The Lords Of Flatbush

A former gangster turned artist. Hmm....familiar?

Stephen Verona was the man behind the making of The Lords Of Flatbush. He seems to be quite a Renaissance sort of guy. Whether there is anything of depth is another matter, but his evolution from street punk to artist is certainly one that resonates with me.

Here is a brief featurette with Verona speaking on the making of the film:

Stephen Verona on The Lords of Flatbush
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I recall sneaking into one of the local theaters to see this film. Having seen real gangsters- street level and low level mobster types, I was fascinated to see gow things were in the 'ancient' 50s. After all, this was the mid 70s! How things had changed.

Here's a clip from the film:


Stallone is actually very good in this film. I often wonder if Stallone had not gone mega with Rocky, and its sequels, and then the Rambo films, if he would have become a really great actor along the lines of Marlon Brando? There's no doubt, in some of his films, he's capable of the same raw dynamism that Brando had. It's just that he was never able to break out of the action star box. Perhaps, with age having taken over, he can now really become an actor.

Regardless, The Lords Of Flatbush was a film that impacted me as a young boy, and still holds a sway all these decades later. I'll have to get the DVD some time soon, and review it.

American Graffiti

I recall this film being big in the early 1970s. It was George Lucas's first hit, and while a severe comedown from THX 1138, it was not quite as mindnumbing as the Star Wars films.

Some good performances in a frothy, light film, it did not make one hate Lucas, but it was not as dark nor 'realistic' as, say, The Lords Of Flatbush, which came out a year later. That film starred Henry Winkler in a proto-Fonzie role, while his future Happy Days co-star, Ron Howard, starred in this film. Lords was also a better film than AG, if for no other reason than its low budget feel made it seem more realistic. Also, its thugs acted the way one stereotypically thought of gang kids from the 1950s.

Here's the trailer for AG: