New York set gangster thriller with a top notch cast for a smallish budget. The director Abel Ferrara who I remember for Driller Killer (1979) tells the story of the late eighties drug wars.
The main star is Christopher Walken who plays drug lord Frank White recently released from a long stretch in prison and aiming to take back the self proclaimed title as King Of New York. White displays some socialist/Robin Hood style tendencies donating some of his criminal money to a hospital building charity in South Bronx and basically throwing money towards muggers on the New York Subway.
The film boasts a soundtrack more akin to a rap artist. The cops are shown as putting their lives on the line for a salary of peanuts whilst the gangsters they police earn and flash millions. With a higher budget and major studio backing the film could perhaps have been more polished.
The main star is Christopher Walken who plays drug lord Frank White recently released from a long stretch in prison and aiming to take back the self proclaimed title as King Of New York. White displays some socialist/Robin Hood style tendencies donating some of his criminal money to a hospital building charity in South Bronx and basically throwing money towards muggers on the New York Subway.
The film boasts a soundtrack more akin to a rap artist. The cops are shown as putting their lives on the line for a salary of peanuts whilst the gangsters they police earn and flash millions. With a higher budget and major studio backing the film could perhaps have been more polished.