Today we're going to talk about one of the finest independent gangster movies ever made and another gem in the wave of gangster films that came out in the 1990s.
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| Frank White would Bitch Slap Tony Montana |
Christopher Walken plays a high profile gangster... that should literally be all I need to say to make you want to see this movie.
It was a scary time in the urban centers of America in the late 1980s. The cocaine wave had turned into the crack epidemic which was decimating the urban and African-American neighborhoods of American cities. Americans tuned in to the news every night to see rampant gang violence as it seemed the inner cities literally descended into madness. From this chaos
Abel Ferrara's ultra-violent ultra-sexy
King of New York was born.
King of New York would become an iconic film, especially in the East Coast Rap scene. This film is also interesting for being one of the first films I can remember where black and white mobsters operate as equals in the same gang. This film features an impressive cast including screen legend
Christopher Walken,
Laurence Fishburn,
Wesley Snipes,
David Caruso, and very young
Steve Buscemi and
Chris Rock in bit parts.
King of New York follows the story of recently released from prison crime boss Frank White. White is back on the street after several years locked up. White returns New York to reassemble his gang and return to the throne as the de facto crime lord of New York City. Frank White and his gang do away with all rival gang leaders and people who won't do business with them as they organize the city. However White is pursued by a unit of the NYPD who increasingly want to get White, one way or another.
King of New York plays almost exactly like one of the classic old Warner Bros. gangster films. Featuring the rise of the gangster, the gangster's love interest, the gangster reaching the top, and then the gangster's fall. This film however plays much like it's subject matter. Featuring a very violent, sexualized, and stylized vision of crime in the 1990s,
King of New York plays much like a coked out version of the 1930s gangster films.
King of New York is also notable for it's very dark sensibilities as no one in this world is clean and the line between good and evil is blurred.
King of New York is amazing simply to watch
Christopher Walken breeze through this film as highly intellectual cold-blooded drug kingpin Frank White. Of course I'm prejudiced but I don't think you can consider a leading man truly great until they define themselves in a gangster movie.
Christopher Walken puts together an iconic performance in this film. I found myself almost in disbelief at
Walken's performance in this film but as it goes along it becomes increasingly engrossing.
King of New York also features
Laurence Fishburn as Frank White's right-hand man Jimmy Jump. Jimmy Jump rivals Tommy DeVito, Nicky Santoro, and Cody Jarrett for the title of the silver screen's most sociopathic gangster. Fishburn's character even wears a classic bowler hat at the beginning of the film seemingly in tribute of the classic movie gangsters.
Fishburn has become one of Hollywood's most dependable actors in recent years turning in an iconic performance in the
Matrix series and regularly popping up in Hollywood summer blockbusters. We'll talk about his 1997 gangster film
Hoodlum soon on this blog.
King of New York also featured break out roles for
David Caruso and
Wesley Snipes as cops on the NYPD Task Force pursuing Frank White.
Caruso was hired by director
Abel Ferrera and talked him into hiring
Wesley Snipes to play one of the cops.
Caruso and
Snipes knew each other from working on a television pilot that never materialized.
Ferrera would later claim that
Snipes was living in his car at the time of filming for this film. From this film
Caruso would go on to get a role in the hit TV show
NYPD Blue and would later become the uber-posing sunglasses wearing Lt. Horatio Caine in the smash TV show
CSI: Miami.
Wesley Snipes would go on to star in the cult classic film
New Jack City (which we'll get to soon on this blog) which would launch him into stardom.
King of New York deserves your attention for being an iconic film in an extremely free period of film-making in the early 1990s. This film also deserves your attention for the excellent cast of young actors who would later go on to prominence in Hollywood.
King of New York is just a solid uber-stylized sexy film that you'll either love or hate. Chances are if you're on this blog and you're still reading, you'll love this film.
King of New York is a film that should be added to any gangster cinema film fan's collection.
