Abel Ferrara's masterpiece is in the same genre and the same class as DePalma's "Scarface". Christopher Walken, (superb, as always), is the titular "King of New York", a major drug dealer who wants to use his ill-gotten gains for more altruistic purposes, as in building a children's hospital. but the police and most of his associates don't see things his way.This was as close to a mainstream movie as Ferrara ever made though the somewhat unusual story-line and treatment may not be quite what you would expect. This is a gangster movie that sits somewhere between the art-house and the multiplex. It's also the most visually intoxicating of Ferrara's films; it's got a sheen to it that you don't usually associate with this director and it has one hell of a car chase and gun battle in the rain. It's also got the starriest of his casts; apart from Walken there's David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito and a terrific Victor Argo. Mainstream or not, the film has settled into major cult status and as such is regularly revived.

(Originally reviewed: 24/02/2017) An alleged crime drama; more like a cheap action film disguised as a gangster picture; which sounds more appropriate. Christopher Walken is very good as drug lord Frank White and if the film were based on his performance alone I would have liked this film; but the truth is he's a one man show here; as the film lacks a well-structured story and a lot of over the top laughable supporting performances. Janet Julian (Jennifer/Lawyer), is adequate and I think she did very well when on screen but everyone else was just either average or absolutely terrible. David Caruso (Dennis) played a cop who hates Frank and wants him back behind bars but did he have to constantly shout and overact every scene in a laughable fashion; his performance is camp and silly; a bit like Snipes (Thomas/cop) who I also like as an actor but his performance is ridiculously bad here as well. Fishbourne (Jimmy) is also bad but his performance is unlike the other two; he is actually cringeworthy; playing Frank's right hand man and his character is annoying; including a crappy laugh or whatever that noise was later on in the picture; his acting is utter shambles here. Steve Buscemi also features but his character is given nothing interesting and no depth. While watching I constantly asked who are these gangs, near the first half an hour; have they any actual story, or maybe character development? but no they just get shot for entertainment purposes. Another howler is the dialogue, some of its horrendous; including lines such as "I like my s**t cold, just like my ball", and another where Jimmy is talking about soda. The story has plenty of stupid scenes including one where Walken is confronted while feeling up his girlfriend on the train, and they come at him with a knife and he shows them a gun and says here 'gives them money' and says " come by the hotel I have work for you, ask for Frank White". Yes because when someone comes up to you with a knife you immediately want to help them as best you can; it's stupid as hell. Another is when the police pick up Frank and tell him he needs to go with them and while they drive away with him, they drive recklessly the wrong side of traffic for no particular reason; they were in no serious hurry and just decided that the public's safety is not as important as questioning a man they really dislike. There's even a scene midway through the film where a mindless shootout takes place and a rival Chinese gang get slaughtered; this is a disorientating mess of a scene; the director keeps the lighting dark and unfocused so when the shootouts start; I couldn't tell who was getting shot. Sure there's more lame scenes with shootouts that are forgettable and a lot of people get killed; but without story and without character development; I really didn't care. I did however at the least think Ferrara's direction is decent whenever he is showing New York nightlife and the final sequence which was well filmed and well shot. Nicolas St. John's writing is the main problem, his dialogue isn't very good more times than it is actually good and he has made characters that are mostly lacking in actual development. King of New York is a poor piece of filmmaking that ultimately relies on a brilliant Walken to try and compensate for its mess of a plot and it may be extremely violent but it's certainly not extremely memorable.

Christopher Walken stars in this great, if a little uneven, crime film by controversial director Abel Ferrara (Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant).It tells the story of Frank White, a crime lord who, after being released from prison, makes a violent campaign to reclaim his empire in order to use his ill-gotten gain for charitable means in this modern twist on the Robin Hood mythos. At the same time a core group of New York cops are all over him and his gang, determined to go to war, whatever the cost, to bring him down which leads to a violent climax.In a break from the usual cops and robber movie the line between crook and cop are a little blurry here. Sure Walken's character is a crook who kills people and then goes to parties laden with cocaine and sex, but he kills other scum bags and tries to use his new found freedom to do good things for charity. He's a character who is using his empire as a means to do what he feels is the right thing and raise a poor community up from its poor roots.The cops on the other hand believe that a crook, will forever be a crook. As David Caruso's (CSI: Miami joke here) character aptly puts, that the more people he kills the more it reflects badly on the cops whilst no matter what they do to stop Frank, he always gets away scot-free. I can definitely see the positives and negatives from both sides as they can be both as bad and both as justifiable in their actions. Really well thought out stuff when you think about it, and this was a film made 12 years before the Wire (which I've still got to finish watching).Though while I do say it's uneven I still hold to that. Some bits feel a little rushed in pacing and even the lawyer girlfriend to Frank White seems to vanish into thin air during the third act of the film.But despite being a low budget film, it is still a pretty good looking film with an impressive cast (including Lawrence Fishburn, Wesley Snipes and David Caruso) who play their parts really well. I did have a few niggling problems, mostly with the sound though that could attribute to the copy of the film I had. But the climax of this film is where it's really at as everything that has been building up to this comes to an exciting head.It's such a shame that this film has been so over looked, I mean I only really found out about it through Christopher Walken's film list. It deserves a lot more credit.

A New York drug lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) is being driven in his limousine back into the city following his release from prison. His crew are busy taking out a rival Columbian gang who have been encroaching on White's business while he's been away. Once he's back White wastes no time in taking out more of New York's crime lords and cements himself as the King of New York. Disgruntled that they are never able to get charges to stick, a few wild Police Officers decide that the only way to stop White and his gang is to take them out.Featuring an impressive cast which alongside Walken includes gangsters Laurence Fishburne, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito and Theresa Randle with Cops Wesley Snipes, Victor Argo and David Caruso the film is a tale of good vs evil, but as you'd expect the lines between the two are blurred. Although not in the same league as the likes of Scarface, Carlito's Way or Serpico all of which share themes with this, it is a decent gangster picture.The story is fairly basic really. Gang boss gets released from prison; starts to rebuild his empire and the cops try to stop him. There is little new plot wise. The only little twist on the genre is the cop's tactic of halting the gangster's operation. I wasn't really invested in the story or many of the characters though there were some good performances. Much like the plot they were all characters you've seen before to some degree or another. There's the level headed, ice cold killer of a boss, the ostentatious black gangsters, the Irish cops, the Latino middle man, the Mafioso, the Chinese Triads and various scantily clad women. Unfortunately it's all been seen and done before.As I say though there are some terrific performances. Christopher Walken delivers a powerful and menacing performance as Frank White. He's calm and calculating but isn't afraid to deliver the killer blow. The character also has a side to him which makes the audience empathize with him and the way in which Walken creates this is brilliant. Another great performance is Laurence Fishburne as an arrogant and flashy gangster/killer. He is especially good in the chicken shop scene. Victor Argo is also great.The highlight of the film for me was the incredible soundtrack. I have somewhat of a puncheon for late 80s Hip-Hop and this film features some of the best that era had to offer with the likes of Party Posse and Schooly D lending songs. The traditional score which is interspersed with the Hip-Hop works well and sounds good. As well as the soundtrack there was also some pretty jazzy dancing, most notably from Walken. It reminded me of the video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice, a video I could watch over and over again.In addition as the slightly tired plot another problem with the film is the hair. I've never seen such bad hair in a film before. Half the cast sport mullets and Christopher Walken's is characteristically crazy. I did enjoy the two big shoot-outs. They were both action packed and the first must have had some influence on Grand Theft Auto as it looked just like the sort of shoot-out that game would present. In the end King of New York is an average gangster film but nothing more.www.attheback.blogspot.com