King of New York

I love King of New York (big surprise, right?).  It’s one of the best crime/gangster pictures ever to grace the silver screen and would be Abel Ferrara’s best movie if he didn’t follow it up with an even crazier character study in the form of Bad Lieutenant (the new Nicolas Cage, Werner Herzog one is pretty fucking amazing as well but my heart will always belong to the original).

This film is fairly well known but at the same time it gets overshadowed by others in the same genre like Donnie Brasco and Goodfellas.  Even Scarface’s little brother Carlito’s Way seems to get a lot of attention and acclaim which I don’t quite get ‘cause I didn’t think it was that great.  Maybe King of New York wasn’t mainstream enough?  I really don’t think it’s the violence considering the movies I just listed.  It’s certainly not that the movie portrays the gangster life as a grand way to live.  If anything it does a really good job of showing how fucked up both a mobster’s and rogue cop’s lives are by depicting them as a very tense and dangerous way to live.  It has a big name star (Christopher Walken), was shot masterfully and is entertaining as fuck.  I dunno.

Ferrara obviously loves New York City which is present throughout the film but what also comes through is how fucked up it is or at least was back in the 80’s and early 90’s when it came to crime.  It’s fascinating how someone can know a place so well that even when you’re shown how horrible it can be you always feel like you’re in good hands.  Ferrara knows just where and how to stage all of his scenes and who his characters are.  This picture packs a helluva punch and he molds it so it has maximum impact.  He’s an underappreciated genius in my opinion that I hope gets more recognition with time.

One of my favorite parts is when Laurence Fishburne (actually this was back in the days when he credited himself as Larry Fishburne) goes into a restaurant to order some food in the most badass way possible.  Cops David Caruso (Jade), Victor Argo (True Romance) and Wesley fucking Pipes come in to bust him but he never gives in to them or backs off on the macho talk.  Yeah man, the line about Fishburne bragging that he doesn’t leave no witnesses when he’s doin’ murder is priceless.

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow I guess what I’m sayin’ is I’m thankful for this masterpiece.  It’s a must see for anyone into crime pictures, badass shit and/or art in general.