King of New York (1990)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writer (WGA):

Nicholas St. John (written by)

Release Date:

28 September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Not everyone who runs a city is elected.

Plot:

A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Drug Lord | Hospital | New York | Chinatown

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Christopher Walken	...	Frank White
David Caruso	...	Dennis Gilley
Laurence Fishburne	...	Jimmy Jump (as Larry Fishburne)
Victor Argo	...	Roy Bishop
Wesley Snipes	...	Thomas Flanigan
Janet Julian	...	Jennifer
Joey Chin	...	Larry Wong
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Lance
Paul Calderon	...	Joey Dalesio
Steve Buscemi	...	Test Tube
Theresa Randle	...	Raye
Leonard L. Thomas	...	Blood (as Leonard Lee Thomas)
Roger Guenveur Smith	...	Tanner (as Roger Smith)
Carrie Nygren	...	Melanie
Ernest Abuba	...	King Tito

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Italy | USA | UK

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:R | France:-16 | Germany:18 | New Zealand:R16 (re-rating) (2004) | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R (re-rating on appeal) | USA:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Caminito

Trivia:

Abel Ferrara's young adopted daughter plays Wesley Snipes' daughter in the wedding sequence.

Goofs:

Continuity: In movie theater, the movie on screen is Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), but the scenes are not in the correct order.

Quotes:

Frank White: When the D.A's office investigated the sudden death of Arty Clay, they found that he left a $13 million estate. How do you explain that? There there's Larry Wong, who owned half of Chinatown when he passed away. Larry used to rent his tenements to Asian refuges...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

Soundtrack:

Am I Black Enough For You?

This Is One Mean Story

Now here's a film with a mean edge....very mean....almost too mean. If I didn't like Christopher Walken (and who doesn't?) I wouldn't have watched this low- life trash. But Walken makes the trash fashionable somehow. Plus, I always like looking at great nighttime shots of New York City.

A nice job of restoration was done on this latest two-disc DVD. The film finally looks good. This is stylishly filmed, too.

Story-wise, as mentioned, it's very rough, lots of f-words, and a simple story of a crime boss who is released from jail and is trying to reclaim his hold on the city's mob scene.

It's an interesting cast. Besides Walken is a trio of actors who wound up becoming stars: David Caruso (a TV star), Lawrence Fishburne and Wesley Snipes. All of them are nasty, too. Sometimes they make Walken look good in comparison. Unfortunately, two of those guys are cops and filmmakers love to make the cops into unlikable bad guys. They certainly are here.

So, if you're feeling ornery and want to take out some hostility without hurting anyone or anything, just flip this disc in your DVD and it should be what the doctor ordered. If you can relate to any of these people in this movie, call a minister, priest, rabbi or psychiatrist. You need help.