Rubble Kings

Released Jun 19, 2015

1h 11m

Documentary

List

75%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Former gang members discuss the lifestyle and culture of roaming through the streets of New York in the 1970s.

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Audience Member

Pequeño pero intenso documental sobre las pandillas de Nueva York en los 1970s, narrado como una heroica épica sobre sus guerras tribales, en donde una tregua devino en el hip hop, el rap, el break dance, los DJs, y otros géneros musicales suburbanos modernos.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Rubble Kings is a documentary detailing New York gang activity in the late 60s and early 70s, which inspired the cult movie The Warriors. The movie features interviews with members of the gangs and details the history both positive and negative. Things I Liked: The Historical Influence. I found the subject interesting and it was interesting to see how it has shaped much of the culture later on after they were past their height and especially how the movie The Warriors was influenced by them. Things I Didn't Like: The Lack of Interest. Maybe this is just me but I found the narrative and characters very hard to follow and the subject doesn't hold your interest for very long. By the time this was over I was thanking the stars that I could move on with my life. Which is never how I want to leave a movie, Overall. Overall the documentary has enough interest to grab your attention but then it loses it very quickly after that. The subject isn't incredibly appealing and by the end you don't care about the documentary at all unfortunately.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A great doco on the gang wars of NY, the peace, and then the birth of hip hop and the rise of Afrika Bambaataa. Unbelievably only one hour long!!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Good documentary. sad how a community can change itself somewhat for the good without the church. my ? is where was the church? Hmm.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

9/15/15 Netflix Interesting story about a time well remembered. Thankfully, there are individuals with vision and a peaceful heart.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I'm a big fan of Walter Hill's classic 'The Warriors' and was shocked to discover, that it was highly influenced on the real life gang culture that existed during the 1970's in New York and in particular The Bronx. My only complaint is, at it was way too short.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Shan Nicholson

Director

John Leguizamo

Narrator

Shan Nicholson

Film Editing

Michael Aguilar

Producer

Dito Montiel

Producer

Jim Carrey

Producer

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Despite its sketchiness, this offers a vivid insight into the rejuvenation of a decaying city through fury, activism and music.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 10, 2015

Full Review

Martin Tsai

Los Angeles Times

Shan Nicholson's film consists of oral histories from the now-reformed gangsters. As such, it can't help but sound a bit embellished, what with all the street monikers and seemingly glorified titles.

Jun 19, 2015

Full Review

Simon Abrams

RogerEbert.com

"Rubble Kings" might have been great. As it is, the film is a one-sided, but satisfying tribute to an alternatively terrifying and beguiling city that we can only revisit in movies.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jun 19, 2015

Full Review

Brian Costello

Common Sense Media

Inspiring docu on hip-hop's roots has some violence, cursing

Rated: 4/5

Apr 18, 2017

Full Review

Rich Cline

Contactmusic.com

The social and economic strife in New York in the sixties and seventies gave birth to one of the most influential and popular subculture's in recent memory, hip-hop.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 1, 2016

Full Review

Collin Brennan

Consequence

Real life is a messy, bloody, haphazard affair, punctuated by soaring highs and crushing lows. Bless the documentarian who strives to make his work the same.

Rated: B

Jun 22, 2015

Full Review

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Synopsis

Former gang members discuss the lifestyle and culture of roaming through the streets of New York in the 1970s.

Director: Shan Nicholson
Screenwriter: Shan Nicholson
Distributor: Saboteur Media
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 19, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 18, 2015
Runtime: 1h 11m

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