Abel Ferrara

King of New York (Special Edition)

This low-budget crime thriller has the feel of a major blockbuster and owes its roots to the hard-edged crime movies of the 1930s. Christopher Walken stars as a drug kingpin who is released from prison and vows to use his position and influence--and criminal enterprise--for charitable means. But a core group of New York cops are all over him and his gang, determined to go to war, whatever the cost, to bring him down. Eventually his empire--headquartered at, of all places, Donald Trump's Plaza Hotel--crumbles under the weight of double-crossing and a body count of open warfare with the cops. This is one of the most stylish films of the last decade, with a strong supporting cast (including Lawrence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, and David Caruso) and some truly enthralling set pieces, including a stunning car chase and gunfight across a rain-soaked Queensboro Bridge. The film's tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top style offsets its nihilism; and its riveting visuals will have audiences hooked from beginning to end. --Robert Lane

Bad Lieutenant

He's a gambler...a thief...a junkie...a killer and a cop. Now he is investigating the most shocking case of his life and as he moves closer to the truth his self-destructive past is closing in.System Requirements:Starring Harvey Keitel Leonard Thomas Paul Calderone Paul Hipp Victor Argo Victoria Bastel Zoe Tamerlis Directed by Abel Ferrara Running time: 96 minutes Copyright Artisan EntertainmentFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NC-17 UPC: 012236114307 Manufacturer No: 11430

Proving that he may be the most fearless actor of his or any other generation, Harvey Keitel gives an amazing, no-holds-barred performance in director Abel Ferrara's uncompromising 1992 film about a New York cop on the edge of self-annihilation. The film's title is meant to be taken literally: Keitel's character has no redeeming values whatsoever, save for his desperate need for redemption. Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide is correct in calling this an "over-the-top Catholic guilt movie," but it's been made with such conviction that Ferrara and Keitel transcend the sheer unpleasantness of the material to give it a kind of tragic divinity. Here's a character so vile and corrupted that he consumes or re-sells the drugs he confiscates, but when he's assigned to investigate the brutal rape of a nun who refuses to press charges, he feels that this is his opportunity to redeem his rotten soul. Deservedly rated NC-17 due to its rough content and a frontal nude scene that even Keitel's most loyal fans could do without, this film tends to divide viewers into love-it-or-hate-it categories, but few could deny its raw power and the deeply anguished humanity that Keitel brings to his role. Whatever your reaction may be, few would deny this is an unforgettable film. --Jeff Shannon

Crime Story - Season Two

When the first season of Crime Story ended spectacularly in the Nevada desert, it was anyone's guess what season 2 would do for an encore. With low first-season ratings and conservative watchdogs complaining about its violence, the show received a surprise renewal that necessitated the "miraculous" return of mob-boss Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) and his dimwit sidekick Pauli Taglia (played by former Chicago burglar John Santucci). Moving from 10:00 p.m. Fridays to a new 10:00 p.m. Tuesday-night timeslot on NBC, the Michael Mann-produced series continued its ratings decline, and this lent the series a giddy, go-for-broke quality that held plenty of surprises. The year is 1966, and Chicago Police Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his close-knit Major Crimes Unit continues to track Luca's criminal activities in Las Vegas, where additional complications fueled a number of dynamic, stand-alone episodes, beginning with season opener "The Senator, the Movie Star and the Mob," guest-starring Kevin Spacey (in his first major TV role) and Jenny Wright (Near Dark) in a sordid, mob-connected plot with obvious parallels to Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. This established the neon-lit, casino-and-nightclub milieu of the season, and Luca's reappearance set the season in volatile motion.

The series' daring, pulp-fictional style attracted an impressive array of guests stars and newcomers, some of whom (like 24's Dennis Haysbert) would later appear in Michael Mann's films. Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs) reprises his role as burglar-turned-rocker Frank Holman; Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) and NYPD Blue's James McDaniel are superb in the racial-tension plot of "Seize the Time"; Laura San Giacomo (sex, lies, and videotape) aces her role as Luca's former flame in "Protected Witness"; and Elias Koteas delivers a fine performance in "Roadrunner," an exciting road-thriller episode that showcases Farina's skill with hardboiled comedy. (For the record, other noteworthy guest stars include Pam Grier, David Hyde Pierce, Billy Zane, David Soul, Steven Weber, Michael Jeter, and recurring performances by Andrew Dice Clay and Rolling Stone editor Jann S. Wenner.) "Pauli Taglia's Dream" is an outrageous experiment in all-out delirium, focusing on Santucci's scene-stealing character and providing a wacky lead-up to the season's climactic story arc, which leads Luca and Torello to their ultimate showdown in an unspecified Latin American country full of corruptible drug-trade politicians.

Of course, any innovative series has a few drawbacks: The violent shootouts turn somewhat redundant as the season progresses, and while Torello's gun-toting crew is brought to life by a perfect supporting cast (Bill Smitrovich, Ray Butler, Steve Ryan, and a young Bill Campbell), there was never enough time (or episodes) to properly develop their characters. The turncoat betrayal of lawyer David Abrams (superbly played by Stephen Lang) is never fully convincing (you just know he's not a bad guy), and when Crime Story's cancellation inevitably came to pass, the final-episode cliffhanger of "Going Home" (broadcast May 10, 1988) left frustrated fans with unanswered questions and nowhere else to go. It's especially regrettable, then, that this four-DVD set offers no extras whatsoever. The fact that Farina, Denison, Mann, and series cocreators Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger were not invited to do audio commentaries represents a missed opportunity of epic proportions. We can be grateful, however, that the series' pop-music soundtrack (chosen by the great Al Kooper, credited as "Guy Who Picks Music for the Show") remains intact and unchanged as an essential ingredient to one of the best TV shows of the 1980s. --Jeff Shannon

It was hailed for its realism, condemned for its violence and ended with a climax that shocked millions. Though it lasted only two seasons, fans and critics still consider CRIME STORY to be one of the most uncompromising and influential action dramas in television history. In this stunning final season, obsessed lawman Mike Torello and his street tough strike force pursue mob kingpin Ray Luca from the neon battleground of Las Vegas to the corrupt killing fields of Latin America. Experience the explosive closing chapters of the acclaimed crime epic that New York Newsday calls "A genuine work of art... a masterpiece in a classic genre"

Body Snatchers

The pod people are back! Aliens take over human bodies and souls in this hard-hitting remake of the classic tale starring Meg Tilly, Gabrielle Anwar and Forest Whitaker. Year: 1993 Director: Abel Ferrara Starring: Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Forest Whitaker

New Rose Hotel

Abel Ferrara's adaptation of William Gibson's cyberpunk story (from the short-story collection Burning Chrome) is quite faithful to the source, which may explain why it bypassed cinemas almost completely to emerge on video. Gibson's story takes place entirely in flashback as its hero shuffles through the events that brought him to the tiny shoebox of a room in the New Rose Hotel, on the run and out of ideas. Ferrara winds up in the same place, but first plays out his story for us to see... sort of. Industrial headhunters Christopher Walken, limping through the movie with a cane and a rumpled white suit like an emaciated Sydney Greenstreet, and Willem Dafoe, his jaded, tired partner, hatch a plan to lure a genetic-sciences genius from one corporation to another for a $100 million payoff. The key to their plan is seductive bar girl and part-time prostitute Asia Argento, a flirting chanteuse with whom Dafoe falls in love. Set in a grimy technological future of generic cosmopolitan cities, the characters wander fluorescent mazes of bland malls, murky bars, and faceless hotels, a Blade Runner future without the spectacle. Apart from brief, blurry video-camera surveillance, the entire operation occurs offscreen, reported through conversations and phone calls, and even Ferrara fans may find the murky, dawdling narrative and cerebral conclusion disappointing. But the tech-noir conspiracy gives way to Ferrara's real story, the collision of the dreamers and the shadowy world they live in. --Sean Axmaker

Bad Lieutenant

Proving that he may be the most fearless actor of his or any other generation, Harvey Keitel gives an amazing, no-holds-barred performance in director Abel Ferrara's uncompromising 1992 film about a New York cop on the edge of self-annihilation. The film's title is meant to be taken literally: Keitel's character has no redeeming values whatsoever, save for his desperate need for redemption. Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide is correct in calling this an "over-the-top Catholic guilt movie," but it's been made with such conviction that Ferrara and Keitel transcend the sheer unpleasantness of the material to give it a kind of tragic divinity. Here's a character so vile and corrupted that he consumes or re-sells the drugs he confiscates, but when he's assigned to investigate the brutal rape of a nun who refuses to press charges, he feels that this is his opportunity to redeem his rotten soul. Deservedly rated NC-17 due to its rough content and a frontal nude scene that even Keitel's most loyal fans could do without, this film tends to divide viewers into love-it-or-hate-it categories, but few could deny its raw power and the deeply anguished humanity that Keitel brings to his role. Whatever your reaction may be, few would deny this is an unforgettable film. --Jeff Shannon

Dangerous Game

From the director of "Bad Lieutenant" comes this absorbing look at the dark side of Hollywood. Vividly raw and shocking, "Dangerous Game" stars two of today's most passionate and controversial performers: Harvey Keitel and Madonna.

Cat Chaser

Superstars Kelly McGillis (The Accused Top Gun) and Peter Weller (RoboCop Leviathan) ignite a smoldering passion with chilling consequences in the erotic thriller Cat Chaser also starring two-time Academy Award-nominee Charles Durning.Something was calling former Lance Corporal George "Cat Chaser" Moran away from his quiet Miami retreat-the haunting memory of his violent brush with death. On a trip to Santo Domingo in search of the woman who saved his life George Moran instead reunites with the sensual Mary de Boya - a woman whose love could cost him everything. George plunges into a passionate affair with Mary the wife of a cunning and powerful millionaire. He's about to pay the steep price for lust deception and revenge.Features: Full Screen Version 2.0Dolby Stereo Surround Scene IndexSystem Requirements:Running Time: 90 Min Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 012236145813 Manufacturer No: 14581

The Blackout

'R Xmas

It s Christmastime in the heart of Manhattan and a loving couple leads a dual life: doting socialite parents by day and hard-bargaining heroin dealers by night. They seem to have it all until their paradise begins to crack. Double-crossing dealers beneath them threaten to steal their profits and their reign of the merchandise and arguments break out. Just as things start to spin out of control the wife receives a phone call her beloved has been kidnapped and she has 20 minutes to pay a hefty ransom or face his death.In a world charged by greed passion and possession there is no price to high and no risk too great.Features16:9 Widescreen5.1 Dolby Surround SoundDirector s Commentary by Abel FerrareAbout the filmTrailersInteractive menusSpanish subtitle Running Time 83 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 012236132257 Manufacturer No: 13225