Bad Lieutenant

Year of Release:  1992
Director:  Abel Ferrara
Screenplay:  Zoe Lund, Paul Calderon and Abel Ferrara
Starring:  Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Eddie Daniels, Bianca Hunter, Zoe Lund, Vincent Laresca, Frankie Thorn
Running Time:  96 minutes
Genre:  Crime drama

This film from prolific director Abel Ferrara follows an unnamed New York Police Lieutenant (Keitel) who takes cocaine and heroin, swigs from a bottle of vodka while driving, steals drugs from a crime scene, robs thieves and in one very disturbing sequence pulls over two teenage girls (Daniels and Hunter) who are driving illegally and forces them to mime sex acts.  The Lieutenant also has  a severe gambling problem and owes the Mob thousands of dollars which he is unable to pay.  He becomes involved in the investigation into a brutal assault on a young nun (Thorn) when he learns that the Catholic church are offering a large cash reward.  However the nun refuses to identify her attackers, saying that she forgives them.  The Lieutenant embarks on his own spiritual journey.

This is a very gritty and brutal film.  Abel Ferrara was kind of the enfant terrible of American independent cinema in the 90s and this features many of his hallmarks such as mixing violence with religious iconography.  It mostly has a raw, stripped-down semi-documentary feel, with much of the dialogue apparently improvised.  People who are familiar with Harvey Keitel from his recent insurance commercials on TV may forget that he was one of the great actors of his generation, and Bad Lieutenant is one of his greatest performances.  The Lieutenant himself is a toxic mix of anger and self-hatred, and in among the more showy aspects of Keitel's performance: the yelling, the sobbing, the anguished howling, and stumbling around in the nude, the film works in the quieter moments, where a flicker of an expression or a look in the eyes conveys his disgust at how far he has fallen.  The Lieutenant is an absolutely loathsome character, but Keitel manages to give him some shriveled shred of humanity buried deep, deep down. 
This is a tough watch, and I would definitely recommend caution if you are easily offended, but it is not just lurid exploitation.  It is a powerful and serious film.
   

Harvey Keitel is the Bad Lieutenant 

King of New York

Year of Release:  1990
Director:  Abel Ferrara
Screenplay:  Nicholas St. John
Starring:  Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Victor Argo, Wesley Snipes, Janet Julian
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  Thriller, crime, gangster

Convicted drug lord Frank White (Walken) is released from prison, and immediately returns to New York City and sets about expanding his already vast criminal empire, making a bid for legitimacy by using the profits to help an underfunded inner city hospital.  However, White and his gang ruthlessly proceed to wipe out anyone who stands in their way and, as the body count rises, a group of police officers are determined to stop Frank, by any means necessary.

This is one of the best films from prolific director Abel Ferrara, a gritty, action-packed urban thriller, which rattles along with nary a dull moment.  Christopher Walken is effective in the lead, looking almost more ghostly than usual against his all black clothing and shadowy locations.  His Frank White is an interesting character, calm, cool, reasonable, soft-spoken, who can erupt with sudden, ferocious violence, an absolutely ruthless killer, who nevertheless has a strong social conscience and who claims that he has never killed an innocent person.  The film features several well-known actors in relatively early roles, including David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne (here billed as "Larry"), Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi.  There are few female characters and they are given very little to do, except look pretty.  It contrasts the world of opulent hotel rooms, lavish galas and lunches in top-class restaurants, with the gritty mean streets, dark clubs and back rooms, and the film uses it's locations very effectively.  The film's frequent graphic violence may be off-putting for some viewers, but it is one of the best urban thrillers of the period.

Christopher Walken reflects in King of New York