1990 was an unusually big year for crime movies. There are crime films that come out every year, sure, but there was one of the best of all time in 1990: Goodfellas, plus a bunch of other notable ones. Sure, The Godfather Part III wasn’t as good as either of the first two, but it’s still not as bad as some people make it out to be. Then, there was Miller’s Crossing, which has always been an underrated Coen Brothers film, Dick Tracy (which is more of a comedic crime movie), and John Woo’s Bullet in the Head, which gets unfairly buried between The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992), despite being almost just as good.
So, it was a crowded scene. And in that scene, there was also King of New York, which might well be the most underrated of the bunch, even if it’s not entirely obscure, as it’s become something of a cult classic (or, at least, the kind of movie that’s viewed more favorably nowadays than it was back when it first came out). It’s a take on Robin Hood, but with a gangster in then-contemporary New York City, and it stands as perhaps the best and most approachable movie in Abel Ferrara’s filmography. He’s a sometimes challenging director, and sure, King of New York is a little offbeat, and maybe not for everyone, yet is still worth giving a shot if you’re generally a fan of gangster thrillers.
The Plot of ‘King of New York’
The Robin Hood comparison is fair, honestly. Frank White (Christopher Walken) is that 20th-century Robin Hood, and he’s a powerful crime lord who’s just been released from prison, and he sets his sights on going legitimate. However, before he does that, he also wants to tie up loose ends within the world of crime he formerly operated in, and so that involves going around and taking down his competitors. Then, there are plans to donate the money he’s made through illegitimate means to those who are downtrodden.
King of New York utilizes the titular city incredibly well throughout, with the gritty narrative feeling more believable because of how well the movie’s world is fleshed out within a single film.
In that sense, King of New York is also about redemption, but it explores this tension between doing violent things and possibly still being a net good for society at the same time. There’s certainly stuff to think about here alongside the more visceral and intense moments offered by King of New York. It also utilizes the titular city incredibly well throughout, with the gritty narrative feeling more believable because of how well the movie’s world is fleshed out within a single film. Therein lies a potential comparison to Goodfellas, and the movies of Martin Scorsese, since he’s another director who likes setting plenty of his films in New York (Goodfellas, of course, included).
What ‘King of New York’ Offers as a Gangster Movie
If you’re even a little familiar with Abel Ferrara, you’re probably aware that he tends to make dark and despairing movies, and he’s also not shy about pushing boundaries. So, that goes some way toward explaining why King of New York is as gritty and downbeat as it is. It’s not sugar-coated, feeling dark even by the standards of the gangster genre, and it was even originally rated X, in the U.S., before an appeal successfully got its rating back down to an R (this was right before the introduction of the NC-17 rating, as that happened in 1990, too).
There’s a guy who has a violent past, and his present is also quite dominated by violence, given what he wants to do when he’s fresh out of prison, but he seems to be up against forces that are morally worse than him. And then the fact that many of his adversaries are technically on the “right” side of the law makes things interesting, since King of New York showcases the extreme lengths police can go to when trying to take down violent criminals. There’s an antihero who wants to use his influence (that he got from being a criminal) to do some good, a police force that’s driven to fight fire with fire, and then other criminals who are far more ruthless than either of those other two sides, being the guys the antihero wants to take down. It all gets violent, more than a bit messy, and consistently morally interesting, more than sustaining a film’s worth of conflict.
‘King of New York’ Has One of Christopher Walken’s Very Best Performances
Also, at the end of the day, King of New York is incredibly valuable for being one of those rare movies where Christopher Walken gets to be the unambiguous main character. He tends to be the sort of actor who shows up in supporting roles, stealing scenes, or sometimes really only stealing one scene (see Pulp Fiction). He’s an all-time great supporting actor for this reason, but King of New York is a great showcase for his ability to also be a surprisingly strong leading man. His performance here is also a little different from the kinds he’s more famous for giving, since it’s more understated, and the film’s general grimness means he’s by no stretch of the imagination doing anything quirky on screen.
There’s a strong supporting cast here, too, as the likes of Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, and Steve Buscemi all show up throughout King of New York, too. It’s an easy enough movie to watch nowadays, too, since it can be streamed on Amazon Prime (for now, maybe not forever). If you’re a fan of Christopher Walken, or in the mood for something a little offbeat and underrated, as far as gangster/crime/thriller movies go, then King of New York is certainly worth a shot.