King Of New York. (15.)
Directed by Abel Ferrara. 1990.
Starring Christopher Walken, Larry Fishburne, Victor Argo, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Janet Julian and Steve Buscemi. 103 mins
This early 90's hippy hoppy gangster blast offers up a rarity: a Christopher Walken leading role. He may be one of the most revered, iconic and imitated actors of the last half-century but almost all his most famous roles are supports; in the 138 roles he has credited on IMDB, I'd be surprised if even twenty of them were leads. In this he is there all the way through, playing Frank White, a drug lord who heads up a predominantly black gang and is half John Gotti and half Robin Hood. Within days of getting out of prison, he has taken out all the rival gangs because he wants to give something back.
It is a double curio in being a (relatively) commercial Abel Ferrara film. Granted, it wasn't a massive hit when it came out but it's got some legacy on it. (Among the various extras you suspect that Ferrara's rather chuffed that Biggie Smalls used the name Frank White as an alias, though he refuses to show it.) It was an attempt to show that he could make a proper commercial movie. And his approach to making it commercial was to reduce it down to the Good Bits. It's a hectic montage of shoot outs, nudity and drug-taking, interrupted by just enough talking to give it a semblance of narrative.
So, Realism, you bothered about it? If your answer is not so much then you may get on with this really well. The plot has Walken waltzing out of Sing Sing prison, resuming his position at the head of the gang and, just like that, taking out all his drug trade opposition. This is usually done in bullet splattered open-air massacres. I don't know how New York was back in the late eighties, but surely if you gunned down ten to twenty people in the street, wouldn't that make the news? Cause a bit of a kerfuffle? It isn't just the wealth that is ostentatious, when it comes to firearms these guys just can't keep it in their pockets. Everybody here flaps their Uzis about like 19th century Dandy limply flailing their handkerchiefs around. I mean, I'm not a military man, but aren't those things heavy?
Maybe it's all that rampant drug use but the film doesn't seem able to stick to a single train of thought for more than 15 minutes. Character motivation drift from scene to scene and the narrative consequences of events are entirely nebulous. Walken has a romance with his posh lawyer (Julian.) Two thirds of the way through Walken outlines his plans and vision for the future to her, and then she's never seen again. We spend a lot of time with the cops who are trying to catch Frank, which is a waste. They are headed up by Caruso, an actor who seemed to have it written into his contract that no phrase may pass his lips that wasn't a cliché. So the cops, the Irish cops naturally, rail about how unfair the system is, how little they get paid and how they spend ages gathering evidence to get gangsters arrested only for their slick lawyers to get them out in ten minutes.
The worst thing is that the film's lack of focus means even Walken gets lost in the melee. He's on screen more than anyone else but he doesn't dominate, indeed he often seems strangely peripheral even when he's the centre of the scene. You'd have to gangsta dumb to believe he was credible as a crime lord but on the few occasions he is given enough room to do something he is mesmerising. The film's climax is fundamentally stupid (and possibly a rip off of the end of the Long Good Friday) but it's one of the few times the film calms down and gives Walken its full attention and he plays it beautifully, gives it way more than it deserves.
Visually the movie is an odd mix of Tony Scott and Ferrera's trademark Driller Killer/ Bad Lieutenant New York scuzz. Interiors often resemble scenes from The Hunger; exterior shoot outs are usually lit by some unidentified searchlight or take place in rain. The glossy look adds to the sense of this being an exercise in flash minimum; there's nothing to it, but they made enough of an effort to make it look good. It's surely appropriately that the film has a rap soundtrack because like most hip hop this is empty overblown melodrama passing itself off as gritty realism.
Extras.
New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Abel Ferrara and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• LPCM original stereo and remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Abel Ferrara
• Audio commentary with composer Joe Delia, producer Mary Kane, casting director Randy Sabusawa and editor Anthony Redman
• Interview with director Abel Ferrara
• Interview with producer Augusto Caminito
• Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty, a documentary on the director from the French TV show Cinéastes de notre temps
• A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara, a documentary looking back at the director’s career, including interviews with his key collaborators
• Original theatrical trailers and TV spots
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tracie Ching
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet containing essays on the film by Iain Sinclair and Abel Ferrara biographer Brad Stevens
Directed by Abel Ferrara. 1990.
Starring Christopher Walken, Larry Fishburne, Victor Argo, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Janet Julian and Steve Buscemi. 103 mins
This early 90's hippy hoppy gangster blast offers up a rarity: a Christopher Walken leading role. He may be one of the most revered, iconic and imitated actors of the last half-century but almost all his most famous roles are supports; in the 138 roles he has credited on IMDB, I'd be surprised if even twenty of them were leads. In this he is there all the way through, playing Frank White, a drug lord who heads up a predominantly black gang and is half John Gotti and half Robin Hood. Within days of getting out of prison, he has taken out all the rival gangs because he wants to give something back.
It is a double curio in being a (relatively) commercial Abel Ferrara film. Granted, it wasn't a massive hit when it came out but it's got some legacy on it. (Among the various extras you suspect that Ferrara's rather chuffed that Biggie Smalls used the name Frank White as an alias, though he refuses to show it.) It was an attempt to show that he could make a proper commercial movie. And his approach to making it commercial was to reduce it down to the Good Bits. It's a hectic montage of shoot outs, nudity and drug-taking, interrupted by just enough talking to give it a semblance of narrative.
So, Realism, you bothered about it? If your answer is not so much then you may get on with this really well. The plot has Walken waltzing out of Sing Sing prison, resuming his position at the head of the gang and, just like that, taking out all his drug trade opposition. This is usually done in bullet splattered open-air massacres. I don't know how New York was back in the late eighties, but surely if you gunned down ten to twenty people in the street, wouldn't that make the news? Cause a bit of a kerfuffle? It isn't just the wealth that is ostentatious, when it comes to firearms these guys just can't keep it in their pockets. Everybody here flaps their Uzis about like 19th century Dandy limply flailing their handkerchiefs around. I mean, I'm not a military man, but aren't those things heavy?
Maybe it's all that rampant drug use but the film doesn't seem able to stick to a single train of thought for more than 15 minutes. Character motivation drift from scene to scene and the narrative consequences of events are entirely nebulous. Walken has a romance with his posh lawyer (Julian.) Two thirds of the way through Walken outlines his plans and vision for the future to her, and then she's never seen again. We spend a lot of time with the cops who are trying to catch Frank, which is a waste. They are headed up by Caruso, an actor who seemed to have it written into his contract that no phrase may pass his lips that wasn't a cliché. So the cops, the Irish cops naturally, rail about how unfair the system is, how little they get paid and how they spend ages gathering evidence to get gangsters arrested only for their slick lawyers to get them out in ten minutes.
The worst thing is that the film's lack of focus means even Walken gets lost in the melee. He's on screen more than anyone else but he doesn't dominate, indeed he often seems strangely peripheral even when he's the centre of the scene. You'd have to gangsta dumb to believe he was credible as a crime lord but on the few occasions he is given enough room to do something he is mesmerising. The film's climax is fundamentally stupid (and possibly a rip off of the end of the Long Good Friday) but it's one of the few times the film calms down and gives Walken its full attention and he plays it beautifully, gives it way more than it deserves.
Visually the movie is an odd mix of Tony Scott and Ferrera's trademark Driller Killer/ Bad Lieutenant New York scuzz. Interiors often resemble scenes from The Hunger; exterior shoot outs are usually lit by some unidentified searchlight or take place in rain. The glossy look adds to the sense of this being an exercise in flash minimum; there's nothing to it, but they made enough of an effort to make it look good. It's surely appropriately that the film has a rap soundtrack because like most hip hop this is empty overblown melodrama passing itself off as gritty realism.
Extras.
New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Abel Ferrara and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• LPCM original stereo and remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Abel Ferrara
• Audio commentary with composer Joe Delia, producer Mary Kane, casting director Randy Sabusawa and editor Anthony Redman
• Interview with director Abel Ferrara
• Interview with producer Augusto Caminito
• Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty, a documentary on the director from the French TV show Cinéastes de notre temps
• A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara, a documentary looking back at the director’s career, including interviews with his key collaborators
• Original theatrical trailers and TV spots
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Tracie Ching
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet containing essays on the film by Iain Sinclair and Abel Ferrara biographer Brad Stevens
