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

01/06/2025

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

PJ N

@RT83107588 5d

Frank White dancing to Schoolly D all-time great 10 seconds of film. Fishburne cackling under the bridge. Instant memes. Cops didn't qual criminals in bravura here and presence.

See more

Movie D.

@themoviedad Feb 17

If you’re looking for in depth character development in a film, move on. If you want fun, shoot em up, action - press play. I sometimes ridicule movies nowadays on how they are 2-3 hours long and how they work so hard to develop characters before the film really picks up. This one, I wish, did a bit more of that. But, for what it is, it was fun. Not too much storyline to follow, a couple twists and turns to keep you on your toes but all in all just a fun shoot em up gangster flick.

See more

TWMax65

@RT38199094 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!

See more

Eric B

@RT25702656 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

@RT81122974 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

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

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

TRAILER

for Tango & Cash

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