King of New York

There is no one like Christopher Walken. It's quite difficult to explain what makes him so unique, so singular in his choices as an actor. His vocal inflections, certainly. His body language. He has this sullen face, seemingly undead, a face full of character. I think the first time I saw him was in the bleak 1981 musical PENNIES FROM HEAVEN, in which he played a dancing pimp. Around that time I also saw his tough performance in THE DOGS OF WAR. Over the years, he's fashioned himself a distinctive place with turns in PULP FICTION, AT CLOSE RANGE, ILLUMINATA, BILOXI BLUES...I always try to forget his embarrassing performance in the James Bond thriller, A VIEW TO A KILL, though flashes of his off-kilter persona shone through despite his unfortunate miscasting.

1990's KING OF NEW YORK, directed by urban bard Abel Ferrara, seems to be an ideal vehicle for Walken's peculiar talents. His character, Frank White, is a Manhattan narcotics kingpin everyone seems to know, for better or worse. After a 5 year prison stretch, he moves into The Plaza Hotel and dispatches his team of mostly African-American hoods to shake down and otherwise waste every Italian and Asian who dares do illicit business without his knowledge and involvement. "If there's a nickel bag passed in the park, I want IN!" he declares. The early moments of this film nicely build and reveal piece by piece who is this man.

There are at 2 back to back scenes that promise a far better movie than Ferrara finally delivers. First, we see Frank and his lovely, blonde attorney getting amorous on the subway when a trio of black youths attempts to rob them. Frank pulls back his jacket to reveal a glock, then tosses them a wad of bills. "Look me up at the the Plaza. I could use your talents." The youths are blindsighted, unsure of what just happened. It's a great moment, a perfect illustration of Frank's fearlessness and unfailing skill at ingratiating even his opponents.

Next scene: Frank visits an old enemy and his poker cronies. After Frank makes a speech about his entrepreneurial spirit (and realizes he is being left out of some profitable, illicit business), and some trash talk retort, he wastes the goombah. Standard scene, at first. But then Walken continues his speech by again offering employment to anyone who's interested. He pauses a few times and pumps more slugs into the corpse. Before he walks out, he turns around and walks away, walks back, keeps talking. Then pumps a few more shells into the corpse.

But the movie does not go on to satisfactorily develop this most fascinating of characters. We do see Frank, in the grand tradition of movie gangsters, donate millions to charity (here, a Harlem hospital) and preach about doing good, giving back to the community. In his mind, he really seems to believe he's some sort of crusader, maybe even a Robin Hood. Never mind the effects of all the junk he sells on the street. But as Frank's story becomes interesting, KING OF NEW YORK then spends a lot (too much, in my opinion) of time with a group of cops (David Caruso and Wesley Snipes among them) who are tired of creeps like Frank being lauded and treated like, well, kings.

One of the officers even recites how he only makes 36K a year while dirtbags in fancy clothes like Frank get all the moolah and glory. The smell of vigilantism wafts strongly, and the film gets scattered with half-realized ideas and loses its quirks. The script is a real mess. We are treated to a series of shootouts and car chases and some fairly standard plot development thereafter. While some of the mayhem is fairly well staged, I get the feeling that Ferrara was not entirely comfortable with action scenes.

This is only the third Ferrara flick I've seen. MS .45 (1981) was a grimily effective exploitation pic that followed a mute rape vitim as she kills every male she encounters. Then there's the NC-17 rated BAD LIEUTENANT, made a few years after KING OF NEW YORK. I was not a big fan of that often unintentionally hilarious Harvey Keitel picture, but it most certainly scored points for audacity and had atmosphere to spare. Quite similiar to that film is KING's repeated imagery of Catholic artifacts. If I went back and watched KING and BAD again more closely (don't hold your breath), I would probably see some themes emerge and connect. The director, it would seem, has more Catholic hang-ups than Scorsese.

But Frank White is an interesting creation and at least the first half of this movie is worth a look. The cinematography is impressive throughout. If Walken had appeared in every scene, I might have thought this a vanity project but I wouldn't have cared; he is that interesting. And he certainly deserved a better final scene....