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Part Rocky Pt Showgirls Pt Godfather Pt Karate Kid Pt Slasher hilarious

posted 14 years ago by kwalstedt-1
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This must make the top 100 most unintentionally hilarious films ever. Tom Berenger is miscast as the "Italian kid from the old neighborhood" who witnessed a mob hit as a young boy (The Godfather), became a Rocky-esque professional boxer who was so good he once killed a man in the ring, which led him to walk away from the sport and instead run a strip club in the pre-Disney Times Square. In the club various unintentionally funny 80s routines are performed nude or semi nude by an endless string of women (a la Showgirls) including Melanie Griffith, Maria Conchita Alonso and Rae Dawn Chong. Not sure how they got mixed up in this. The plot is that a young good looking martial arts master, kind of a Kung Fu/Karate Kid/Psycho figure, happens to be a psychopath who is slashing and murdering strippers who work in Berenger's club. The women are targeted when they walk home alone from the strip club, which they always do, even after they know there's a serial killer who wants to kill them, through the dark back alleys of 1984 New York, accompanied only by belches of atmospheric steam from every grate.

Berenger frequently looks lost in this film, the script never making clear which stereotype he is supposed to represent. Melanie Griffith struggles to find a focus as well, between being an aloof nude dancer, a whiny crawling-on-the-floor junkie and the on again off again love interest of Berenger. Lando Calrissian, oops, I mean Billy Dee Williams, plays a scenery chewing police chief who is the most racist person in the movie. He is irrationally obsessed with hatred of Italians who own strip joints (whom he frequently refers to as "Dagos") and Tom Berenger in particular.

Sample dialogue:

Billy Dee Williams - "Are you tough enough, *beep* You may be tough enough to kill some *beep* in the ring but you are not tough enough to f&%k over the law."

Williams is so blinded by single minded and inexplicable hatred of Berenger that each time one of Berenger's club girls is murdered, Williams cracks down on him and his club instead of trying to find the killer. This is lucky for the plot because it leaves Berenger and Melanie Griffith free to have the inevitable showdown in the alley with the "Jack the Ripper meets Karate Kid" bad guy. Billy Dee Williams' line that concludes the film may make you laugh out loud the way I did. Or not. Hey, maybe it was a good film and I just have bad taste.

[–] ddschneider1972 14 years ago

I agree. This was a fun romp through all of the 80's cheesy cliches.

Please institute literacy and intelligence tests before allowing people to post.

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

There are some funny things in the film that are probably - or obviously - unintentional , but I bet most stuff isn´t. Anyone who´s seen King Of New York must know that Ferrara tends to have a rather absurdist sense of humor that tends to rear its head in the most unpredictable ways. But yeah, the film is comparatively cheesy and cliched and overall Ferrara´s weakest of the 5 I´ve seen - thankfully, the visual style and the atmosphere are still mostly excellent and the story ain´t a bore, either. I´d still give it a 6,5/10 rating for the sheer entertainment value and shameless period sleaze.

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