King of New York

For the Charlie Chaplin film, see A King in New York.

King of New York
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abel Ferrara
Produced by	Augusto Caminito Mary Kane
Written by	Nicholas St. John
Starring	Christopher Walken Laurence Fishburne David Caruso Wesley Snipes
Music by	Joe Delia
Cinematography	Bojan Bazelli
Editing by	Anthony Redman
Distributed by	Seven Arts Pictures (through New Line Cinema)
Release date(s)	September 22, 1990 (limited)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Italy United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$2,554,476

King of New York is a 1990 American crime drama film, starring Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Victor Argo, and Giancarlo Esposito. It was directed by independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St. John.

Plot

The film opens with Frank White (Christopher Walken), a wealthy and powerful drug lord riding by private limousine into New York over the Queensboro Bridge after being released on parole from Sing Sing from serving time on drug-related charges. Emilio El Zapa (Freddy Howard), a Colombian drug dealer enters a telephone booth where he is almost immediately gunned-down by three assailants. As the hit men leave, one of them drops a newspaper headline onto Zapa's lap which announces Frank White's release.

Across town, Zapa's partner, King Tito (Ernest Abuse) sits in a hotel room with Jimmy Jump (Fishburne) and Test Tube (Buscemi), a pair of gangsters who are negotiating the purchase of several kilograms of cocaine. The two give Tito a suitcase in payment for the drugs, but Tito discovers that the suitcase is full of tampons instead of money. When an anger filled Tito says "What the fuck is this?!" Jump responds with the line: "They're for the bullet holes, Púta!" Jump and Test Tube then shoot Tito and his bodyguards to death and steal the cocaine.

A few hours later in the presidential suite at the Plaza Hotel, Frank White steps out of the shower to discover that Jump, Test Tube and the three phone booth killers are waiting for him. They are revealed to be the main members of his gang and they welcome him home with a gift of champagne and Zapa's briefcase full of money as well as Tito's leather gloves. Frank leaves to meet two of his lawyers, Joey Dalesio (Paul Calderón) and Jennifer (Janet Julian) for dinner.

After the dinner, Frank expresses his desire to be elected mayor and asks Daley to set up a meeting with Mafia boss Arty Clay (Frank Gio). He and Jennifer leave to take a ride on the subway, where it is revealed that she is one of his many mistresses. Upon being confronted by three muggers (led by Harold Perrineau), Frank first brandishes his gun then gives them a wad of money, telling them to ask for him at the Plaza Hotel if they want work.

In Little Italy, Dalesio attempts to set up Frank's meeting with Arty Clay but the crime lord refuses. Clay urinates on Dalesio's shoes and tells him it is a message for his boss. On hearing this, Frank, Jump and several other members of the gang arrive at Clay's social club, where Frank tells Clay that he wants a percentage of all Clay's profits. When Clay refuses and insults him, Frank draws his gun and empties it into the mafioso. As he makes his way out, Frank announces to Clay's henchmen that if they don't want to be robbed by the likes of Clay they can all find employment at the Plaza.

The next night, Frank confronts a councilman about the city's failure to continue the funding of a hospital in a poverty-stricken area of the South Bronx. When the councilman explains that there wasn't enough money in the budget, Frank vows to fund the facility himself. Moments later he is confronted by Detective Roy Bishop (Victor Argo) and his right-hand men, Dennis Gilley (David Caruso) and Thomas Flanigan (Wesley Snipes), three members of the NYPD's narcotics squad, who tell him that they are taking him to police headquarters for questioning. Instead the three drive him to an abandoned lot where they show him the body of Emilio El Zapa in the trunk of their car. When Frank refuses to confess to the crime, Gilley and Flanigan beat him. After Bishop warns Frank that he will be stopped, the cops then drive off, leaving Frank to find his own way home.

Ignoring Bishop's warnings Frank sends Dalesio to Chinatown to make contact with Larry Wong (Joey Chin), a local Triad gang leader who possesses 100 kilos of cocaine, worth over $15 million on the street. Larry is leery of dealing with Frank, especially after the killing of Arty Clay. He demands that Frank meet him alone on neutral ground to discuss the deal. As the meeting is being scheduled Jimmy Jump and several of Frank's top lieutenants are arrested by Gilley and Flanigan, who reveal that one of Tito's bodyguards is alive and willing to testify against them.

Meeting at the hospital he wants to save, Frank attempts to hammer out a deal with Larry. The Triad demands $3 million up front and another $500,000 after the drugs are sold but Frank counters that since the drugs are worth over five times that amount on the street the two team up, with Larry providing the drugs and Frank providing the dealers, then split the profits evenly. When Frank insists that part of the profits be directed into funding the hospital, Larry turns him down and demands that Frank decide immediately whether he want to buy the drugs for $3.5 million or not at all. Frank declines and the two part ways.

Returning to the Plaza Frank learns of his men's arrest and orders his lawyers to arrange their release. Frank sends his limousine to the police station to pick up Jump and his men and they head directly to Chinatown where they massacre Larry Wong and his gang in a shootout; they then find the stockpiles of Larry Wong's cocaine in large barrels marked for MSG in a basement storage.

With the money gained from selling the Triad's cocaine, Frank sets up a fundraiser hosted by singer Freddie Jackson to raise funds for the hospital. Witnessing this latest outrage on TV, Gilley, Flanigan and several like-minded officers resolve to use extrajudicial means to get rid of Frank despite Bishop's objections. Posing as drug dealers, they bribe Joey Dalesio into leading them to the nightclub where Frank and most of his men are partying. Catching the criminals unawares, the hit squad bursts in with guns blazing, succeeding in slaying all of Frank's girlfriends and some of his gang.

Fleeing over the Queensboro Bridge, Frank and Jump trade shots with the police, killing all of them except Gilley and Flanigan. After momentarily giving their pursuers the slip the two men split up, with Jump staying behind to deal with the two cops. Sneaking up on Flanigan, Jump shoots him five times in the chest, puncturing his ballistic vest. Gilley shoots Jump several times in the chest and abdomen and after pausing to attempt CPR, kills Jump with a single shot to the head. A few days later at Flanigan's funeral, Frank kills Gilley with a single shotgun blast to the head.

That night, after watching his surviving henchmen kill Dalesio for ratting out to the cops, Frank shows up at Roy Bishop's apartment, telling him that he has placed a $250,000 bounty on every detective involved on the case, including Bishop. Holding Bishop at gunpoint, Frank explains that he killed Tito, Larry, Arty Clay, Zapa and their affiliates simply because he disapproved of their business practices, which included the exploitation of immigrants and child prostitution. When Bishop asks: "Did you really think you could get away with killing all these people?" Frank replies with the most often-quoted line of the film: "I never killed anybody who didn't deserve it."

His business seemingly concluded, Frank forces Bishop to handcuff himself to a chair before taking his leave. As Frank escapes down to the subway, Bishop uses a gun from a nearby drawer to free himself and gives chase. Following Frank into a subway car, Bishop corners him causing Frank to take a woman hostage. During the standoff, Frank fires on Bishop killing him but not before the policeman is able to fire a last shot. Escaping from the train car and into a nearby taxi in Times Square, Frank looks down to see that he has been hit. As police officers surround the car, Frank closes his eyes and goes limp in his seat. The last image of the film is his gun falling limply to his side.

Reception

During the film's premiere at the New York Film Festival, many members of the audience including Ferrara's wife walked out of the theater. At the question-and-answer session that Ferrara held after the screening, the first question asked was, "This film is an abomination. Why aren't you giving the proceeds to some drug rehab program?" At a second showing of the film the next day, Laurence Fishburne and Nicholas St. John were booed off the stage. Subsequently, the reaction from critics has been positive, and the film holds a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews.

Cast

• Christopher Walken - Frank White
• Laurence Fishburne - Jimmy Jump
• David Caruso - Dennis Gilley
• Victor Argo - Roy Bishop
• Janet Julian - Jennifer
• Wesley Snipes - Thomas Flanigan
• Steve Buscemi - Test Tube
• Paul Calderón - Joey Dalesio
• Giancarlo Esposito - Lance
• Theresa Randle - Raye
• John Turturro - Eddie
• Frank Adonis - Paul Calgari

External links

• King of New York at the Internet Movie Database
• King of New York at Box Office Mojo