• Friday, September 28, 1990

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  103 min

1990

Drug lord Frank White is released from Sing-Sing prison after serving a number of years for drug trafficking. He is reunited with his former gang, led by the murderous Jimmy Jump, as well as his personal female bodyguards Raye and Melanie, and his lover/legal annalist Jennifer.

After seeing his old neighborhood more dilapidated and depressing than ever, Frank decides to do good by eliminating his competitors whom filled the void left by his incarceration, then steal their money and drugs to finance a new South Bronx hospital for the needy. But Frank's past won't let go of him when a group of overzealous cops, led by corrupt detective Roy Bishop, frustrated at the lack of clues to nail Frank on for the current street killings, decide to take matters into their own hands.

Goofs

• Continuity: In the car chase, the right headlight gets knocked out in the dark sedan, but later shots of the chase show both headlights working on all three cars.
• Continuity: In movie theater, the movie on screen is Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), but the scenes are not in the correct order.
• Continuity: When Bishop is chasing Frank White in the subway, Bishop passes through three cars toward the front of the train, each with the same background extra (a white man in a blue shirt and glasses). Then when Frank White departs the subway after shooting Bishop, it's from the second car from the rear of the train.
• Continuity: During the car chase, the damage on the cop car's rear passenger side door appears and disappears several times.
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Bishop is reviewing Frank White's rap sheet on his computer, the word "parole" is misspelled as "parol", and "personnel" is misspelled as "personel".
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Jump orders food at the chicken place, he asks how much and the clerk says "$56.70." However, in the same scene when Jump asks again, the clerk tell hims "56.90."
• Factual errors: In the scene in which Bishop enters the train to seek White, Bishop enters the #7 train. The #7 train begins at "Main St., Flushing Queens" and terminates at "42nd St. Times Square." The destination of this particular #7 train posts "34th St. Penn Station" as its terminus.
• Revealing mistakes: After the Flanagan character has expired, the actor's exhaled breath is still visible because of the cold conditions in which the scene was shot.

Taglines

• Not everyone who runs a city is elected.
• Where "Scarface" left off... "King of New York" begins.
• The cops tried to stop him their way...Now they'll have to do it HIS way.

Trivias

• James Russo turned down the part Jimmy Jump. Laurence Fishburne, who had already been cast as Thomas Flanagan, persistently begged director Abel Ferrara for an audition for the part. He got the part just by coming in looking exactly as he does in the film and did not have to audition.
• David Caruso convinced director Abel Ferrara and producer Mary Kane to cast Wesley Snipes, as they were working together on a TV series that never materialized during the filming of this film.
• Abel Ferrara was against filming in Sing Sing Prison for the opening sequences of the film.
• The film's opening sequence, featuring Frank White emerging from prison, was shot partially at Sing Sing Prison, the first time the infamous prison had ever been used as a filming location.
• According to director Abel Ferrara, he was paid $5000 to perform the voice-over commentary on the Special Edition DVD released in 2004.
• Most of the "night shots" in the film were shot at either dusk or dawn for the best lighting.
• Christopher Walken's shower scene early in the film was shot in a set constructed by the set designer on a NYC rooftop.
• Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel's frequent lawyer Jay Julien produced and appears in the film in a cameo.
• Director Abel Ferrara and screenwriter Nicholas St. John worked on the screenplay for 5 years. There was very little improvisation on the set.
• The first day shot was the sequence ending with Arty Clay (Frank Gio) urinating on Joey Dalesio's (Paul Calderon) shoes.

Awards

1. Independent Spirit Award
   Event: Independent Spirit Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Cinematography
   Recipient(s): Bojan Bazelli
2. Best Film
   Event: Mystfest
   Result: Nominated
   Category:
   Recipient(s): Abel Ferrara
3. Best Direction
   Event: Mystfest
   Result: Won
   Category:
   Recipient(s): Abel Ferrara