like it was an homage to John Woo's work with Chow Yun Fat in the Hong Kong Gun-Fu movies like Hard Boiled.

For support, Ferrara got up and coming David Caruso and Wesley Snipes to play antagonistic cops, along with Victor Argo, their supervisor, who tries with varying success to keep them on a leash.

In the time-honored tradition of these post-Dirty Harry crime movies, it's hard to tell the cops from the bad guys, if you are going by their methods. Joey Chin plays a Goth-Oriental thug who watches old horror movies in between crimes. What happens to him is interesting, given his propensity for watching Dracula movies. Steve Buscemi also plays a bit part that would have been nice if it had been enlarged.

The Artisan Special Edition Two Disk DVD consists of separate disks for widescreen (1.85:1) and pan and scan versions of The King of New York. There are several additional features, including a 45 minute feature about the career of Abel Ferrara, by several of the crew members who have participated in Ferrara's films. The jewel in the crown as far as the extra features go, however, is a full-length director's commentary by Abel Ferrara on the widescreen disk. Gravelly-voiced Ferrara is a down-to-earth-sounding guy who gives a lot of insight into the movie as the scenes unwind.

I think it is worth watching, especially since the cinematography is gorgeous on the restored video, however, the movie definitely could have used a tighter story.

Action fans will like The King of New York for the shootouts. 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to four.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening