King of New York

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1:39

King of New York

R

1990

1h 44m

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

74%

Tomatometer

31 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

A crime lord plots to take control of New York's underground drug economy and distribute the profits to the poor.

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Critics Consensus

King of New York covers familiar narrative ground with impressive style -- and leaves plenty of room for its talented cast to deliver gripping performances.

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Variety Staff

Variety

03/26/2009

Complementing Walken's bravura turn are equally flamboyant performances by David Caruso as the young Irish cop out to destroy Walken, and Larry Fishburne as Walken's slightly crazy aide-de-camp.

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

06/24/2006

A film which, despite splendid location work, lurches sloppily and messily from kill to kill, orgy to orgy, coke to crack, clich to clich.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

05/04/2006

B+

Deliciously indecent.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Jul 23

5/5

…King of New York’s grim fantasy clicks because it reflects a time when the battle between law and disorder was taken directly to the streets, with Christopher Walken bestriding the bloodshed like a kingpin colossus in Abel Ferrara's brisk crime drama….

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

01/06/2025

3.5/4

...a progressively engrossing piece of work that benefits from its remarkably captivating central performance...

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

12/02/2022

This is the abysmal background of a sort of vomitive cinema. [Full review in Spanish]

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TWMax65

Dec 28

The gang violence, some of the dialogue, and the more tense scenes/kills are what make the movie entertaining. Sure one can say that it lacks some depth and character development and I do recognize that, but I actually personally liked watching this movie! Christopher Walken is a legend on screen no matter what kind of movie he’s in!

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Eric B

Sep 29

Worst movie I've seen in years, no plot, no character arc, meaningless symbolism, no suspense. Proves to show some scripts cannot be saved even by an a list cast. I watched Christopher Walken stare into the blankness multiple times as if thinking why did I agree to this film, and I felt it with him.

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Ken W

Sep 27

Great cast but, felt like it was filmed in 3 days with almost no script.

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Calvin T

@Calvin504 Aug 22

Good but it wasn't better than the other mob movies

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Derek H

Aug 21

Wow this movie sucks so bad. There’s no story line, no character development. This is a low-IQ “damn, dude got shot! N**** mothaf****” 90’s garbage hahaha

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steve s

@stsch Jun 26

absolutely horrible. no plot, no character development. just a lot of shooting, car chases, and blood. what little there was of a story made absolutely no sense. women are no more than scantily dressed arm candy.

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Abel Ferrara

Director

Christopher Walken

Frank White

David Caruso

Dennis Gilley

Laurence Fishburne

Jimmy Jump

Victor Argo

Roy Bishop

Wesley Snipes

Thomas Flanigan

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Further Reading: Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker in Abel Ferrara’s Mary

King of New York: Trailer 1

1:39

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Synopsis

A crime lord plots to take control of New York's underground drug economy and distribute the profits to the poor.

Director: Abel Ferrara
Producer: August Caminito, Mary Kane
Distributor: Artisan Entertainment, Live Video, Image Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: The Rank Organization [gb], Caminito, Scena International, Reteitalia
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 28, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.6M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, Surround, Stereo

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