King of New York

Frank White comes out of prison and sets about consolidating the New York drug trade in one hand. He clears out the Colombian and Chinese operations one by one, citing their involvement in trafficking and the exploitation of children as his reason. He plans to keep a hospital that is about to close open with the money. When corrupt detectives try to kill him the reckoning begins, and the film ends on a subway train. Abel Ferrara directed. Christopher Walken plays Frank White and Laurence Fishburne plays one of his crew. It was financed entirely by Italian companies, Hollywood having kept away because of the subject. It was shot in New York in 1989. It first received an X rating and was reduced to R on appeal. The first reviews split. Roger Ebert gave two stars, praising Walken and criticising the screenplay. Later assessments were far warmer; Rotten Tomatoes sits at 74 percent and it is now counted among Ferrara's best. Its influence carried into hip hop. The Notorious B.I.G. took Frank White as a name for himself, and Pop Smoke's 2020 track Christopher Walking refers directly to the character. Who it is for: viewers who like late-eighties New York crime films and want one of Walken's coldest performances. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a moral frame. The film leaves the gap between what the man thinks he is doing and what he does wide open.