Spike of Bensonhurst (1988) User Reviews

* * *1/2 Out Of Five

[bronsonskull72 · 7/10 · 18 March 2006]

Sasha Mitchell stars as Spike Fumo a boxer who want to be a champion but not mess up his pretty looks in the process, Fumo gets along well with the mobster Baldo Cacetti (Ernest Borgnine, in a great performance) however it's when Spike starts eyeing Cacetti's daughter Angel (Maria Pitillo) he's forced out of his neighborhood and forced to live with his Puerto Rican friend Bandanna (Rick Aviles) and there he starts his own boxing circuit, however when Cacetti finds out Spike has gotten Angel pregnant, As well as Bandanna's sister India (Talisa Soto) things heat up to confrontation in this hilarious and sly satire of Rocky and mobster flicks. The best joke is of course that Sasha Mitchell doesn't want to actually earn his title as champion but rather have it fixed by mobsters so he doesn't have to work so hard. Sasha Mitchell displays real acting talent and real sharp comic skills, something that would surprise you if you saw him on that awful TV show he was on. This without a doubt Mitchell's best movie and it's thanks to the humor derived from Mitchell and Borgnine's chemistry which provides the most enjoyable moments. The only complaint is Talisa Soto who comes off like a deer in the headlights. Still it's shocking that the best Mitchell could do after this was Kickboxer 2, 3 and 4.

3.5/5 Matt Bronson

Welcome to Brooklyn, or at least a Brooklyn I'd love to visit!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 11 July 2020]

This delightfully funny collection of eccentric Italian and Hispanic characters is a modern combination of the Bowery Boys films and a Frank Capra movie. Sasha Mitchell is lovable and tough as Spike, a promising boxer who goes up against equally lovable but tough mobster Ernest Borgnine when he dares to fall in love with Borgnine's daughter Maria Pitillo. Mitchell is kicked out of Bensonhurst, ends up in the home of the wonderfully wacky Antonia Rey in the nearby Puerto Rican neighborhood where he is tempted by Rey's tomboyish but beautiful daughter Talisa Soto. Mitchell's equally wacky family tries to intervene when Pitillo ends up pregnant with his baby, while Mitchell tries to figure out in his own way the right thing to do.

This movie is delightfully witty simply by letting these characters just speak for themselves, and that includes Borgnine's second wife, the Alexis Colby wannabee Anne DeSalvo, the cocaine snorting congresswoman Sylvia Miles (seemingly spoofing Bella Azburg). Rey's big-hearted son Rick Aviles (a far cry from his Willie Lopez role in "Ghost") and Mitchell's lesbian mother, Geraldine Smith, who was only 10 years older than the actor playing her son. The film is highlighted by some great scenes reflecting a late 1980's culture, including Borgine's taking Mitchell to his illegal VHS production warehouse, showing soft core adult films being duped right along side some classic cartoons.

A ride up the Westside Highway to Sing Sing where Mitchell visits his inmate father is highlighted by the background extras, seemingly making love in plain sight of everybody else. A ride through a private community in Bensonhurst shows the different styles of neighborhoods between the upperclass home where Borgnine and DeSalvo live, the middle class neighborhood of Mitchell's family, and the slums where Rey's family lives. A confrontation between Mitchell, Rey and her family with some dope users in an abandoned warehouse results in an even funnier confrontation with the cops. This time capsule might not reflect reality as we know it, but it is a fun view of New York City life outside of Manhattan, only seen through the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

gleefully excessive

[mjneu59 · 6/10 · 4 January 2011]

Certain words come to mind when describing this wild and lively cultural stew of tenement junkies, crooked cops, and dysfunctional family relations in the inner city melting pot of Brooklyn, New York: words like profane, chaotic, outrageous, rude, crude, loud, amoral, and abrasive. But the film is also energetic, and certainly entertaining if approached in the proper frame of mind. Most of it resembles a warped Italian-American music video, with lots of bright, bouncy Mediterranean pop songs playing in the background while all sorts of Brooklyn low-lifes hurl verbal abuse at each other. But the teenage street punk hero of the film's title is immune to every insult, and he's a troublemaker more by accident than intent, breezing his way through one crisis after another with the nonchalant ease of total ignorance. Some viewers will likely be offended, but even at its most crass and unsubtle the film is difficult to criticize. It never once takes itself seriously, and like Spike's phony boxing matches the whole thing is obviously all a put-on.

Proud owner of a copy

[Boyo-2 · 22 June 1999]

Unlike the majority of my fellow reviewers, I really like this movie and am proud to say I own a copy. It's very funny in part and everyone gives a good performance. Even Geraldine Smith is hysterical. Whoever did the casting did a great job.

Sasha was phenomenal

[rlatanville · 7/10 · 17 December 2012]

I am a fan of Sasha, from Cody to David Sloane. But this was his first full featured film. I can tell Sasha was a breakout and good actor from this movie. He plays Spike, an Italian decent aspiring boxer who takes a shine to a Mafia daughter, Angel gets her pregnant.

But the Mafia father played by the recently late Ernest Borgnine doesn't like Spike being with his daughter uses his Mafia ways to keep them apart, meanwhile Spike life in Bensonhurst went downhill.

So he makes his life in Red Hook by the Battery Tunnel, a heavy Puerto Rican rundown neighborhood. Befriends Bandana (Rick Aviles - Willy Lopez on Ghost) and starts another life in Red Hook. He meets India takes a shine to as well and eventually got her pregnant. So he is torn between two ladies.

Even Sasha's fake Italian accent is cheesy, but he makes it work. One final thing, the movie moves too quickly paying little attention in the storyline so this is why I make it a 7. It has potential.

Only watch with the sound down and while blindfolded

[JohnSeal · 2/10 · 23 January 2000]

What a comedown for director Paul Morrissey (Flesh For Frankenstein, Blood For Dracula). This film is not only boring, it features an incredibly irritating and overamplified score by Coati Mundi (he of Kid Creole and the Coconuts) and it has enough racial stereotypes to offend not one but two ethnic groups. All the Italian-Americans are loudmouths who scream obscenities at each other over a pasta dinner, and all the Puerto Ricans are crackheads, hustlers, or lazy welfare loafers. If not for the transcendentally beautiful Talisa Soto as the secondary love interest this would be a total write-off. Even with her it's nothing less than dreadful.

solid 7

[danthemannyc · 7/10 · 18 July 2015]

lighthearted movie with over the top stereotypes that is refreshing in this overly PC time we now live in Ms soto a Brooklyn native is one of the most beautiful women in the world the male lead i forget his name is a handsome guy as well it just looks like summer in new york if you enjoyed this film must watch pope of Greenwich village a nyc classic also a guide to recognizing saints another fine nyc film you have some oldie actors here ernest borgine the most famous to lend a professionalism to the film that makes it a cut above other film

of this type you will laugh and if you lived it will feel nostalgia for a pre gentrification new york i wish they would release it on DVD as soon as possible i will be the first one to buy it

Precious hours of my life, wasted!

[Tilly · 1/10 · 23 March 1999]

I saw this movie at the theatre for lack of anything else to do, and only paid a dollar to see it. God help me if I'm ever this desperate for "entertainment" again. None of the characters were likable, and although it can be fun to dislike awful characters, this film was just too horrible to offer that solace. Terrible acting, ridiculous characters, bad, bad movie. I should've asked for my dollar back.

Understand.

[rdhibsho · 10/10 · 19 January 2000]

I grew up in Brooklyn. I knew Spike and his friends. Their names and faces were different, but their lives were the same. If you treat this movie as a political statement you will be offended. If you treat this movie as entertainment you'll suffer. But if you treat this movie as a sociological exercise, you will be enlightened. No movie made before or since, has captured the essence of Brooklyn so effectively. Story, plot progression, and emotive content are deliberately sacrificed to the end of painting a realistic portrait of both the subjects and their neighborhood. At the film's conclusion, the characters, like their environs, develop little. Such is Brooklyn.

Compared to this movie cutting the lawn would be fun

[honesty · 4/10 · 18 December 1998]

There's not much I can say that could be taken as flattering except that it didn't go on any longer than it did. I didn't pay very much for this movie when I bought it but I felt bad when I sold it knowing that it was not worth what I got for it. Save your money and get a root canal instead.

The cinema of Paul Morrisey.

[Captain_Couth · 8/10 · 15 October 2003]

Former Factory alumni Paul Morrisey's Spike of Bensonhurst(1988) is a funny film about the streets of Brooklyn. Like most of his other films, this one's an acquired taste. You either love Morrisey's work or you hate it. Spike is a punk kid who also happens to be a lousy club fighter.

He's always in and out of trouble, making life miserable for every one around him. Then one day, Spike makes a very stupid decision that'll nearly destroy his life. You might want to call this movie a lowlife Rocky. I highly recommend this film. I enjoyed it and you might too! Sasha Mitchell is Spike, Ernest Borgnine, Talisa Soto, Rick Aviles (R.I.P.) and Sylvia Miles also co-star.

Check it out. If you can find it!

Funny. . .Offbeat. . . Offensive. . .Weird

[directjw · 10/10 · 26 February 1999]

This is one strange movie, and that's why I love it so much. The actors overact, the lead actor is a jerk, his Portuguese sidekick is a riot, and the last scene is strangely touching and uplifting. Oh, and the dialogue has to be heard to be believed. No, this is no Godfather, but I doubt that that was Paul Morrissey's intention. If you don't take it too seriously, you're in for one strange, fun viewing. Oh, and the Spanish pop music soundtrack by Coati Mundi is just great! I'm not joking, either. . . Gus Van Sant should have remade this instead of Psycho.

A Truly Informed, Brilliant Satire Crying Out For Release On DVD.

[griffinmill27516 · 10/10 · 23 April 2008]

Alan Bowne, sadly, will not be around to enjoy SPIKE's reemergence (assuming that Image gets off its ass and publishes a long-awaited anamorphic DVD release); but the film's many fans will rejoice. Image published a pan-and-scan transfer on LaserDisc in 1989.

In other reviews of the film on this site, some (perhaps myopic?) individuals skewer SPIKE for its depiction of certain Italian characters - failing to notice that the foibles of women, Jews, gays, Puerto Ricans and W.A.S.P.s share equal billing. Morrissey & Bowne's targets were hypocrisy and bigotry. The score - a double bullseye.

Viva Spike Of Bensonhurst. While we're asking, may we have an official DVD release of Andy Warhol's BAD, another classic of the period?

Great Movie!

[ragusj · 9/10 · 7 August 2005]

This movie was great, especially if you grew up in that time period in those neighborhoods. A lot of this movie was filmed in my area, Ridgewood, Queens. Most of the acting was a little cheesy, and some were even awful. But overall it was a great movie. I haven't seen this movie in a long time, and finally found a copy somewhere out west, at a store that went under. I was just reading the actors profiles, and saw the the actor who played the bandana died in 1995. That is a tragic loss. Great actor and funny guy. If there are any people out there who felt the same about this movie, let me know. And if you haven't seen it, you should, but just remember, don't be too harsh with comments, it's an old movie..LOL

Not what it seems.

[Aner-2 · 7 March 1999]

This is an odd movie. The script and acting are toned-down John Waters, the plot structure is no more than it has to be (and sometimes not even that), but the look of the film, especially the composition of shots, is beautiful, careful, and coldly objective. Morrissey has a unique eye, demonstrated on the cheap in "Trash" and displayed here in surreal, over-saturated color.

Relax and enjoy

[imyjr · 8/10 · 22 March 2003]

I have been an advocate of this movie since it came out. It is charming and endearing. Sasha Mitchell exudes a natural warmth that grabs your attention and leaves you smiling. The movie is well written, well acted and well produced. On its own terms, this is an entertainement that gives much pleasure which lingers long after you've seen it. It is well worth renting.

classic........

[beedub411 · 7 February 2003]

Those of you who (Italians) are taking this movie seriously need to ease up. I truly believe this was a comedy. Satire has to be exaggerated. Since all you Brooklynites seem to be taking offense, have you ever watched Saturday Night Live? Do you understand the concept of satire? Borgnine's performance was over the top and Sylvia Miles as the coke-sniffing Congresswoman was a laugh riot.

Sasha was charming and his mother was comical. Sorry guys, this was light comedy that poked fun at Italians/Puerto Ricans/Jews. Give it a rest, there are plenty of better movies that put Italians in a bad light. I bet you all watch The Sopranos every Sunday huh?

Never judge a video by it's cover!

[harlemsushi · 10/10 · 18 June 2004]

In life, just as in boxing there are rules that one must abide by. Despite knowing these rules, Spike Fumo chooses to march to the beat of his own drum. Unfortunately, at times the beat is out of synch with the tune of reality.

Sasha Mitchell plays Spike Fumo; a native Bensonhurst Brooklynite whose grasp out seeds his reach. His father is serving a prison term for a crime he took the fall on to protect a local mob boss. His mother has taken up with another woman in her husbands absence and moved her lover into the house. Despite tall this, Spike has aspirations of becoming a boxing champion/mobster and thinks his Italian heritage is enough to carry him on the road to both. And such begins Spike of Bensonhurst. Paul Morrissy of the Andy Warhol fame directs this picture but try not to hold that against the movie. To his credit, during filming; Sasha Mitchell almost broke his back trying to carry the entire project on his shoulders with little to no avail. But, if you pause step back and look at the story line as a whole; the plot is amazing.

Spike is a club fighter who tries to impress local mob boss Baldo Cacetti by throwing fights. When he sees that is getting him nowhere fast, he quickly decides to get Baldo's daughter Angel pregnant and carve out a niche for himself. As a result, Spike gets him exiled from Bensonhurst. He is forced to move to Red Hook with Bandana (a fellow boxer) and his Puerto Rican family. Things then really start to spiral out of control when Spike falls for Bandana's sister, India and gets her pregnant as well. He finds himself between a rock and a hard place with a pregnant girl on each side pushing both in on him. If William Shakespeare were a filmmaker, this is the type of film he'd be making! It has everything: familial drama, sly comedy, prearranged marriages, unrequited love, crime, and a refreshingly flawed lead character who for once does not have all the answers and is free to make his own mistakes. (But trust me, The Bard would have done a far better job than some washed-up reject from Andy Warhol's factory.)

I believe that this film went wrong in 2 places. First off, there wasn't enough of an on-screen relationship developed between Spike and India. In fact, it seemed that Spike's furlough into Red Hook as a whole was more delegated to comic relief status when it could have been very revealing to Spike's character as a whole. I never felt I knew if Spike was involved with India because he just wanted a piece or if he actually found comfort in her arms. In one scene, Spike stared at India from bar of the club they were at while she was dancing with another man, and you knew that Spike felt a sense of guilt but you never know why.

Secondly, this film without a doubt possesses the worst soundtrack of all time. I'd rather listen to a tape an endless tape of Gilbert Godfried reading the phone book than to pop the soundtrack to this bad boy in my CD player. Trust me, mere language cannot convey how bad the music is. All in all, Spike of Bensonhurst is a film that deserves viewing. It's a film that is a dying breed. Part Anti-Rocky and part Shakespearean tragedy that is largely uneven and possess lots of the drawbacks of both. What it does possess, are enough genuine moments throughout to make you realize that his could have been so much more. Don't listen to any of the negative reviews on this for this film that other people have written. As a matter of fact, you can pretty much throw the positive ones out the window also and make up your own mind.

A Mob Film Classic

[David_Brown · 10/10 · 27 September 2010]

This film is an absolute mob film classic, and it may be the most under-appreciated film in the past 30 years. First off, it was done by a company (Film Dallas) that went bankrupt, so it may never end up on DVD (So it will not have a large audience). More to the point, what the film is about is honor, and doing the right thing, which Spike does throughout the film (Albeit reluctantly). Spike has a code of ethics (The OLD Itallian way of doing things), which is quite different than the other characters in the film (Especially his parents (not just his lesbian mother). I can tell you that if I went to jail, and my wife turned lesbian, she would not be back in my house, like nothing happened) Spoilers coming. First, Spike saves the life of a Puerto Rican fighter named Bandana (Rick Aviles) from a gang of racists. Then he refuses to throw a fight, and gets his knuckles smashed with a meat hammer for his efforts, then after getting India (Talisa Soto) pregnant, he marries her (They have another kid as well (In addition to the kid he has with Angel), finally he refuses any help from Baldo Cacetti the local Don (Ernest Borgnine), and becomes a police officer (Instead of a low level thug, or some kind of follower). Perhaps what is most interesting is the end of the movie, where it is Baldo (Not Angel and her elite University Graduate husband (Who is still a criminal, although a more sophisticated version)), who brings his grandson over to visit Spike, India, and his half brother. He is the one who knows and more importantly understands that Spike followed the old ways of doing things, and did not compromise his values, and thus, deserves the respect for not taking the easy way out.

Finally for those who think the stereotypes people, it really does not. What it shows, are very weak people (The Congresswoman, Bandana's mother, Angel, Spike's parents etc) who will do whatever they think is necessary to survive (Even if it is wrong)). The only ones to rise above it all are Spike and India. A superior film.

Why is everyone so down on this movie?

[ericl-2 · 19 August 1999]

Spike of Bensonhurst is a lot of fun. It's an only slightly idealized look at life in Brooklyn's ethnic enclaves in the 1980s, by former Warhol co-conspirator Paul Morrissey. With amusing and well deployed performances by Mitchell and by Borgnine as the neighborhood Mob boss he runs afoul of, it's one of the few Brooklyn- or New York-set movies from that era that actually looks like it was filmed there, not on a set. (Even Martin Scorcese's films of the period - although not his 1970s movies, of course - look slick by comparison.)

Maybe people don't like the fact that Spike implies strongly that life goes on even amidst crack, ethnic violence, and corruption and doesn't preach about these things - just presents them as facts of the local situation, without letting them get in the way of humor? Somehow, the movie leaves you amused and feeling good in spite or even because of some of the more graphic stuff it shows you.

If Rocky had no ambition

[frobrousa · 10/10 · 16 February 2004]

Contains Spoilers!!

This is a hilarious, non-P.C. spoof of Rocky in which our hero is too handsome to fight in anything but rigged bouts, yet he thinks he can be a contender. What he really wants, however, is to impress the Bensonhurst mafia boss enough to land a cushy job working for organized crime. Spike is a likable guy, who in any other movie would emerge as the triumphant hero. His problem is that he doesn't have any ambition, and there are some misunderstandings as the plot unfolds, so life deals him some tough lessons. Not only a hilarious movie, but sincerely touching too. Look for Mrs. Benjamin Bratt in her first role.

Follow Up

[januszlvii · 10/10 · 2 July 2021]

I wrote a review of Spike Of Bensonhurst 11 years ago ( I called it a Mob Film Classic) and it is.. I am following up because of the comments good and bad. First off you really need to be from New York to get the movie. Next, and this is very different for a movie, is Spike has two love interests ( both of whom he gets pregnant), the tomboyish but beautiful secondary one ( India) is the one he ends up with. She is actually the better selection. Why? 1: First and foremost he really loves only India. The other woman ( Angel) says "Are you marrying me or my father" ( a powerful Mafia Don named Baldo Cacetti)and Spike says "Whatever." By comparison, he gets jealous when India dances with another guy. 2:,Beneath it all Spike is a good person. Watch how he saves the Puerto Rican boxer Bandanna ( India's brother) from being beaten up and leads people against drug dealers in Red Hook, As for India, she is actually perfect for him. She rarely speaks but has everything under control (including Spike). Spoilers ahead: At the end, they live in a small apartment with two children ( they had another kid), in economically disadvantaged Red Hook, but they are happy which no one else in the entire film is. Take Spike's parents. He is in prison and his wife becomes a lesbian. When he gets out the other woman leaves and they act like happy husband and wife, or Angel and her Ivy League but mobster husband. She actually says to her husband about her son "He looks like Spike" and her husband says nothing. In the end, Spike was smart enough to put love above anything else and was rewarded with India. Ps. You can now find the movie online @ Youtube.

A talented cast can only do so much with this material

[Wizard-8 · 1 April 2017]

Maybe you have to be from Bensonhurst and the surrounding area to appreciate this movie fully. I am not, and that may explain why this movie didn't interest me that much. With the impressive line of actors in the movie (both well known and unknown), it should have worked, but it doesn't. The cast tries, but their parts are written to be more or less stereotypes you have seen in countless other movies. Also, the storyline is really garbled; for most of the time it seems to be rambling much about nothing particular, though there are also some plot details that are really murky, as if they were edited out or not filmed in the first place. The biggest problem, however, is that while the movie is supposedly a comedy, it isn't very funny at all. Don't get me wrong, the writing never gets to be annoying or strident in tone, but it is uninspired and lame all the same.

To be fair, director (and co-writer) Paul Morrissey does manage to create some great atmosphere; you can really feel the heat and grit in the air. But in the end, about the only interest the movie manages to generate is having the viewer wonder why the Pepsi corporation though it was a good idea to let the filmmakers make multiple plugs for Diet Pepsi throughout the movie.

spike is bensonhurst ten rate

[orangebirds · 10/10 · 15 September 2002]

this has to be the best movie ever made (next to fletch). i wouldn't be the person i am today if it weren't for seeing this movie as a little kid. no, i'm not joking. i think it's funny as hell. i wish i could have it for dvd. my vhs is wearing thin. long live spike.

Great Movie

[halnelson · 10/10 · 15 May 2019]

Real fun to watch, Any Italian-American that doesn't recognize the characters must also hate The Godfather, The Sopranos, and Goodfellas for their portrayals. My children were young teens when this came out, and it is one of those films where we all still say phases from it and laugh. Has a great soundtrack of Italian pop songs too, most by Ricchi e Proveri.