King of the City

R

1985

1 hr. 37 min.

Crime

Drama

List

Reviews

17%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

A motocross rider (Tom Parsekian) moves to Hollywood and works for a nightclub owner (Tony Curtis) in trouble with mobsters.

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Audience Member

A dirt bike racer goes to Hollywood to "make it" but I guess that means working as club bouncer since he tries nothing else. The dirt bike racing seemed more exciting. Serious effort by Troma who appeared to try too hard to make a hit soundtrack.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

A dirt bike racer goes to Hollywood to "make it" but I guess that means working as club bouncer since he tries nothing else. The dirt bike racing seemed more exciting. Serious effort by Troma who appeared to try too hard to make a hit soundtrack.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Motocross racer trades his bike for Hollywood dreams. It starts out well, gaining quick promotion from the club parking lot to a bouncer; although it seems half his work time is spent on the dance floor. A product of its time, featuring an in-bar funeral for a bouncer--one of many tragic ends.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

This is a Parks film I'd been dying to see for ages. I'm very glad I included it in my Greatest Parks Performances artcle, as it is indeed one of his coolest performances and a gem of a film. It's not as good as Road House (comparisons are unavoidable), but it's a really decent venture in its own right. I really didn't expect Parks to get killed of so quickly. Before he went though, we got a few great scenes with him like the James Dean one and the unnecessarily aggressive training one. His actual death was great too, though I thought it stupid that there wasn't any blood, even though he was shot several times. We get some interesting and intricate cheesy 80s dancing, hints of a mobster film with the pressure that's placed on Parks and Parsekian's boss (the club owner), and some interesting action (nunchucks!). We sympathise with Parsekian's protagonist as he endures both the loss of Tank and the club's owner, but the ending was a little anti-climactic I thought, as he basically just lets his anger out on the club itself, then leaves. He seemed a bit too passive about going after these guys the whole film - he basically didn't bother and only fought if they attacked him instead. Allegedly Tarantino's (a big Parks fan) Michael Madsen line about "getting Tanked" in Kill Bill Vol.2 is an homage to Tank's character. I can see why he would go to the effort to give a nod to this film. A very good and unfortunately mostly now forgotten gem.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Norman Thaddeus Vane

Director

Tom Parsekian

Cal

Tony Curtis

Hector

Michael Parks

Tank

Jamie Barrett

Sissy

Bleu MacKenzie

Button Man

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Synopsis

A motocross rider (Tom Parsekian) moves to Hollywood and works for a nightclub owner (Tony Curtis) in trouble with mobsters.

Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Sound Mix: Surround