King Of New York

This film is not currently available on DVD. Film Description Drug dealer action movie in which Walken takes on the mafia.

Film Details Director Abel Ferrara Starring Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Wesley Snipes   Country USA Language ENGLISH   Year 1990

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Review by David Dignan on 14th August 2000

The drawn-out shot of a prison gate closing ominously heralds the re-emergence of drug Czar Frank White (Christopher Walken) into the dark night of the New York Underworld. Pale, hollow-eyed and seemingly always shrouded in shadow and darkness, White is in fact no Nosferatau, or at least no longer. Instead Walken and Ferrara create an intriguingly complex character, both at odds with and at the same time embracing the traditions of the gangster genre and its usual parallels with American capitalism. White is a rarity: a socialist wiseguy.


As his multi-ethnic gang, comprising black streethoods and WASP attornies set about wiping out the various insular Mafia, Chinese and Latino Godfathers and taking control of the Big Apple's narcotic trade, Frank is busy implementing his own unique political ideology. Basically, if people are always going to take drugs no matter what the authorities do, why not use the billions of dollars it generates to build hospitals for the poor?


By combining this overtly radical concept with a darkly thrilling combination of gangland shoot-outs, cocaine-fuelled parties and seedy sexual imagery (make no mistake, White loves being a gangster) Ferrara’s Nietchian-Noir manages with high-octane aplomb to fill Truffaut’s definition of a great film ­ it says something about life and something about film.

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