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John Flynn was remembered for making gritty realistic dramas, and you'll see by his impressive inventory, the projects he chose. This well made and absorbing drama is no different, and by the end, has become quite impactful movie. Out of work, merchant seaman (Jan Michael Vincent) gets dealt a really bad hand, where he has to tough it out in a derelict apartment, in the more lower class, crime ridden New York. A real scary black gang called The Souls, who get more scary as the movie progresses, run this lower part of New York, where we have tough man (Vincent) as the first to go up against these bastards, first enduring a bit of bruising for his troubles. Befriending a boy and an old man, once a prize fighter, both now squatting in the tenenment, they form a friendship, as he does with some others, real New Yorker (Aiello) and some other familiar faces, from other mob films, here all good guys. They have all had enough of The Souls s..t, where Vincent could be the one that takes them down and makes one of the great likable hero's out there. It was a great casting choice. This gang really lets you know, they're not one to be messed with, especially if you squeal about their activities, the leader, a very fearful face, one merging with that of Ice T, and Mario Van Peebles. Art Carney is great as a convenient store owner, not of the not so lucky ones. Theresa Saldana is the other great standout one, Vincent's neighbor and romantic interest. She's very good and has the most memorable, such believable performance, but There's good acting by all, and Vincent does the role justice. This is one of those well made, search out 80's movies, a heroic urban tale of will and steel defiance, where the ending, that comes accompanied with a great victorious and inspiring music score, we walk away proud. This is a movie to be proud, a defiant tale that defies, two scenes featuring some heavy impactful violence, but that goes with the territory of this film.
Matthew Stechel
movie was OK-- People seem to either LOVE it or have never heard of it.I didn't love it--i actually thought it was pretty average---but its not a bad watch by any means either. (kinda reminded me of The Substitute actually) Jan Michael Vincent is very Patrick Swayze in this movie. (looks like, sounds like, acts like) This could've been a movie with Patrick Swayze if it was made a decade later.Danny Aiello is fun to see here tho---love the sequence in which he and Jan Michael beat the crap out of the gang leader's car towards the end. (very Mystery Men of them!) If you ever wanna see how gritty NYC was before it got outrageously expensive and overly hipster--you should definitely check this out tho. One of the best things about seeing it was that there was a Q and A with one of the co-stars/writers of the film and he said the studio kept telling him and the cast and crew not too wander too far away from the set when they were shooting at night---otherwise they'd encounter the real version of these guys! (dig that subway station where the gang beats up Jan Michael at the beginning of the film tho--you'd never really think of a subway station as being particularly clean or dirty--cause its the subway--its always gonna be dirty no matter what! but its sparkling clean today compared to how it was back then---and you can see that for yourself here in this movie!) Art Carney is always welcome in my neighborhood tho. (i can't believe young gang-bangers especially in NYC wouldn't recognize Art Carney/Ed Norton---The Honeymooners ran every single night at 11 30 in NYC for years and years and years on a local station---in the early 80's there's no way they wouldn't know of him--even if this is fiction and Art Carney is much older then he was when he was Ed Norton! God help me I will never forgive that actor for having the same name as the sidekick on the honeymooners! its just not right that every time someone mentions Art Carney---the actor Ed Norton has to spring to mind and i gotta specify no not Ed Norton the actor--I mean Ed Norton the character!)
oc_site
I saw this movie for the first time around 10 yrs when it first came out. I thought it was a cool movie then, and still do today. A straight forward plot, and the acting is so-so, but this movie is still a classic that throws back to old-school street gangs. If you like "The Warriors" (another classic in my book), then you should like this one. The leader of the gang's name is "Angel Cruse." How cool is this dude? So cool that he doesn't even fight until the end of the movie. Which is much anticipated throughout the movie with our hero Jan Michael. This movie also has some good dialogue and "one liners" (just like in "the warriors"). Another plus is Danny Aielo in this movie. Quite unknown when this movie came out, but he shines here in my opinion. Check it out!
robbytara
I seen this movie way back in probably 1981 & liked it. I happened to see the last twenty minutes of it on TV a few weeks ago. I decided to buy the VHS tape. All in all I still liked it. Filmed in the older & trashy area of New York City helped the overall feel of the movie. I am a little bias of the movie since I have always been a Jan Michael Vincent fan. I give it a 7/10
