Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
King of New York
Christopher Walken is the dogged drug-lord determined to keep his empire together, in Abel Ferrarra's brutally gritty crime thriller.
Crime 1990 103 mins
Director: Abel Ferrara
Overview
After being released from prison, drug-lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) faces a fight to keep his empire together. He decides to go for the jugular and employ the most brutal tactics to retain his prominence. But his unstable approach to business management threatens to take down the whole venture.
An enfant terrible of the video-nasty era (Driller Killer, Ms. 45) who seemed to quieten as the '80s progressed, Ferrarra returned to prominence with this convincingly budgeted crime saga as the nineties began. Following it up with his legendary Bad Lieutenant, Ferrarra firmly re-established himself as NYC's grittiest filmmaker. The film also marked something of a turning point for Christopher Walken. Having carved a niche as a character actor largely confined to oddball supporting turns, his lead role here also showcased his suitability for playing psychotic criminals with a certain glint-eyed glee. Walken is himself supported here by a superb cast including Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo, Wesley Snipes and Steve Buscemi.
Contains strong bloody violence and hard drug useAccessibility
Related
Crime
The Goalie's Anxiety At The Penalty Kick
Crime 1971 103 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Unavailable for three decades, Wim Wenders’ 1972 classic about an errant footballer who turns to crime; restored and remastered in stunning 4K.
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler Part 1 (The Great Gambler - A Picture of the Time)
Crime 1922 155 mins Silent Director: Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang's legendary epic of silent cinema, following the diabolical crimes of the titular arch-villain, is a masterpiece of conspiracy, fear and paranoia.
Dr Mabuse, the Gambler Part 2 (Inferno, A Game for the People of Our Age)
Crime 1922 115 mins Silent Director: Fritz Lang
The second part of Fritz Lang's legendary epic of silent cinema, following the diabolical crimes of the titular arch-villain.
Mystery Road
Crime 2013 121 mins Director: Ivan Sen
An Aboriginal cop returns to his hometown to solve the brutal murder teenage girl, uncovering a web of corruption and a growing body count, in Ivan Sen's acclaimed Australian riff on the Western genre.
Frozen River
Crime 2008 93 mins Director: Courtney Hunt
Nominated for two Oscars (Best Actress – Melissa Leo - and Best Original Screenplay) Frozen River is a riveting thriller that raises questions about the borders we construct, between countries, communities and each other.
L'Assassino
Crime 1961 98 mins Director: Elio Petri
Elio Petri’s dazzling first feature stars Marcello Mastroianni as dandyish antiques dealer arrested for murder by a Kafkaesque police force.
Most Popular Films of 2017
Immoral Tales
Anthology 1974 103 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk presents four stories of sexual taboos throughout the ages, in his highly controversial classic of 1970s erotic cinema.
Symptoms
Drama 1974 91 mins Director: José R. Larraz
The official British Palme d'Or entry at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, Symptoms is a sophisticated modern gothic horror film exploring the themes of sexual repression and psychosis.
The Incident
Drama 2015 94 mins Director: Jane Linfoot
Jane Linfoot's clinically constructed study of guilt, betrayal, responsibility concerns a comfortable family whose seemingly perfect lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil.
Vivre sa vie
Drama 1962 83 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Anna Karina shines in Jean-Luc Godard’s critically acclaimed account of a Parisian woman's slow descent into prostitution.
Face
Crime 1997 101 mins Director: Antonia Bird
Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.
Kelly + Victor
Drama 2012 90 mins Director: Kieran Evans
In modern Liverpool, a couple meet and begin a transgressive, sexually charged affair set against a background of crime and encroaching danger.
Featuring Christopher Walken
Dark Horse
Drama 2011 86 mins Director: Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz directs Selma Blair and Jordan Gelber in this delightfully dark satire as romance blooms between a toy collector and a depressed woman.
Directed by Abel Ferrara
Pasolini
Biopic 2014 84 mins Director: Abel Ferrara
Willem Dafoe plays the controversial filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in this dark, daring drama about the director’s final days, from Abel Ferrara.
New
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
Horror 1991 81 mins Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto's sequel has the Iron Man transforming into a cyberkinetic gun when a gang of vicious skinheads kidnap his son.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Fantasy 1988 67 mins Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto's wild cyberpunk tale of a businessman's agonising transformation into a walking scrap heap is a jaggedly dehumanised vision of the future.
Power in Our Hands
Documentary 2015 75 mins Director: Angela Spielsinger
Ground-breaking documentary that uses archive film to tell the story of the British Deaf community’s fight for civil rights.
Traps
Comedy 1998 116 mins Director: Vera Chytilová
Věra Chytilová's dark, post-communist comedy. After a veterinary surgeon is sexually assaulted by two men, she uses her particular expertise in castraton to exact her revenge…
Something Different
Drama 1963 81 mins Director: Vera Chytilová
Věra Chytilová's first feature is an important work of women's cinema, which contrasts the parallel stories of a gymnast (filmed as documentary) and a housewife (told as fiction).
Fruit of Paradise
Drama 1969 99 mins Director: Vera Chytilová
Věra Chytilová's symbolic retelling of the Adam and Eve story is a ravishing tapestry of ideas, textures, and visual tropes.