A group of kids in Brooklyn form a gang. From this moment on they do everything together. This makes things easier but at the same time they have to face new problems. Despite an alright dup of perfomances from both King and Stallone 'The Lords of Flatbush' is a weird mix of different genres alongside with lots of bad comedic moments and romances between the leads that didn't even felt realistic (Stallone's especially). The acting was mediocre, the story was half cooked and the movie came out before Sly's Rocky years so it makes sense for his acting to be once hot and once cold. Overall a big disappointment for me cause i was expecting way more effort. (5.4/10)

Growing up in Brooklyn in the 50s people like the 4 guys who are our protagonists here were a common sight, they were the older generation by a half for someone born in 1947. The Lords Of Flatbush were Perry King, Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler and Paul Mace. Every high school had them, kids like these who populated The Blackboard Jungle. As you will note two of the four had some substantial careers on the big and small screens. For Henry Winkler this part was a dress rehearsal for Arthur Fonzarelli. And Rocky was in the distant future for Sylvester Stallone.Part of it in the 50s is that many thought there was no future as the threat of nuclear annihilation stood over us. So just go out and have a great old time because there will be no responsibilities for you to assume. That underlay a lot of the thinking then.There's no real plot in Lords Of Flatbush, it's a a character study of four knockabout guys who can't see a future beyond their good times. At least one of them does in the end, I will not say who.One really glaring fault was the scene at the drive-in movie. First of all From Here To Eternity was out five years earlier than 1958 when this film is supposed to take place. Secondly though there were no drive-ins in the Borough of Brooklyn, I can attest to that. In that same year I was introduced to the concept of the drive-in, but I had to go upstate to experience it.Susan Blakely also got her first notice in The Lords Of Flatbush. What she tells Perry King in the end if the message if any this film has.

The Lords of Flatbush is a movie, I have a long considered to be Sylvester Stallone's first good movie. It starts off well with a nice catchy song playing over footage of the gang "Lords of Flatbush" harassing a couple of girls outside of the school (interestingly enough a few years later Stallone would have probably insisted on changing that scene, and would have had him come along and beat up the other guys) the first scene in the classroom is a lot of fun with the teacher making Stallone sit at the front of the class for misbehaving.One of my main problems with this movie is none of the Lords of Flatbush are particularly likable, especially Chico and for the first hour or so Sly Stallone's Stanley. The only one I liked throughout was Henry Winkler's Butchey. Another problem was I certainly could not relate to any of the characters, and despite a short running time it actually feels a lot longer. It's a lot better than Sly's previous movies Rebel, Klute and Banannas. I particularly liked the scene on the roof with his pigeons, where at times he sounds Rockt-esque. And I enjoyed hearing him say "I did it" long before Rocky 2 too!!

Hothead Stanley (a pre-"Rocky" Sylvestor Stallone, who wrote his own dialogue), smartaleck Butchey (Henry Winkler doing a dry run of his famous Fonzie character on "Happy Days"), amorous Chico (Perry King of "Mandingo" and "Class of 1984") and runtish Wimpy (Paul Mace) are the titular foursome, a scruffy bunch of tough guy teenage greasers knocking around Brooklyn in the late 50's. The main thrust of the amiably rambling and episodic narrative centers on Stanley planning to marry his loving, yet shrewish girlfriend Frannie (cute Maria Smith) and Chico dating sweet upper-class suburbanite Jane (the pretty and winsome Susan Blakely).Directors Stephen F. Verona and Martin Davidson, who co-wrote the bright, colorful and insightful script with Gayle Glecker, meticulously evoke the era with an infectiously sincere wealth of acuity, accuracy and affection, capturing the pent-up bubbling under the surface violence, repressive conservative morals and sense of carefree innocence which defined the period in an admirably frank and unsentimental manner. Moreover, the film works beautifully well as an alternately funny and touching teen rites of passage saga, depicting the awkward transition of adolescence into encroaching adulthood -- maturity, loss of one's virginity, accepting responsibility, getting married, coming to terms with one's station in life -- with a great deal of heart and humanity. The individual vignettes are quite enjoyable; the definite highlights are a clumsy robbery of a car and the uproarious sequence where Stanley buys Frannie a very expensive wedding ring. Moreover, the rather scrappy, but overall accomplished cinematography by Joe Mangine and Edward Lachman, Joe Brooks' bouncy, catchy and tuneful score, and especially the uniformly excellent and engaging performances by a personable cast further add to the picture's sterling quality. Better still, the low-key, unadorned, naturalistic semi-documentary style and nicely observant and unobtrusive straightforward storytelling give the movie a certain irresistibly gritty you-are-there lived-in charm and conviction. Popping up in nifty bits are Dolph Sweet as Frannie's dad, Ray Sharkey as a high school student and Armand Assante as a wedding guest. A real treat.