Rent King of New York (1990)

Classic pioneering crime drama - King of New York review by MB

King of New York was a film that was ahead of its time, that is now rightly regarded as a classic.

Featuring a stellar cast that includes great performances from Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, David Caruso amongst others, the film of full of good performances from the supporting cast. Fishburne in particular plays a fantastic part as Jimmy Jump, the sidekick and assassin for Walken's Frank White character.

White is a powerful New York gangster with connections in high places, he is released from prison where he has spent a lot of his life. In the film he surrounds himself with gang members from the streets of New York. This was one of the first mainstream films, if I remember correctly, that featured hip hop culture (Boyz N The Hood came out a year later), there is a great soundtrack from pioneering rapper Schoolly D that features throughout the film, alongside that powerful and atmospheric score based on Vivaldi.

The film looks fantastic, great cinematography and lighting, with the scenes having a great atmosphere, something that Director Abel Ferrara talks about in the commentary (which is definitely worth listening to, there is also some great extras and interviews on the disc, which are worth watching), he also sings an acoustic version of Schoolly D's title track!

I watched this on Bluray and it looked great, the only criticism I have is that you need to check the audio settings and make sure you select the DTS-HD 2.0 version rather than the 5.1 version, first time I watched it I found the sound to be tinny and the dialogue hard to hear, but after changing it I was happy so its not a massive criticism.

An all time classic this one which ended up having a big influence on hip hop culture, Biggie Smalls even used to check in to hotels under the pseudonym Frank White, highly recommended.