One: If you happened to be in Alphabet City back in the '80s Two: Nile Rodgers did the soundtrack. It may not always work but its Nile Rodgers of Chic/Daft Punk. He is the real dealBy biggest gripe: The dialog. Could it be more wooden and contrived? Wow,,, cannot imagine trying to deliver some of those lines. Casting is also weak. The editing hurts some great cinematography and direction.So rewrite the script, get the right cast, move it way uptown to Harlem, then fix the post problems and whaddaya get?New Jack City

i recently saw this flick after 20 odd years & while it is one that 'got away', its still pretty decent for the time... (what the producers wanted - was an "urban teen flick"... good luck!) it was my first 35mm, fully crewed production & shot in 20 nights & we did best under the circumstances, and we had a blast shooting it. editing was difficult to say the least. it was a huge, huge learning experience. i had a lot of support from oliver wood (DP), line-producers Ben Gruberg & Roberta Friedman, and Greg Heller, who wrote the story. Nord Haggerty and Anna Taylor did a a great job with production design and costumes under very limited budget. Nile's music sounds better than ever. i wish we'd have shot the real ending... (which was to "political" for the producers) i agree w/comments that there are cheesy segments & i'd like to see Vince act in more movies! Jamie & Michael Winslow still charm in their own ways... anyway, thanks for watching it on late nite TV!

One thing that I will say about this film is, despite some of its apparent cheesiness, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and, similar to films that capture elements of that era, it made you remember what the LES (Lower East Side, aka Alphabet City) was like. I think it pushes reality a bit, but, if you walk down the streets of the LES today (which has recently -- meaning since the late 90s -- been coined "East Village" to reflect the new status and population), you will only see a glimpse of what it used to be. As I watched this, I remembered the old character of the neighborhood (not so much the drug deals and crack houses), and I thought it was one of the better portrayals of that past...................

This movie has to be one of the most boring and lame movies of the '80s. I couldn't remember what it was about after seeing it back in 1984. It was on one of the movie channels a couple of years ago, and it was still bad. I thought it might get better with time. I remember at the Drive-in where I saw it, it was very dark, and could not be seen properly. On TV, it was just as bad. Most of the movie takes place at night. The plot is all over the place, and the characters are forgettable. Being a fan of action/thriller movies, this one is a big disappointment!