You won't be disappointed!

Why so much hype?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I give the title "King of Gangster Flicks" for many reasons.... no spoilers.First off, find the DVD release of this film, on VHS the quality of picture was rather poor (very dark). this stands right next to Scarface as it's ugly yankee twin brother .. Cocaine is visible in actor's noses, most of the characters in the movie are overly vulgar and hostile , with a rather unattractive cast. it's a straight cold blooded gangster film that makes many others pale in comparison.Fishburne's character is best described as a nightmarish cartoon, Caruso is a vigilant maniac with a witty sense of humor... Walken delivers as usual

This is most likely Director Ferrara's most accessible Movie. Most of his Films are so quirky, offbeat, and personal with an Art-House/Grindhouse dichotomy that doesn't set to well with casual Movie goers. This one, and perhaps Bad Lieutenant (1992), are Crime Thrillers that call in the masses and give them enough style and grit to garner reluctant approval.But not everyone was entertained. Initially this was a dismissed and protested Movie called trashy, indulgent, and reprehensible. That's what made it the Cult Movie it is today. The over abundance of style and uncompromising, lurid appeal that has a staying power and is unforgettable.There is a metaphorically alluring Character in Frank White (is that name Black Enough For Ya) who is a pale-faced, monstrous, Vampyric Robin Hood as charming as the Devil himself. Like Jesus, he hangs with the dregs, in the bad part of town, but can be found at the Plaza Hotel planning his take down of the worst of the worst. Rival Gangs and crooked, selfish Politicians (Money Changers).This is a Great Neo-Noir that exudes an atmosphere of dark blueness. There is virtually no sunlight in this story of Under Worldliness and it has a nightmarish template of Violence, Decadence, and some Dark Philosophy delivered from a likable chilling Gangster.

Crime lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) is released from prison, and on his long drive back to New York City, witnesses the filth his city has descended into since his incarceration. His old friend Jimmy Jump (Laurence Fishburne) has just wiped out a Colombian drug operation and welcomes Frank back with a suitcase full of money and cocaine. Eager to win his city back, and also help fund the saving of an inner city hospital through his drug operation, he sets the wheels to his crowning in motion. But cops Roy Bishop (Victor Argo), Gilley (David Caruso) and Flanigan (Wesley Snipes) are on his case, but after struggling to bring Frank in under regulations, resort to more illegal methods of getting him off the streets.King of New York was booed upon its initial screenings, with mass walk- outs and cult director Abel Ferrara being bombarded with uncomfortable questions. Audiences were apparently appalled by the films seemingly glamorous depiction of man who was essentially a homicidal maniac, encouraging violence and sleaze wherever he went. The film is certainly guilty of that, but the character of Frank is a little different to the likes of Tony Montana or Henry Hill. He seems to style himself as a champion of the lower-classes, using his influence and vast wealth to push a councilman to put forth the money to save a hospital in a poverty-stricken area, and then fund it himself when that fails. He and his girlfriend Jennifer (Janet Julian) are robbed on the subway by inner-city youths. Frank shown them his gun, and they back off, but Frank throws them a wad of money and tells them there is work for them if they want it. A crime-lord he may be, but is he any worse than the fat politicians that soak up the city's money, or the bent cops that are on his back?In Walken's hands, White is a charismatic, unconventional crime boss, and is in turns charming, strange, and deranged. It's a fabulous performance, but for me it was Laurence (here still credited as Larry) Fishburne that steals the show, as the swaggering, loud-mouthed gun-man Jimmy ("yo, where the chicken at?" he says after killing a cop), a man of such ridiculous posturing that he almost becomes a cartoon character. And this is one of the main reasons I loved this film. It is, at times, so outlandishly over-the-top that it should betray its gritty roots, but its so steeped in atmosphere and that key element, grime, that it becomes a fantasy-laden, insane ride amongst a decaying city and one its most colourful characters.For anyone who has seen the work of Abel Ferrara, especially two of his most popular films, The Driller Killer (1979) and Bad Lieutenant (1992), will know what they are in for. His New York is not the one you see in the earlier works of Woody Allen, but one of whacked-out prostitutes, cocaine-sniffing criminals, inner-city poverty, and angry, sweaty, middle-aged detectives. We do glimpse the glitzier side of the city in King of New York, as Frank often mingles with the politicians and power- players, but it is a world of black suits and orange lighting, and a world that shares the same depravity and sleaze as the lower-classes. It's a grim thing to see through Abel Ferrara's gaze, but boy is it brimming with atmosphere. This will always play second or third fiddle to the likes of Scarface (1983), but King of New York is the film the former could never be, and in its own depressing way, is a much better film. Undoubtedly Ferrara's finest, and most 'polished' work.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Legend has it that Abel Ferrera's girlfriend broke up with him at the premier of this gangster flick. Ya gotta love a movie director who manages to offend his own squeeze... That said, there is a lot wrong with this picture - the bust-happy obsessed cops are one dimensional goons; the black crooks are a little too street sassy to be believed (especially Fishburne); and the plotting tends toward the generic. There are few plot twists, and few unexpected happenings. Ultimately, though, the flashy visuals trump the flaws and the look of the picture triumphs over its more forgettable elements. Ferrera creates a glossy, almost movie star world for the Frank White character to inhabit, while giving us an appropriately grimy and rundown urban landscape just below his gleaming Plaza Hotel penthouse. The women are hot, the confrontations boil over into sudden violence with no warning and the chases and shoot-outs demonstrate careful and competent staging. Worth a look for late 80s / early 90s gangster flick fans.