King of New York

Play trailer

1:39

King of New York

R

1990

1h 44m

Crime

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

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.

Read Critics Reviews

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.

Go to Full Review

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.

Go to Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

05/04/2006

B+

Deliciously indecent.

Go to Full Review

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….

Go to Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Jan 6

3.5/4

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

Go to Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

12/02/2022

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

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

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.

See more

Ken W

Sep 27

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

See more

Calvin T

@Calvin504 Aug 22

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

See more

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

See more

steve s

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.

See more

Meredith S

Apr 24

I heard a movie reviewer I follow on Instagram say this was right up there with Goodfellas. I figured it was worth another watch since I hadn't seen it for a couple decades so rewatched. Nope! I enjoy Walken but this movie was BAD -- sure it had okay moments but to compare it to Goodfellas is criminal!

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Abel Ferrara

Director

Christopher Walken

Frank White

David Caruso

Dennis Gilley

Laurence Fishburne

Jimmy Jump

Victor Argo

Roy Bishop

Wesley Snipes

Thomas Flanigan

New Jack City

81%

80%

New Jack City

Watchlist

Mobsters

9%

57%

Mobsters

Watchlist

Johnny Handsome

60%

48%

Johnny Handsome

Watchlist

Tango & Cash

31%

52%

Tango & Cash

Watchlist

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

0%

35%

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

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

King of New York: Trailer 1

1:39

View more videos

View more photos

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

Most Popular at Home Now