Barnes & Noble

Brooklyn in the summer of 1958 was a place where doo-wop blared from candy-store jukeboxes, kids played stickball in the streets, and locals fumed about the Dodgers ("doze bums") for having pulled up stakes for the West Coast. But Deuces Wild doesn’t suffuse New York’s most colorful borough in the rosy glow of nostalgia; this operatically violent melodrama unfolds in a '50s Brooklyn where youth gangs fight for control of the streets and play footsie with local mobsters. The Sunset Park neighborhood is dominated by the Deuces, whose charismatic leader, Leo (Stephen Dorff), has his hands full. In addition to fending off periodic incursions by the rival Vipers, Leo tries to turn a blind eye to the increasingly intrusive activities of mob boss Fritzy (Matt Dillon) and keep his hotheaded younger brother, Bobby (Brad Renfro), out of trouble. That last assignment proves especially difficult when Bobby takes up with Annie (Fairuza Balk), the younger sister of a Vipers big shot. Director Scott Kalvert (The Basketball Diaries) certainly hasn’t been influenced by West Side Story, or even The Lords of Flatbush; his street toughs are genuinely dangerous kids from dysfunctional families, and their onscreen clashes are hyperrealistic, wince-inducing affairs replete with knives, brass knuckles, and lead pipes. If anything, Kalvert’s been watching westerns like Tombstone -- it’s easy to imagine the Deuces as the Earps, the Vipers as the Clantons, and Sunset Park as the O.K. Corral. The character types may be familiar, but Deuces Wild isn’t your father’s teenage gang movie: It’s a raw, occasionally shocking little film with pitch-perfect performances and vigorous action. Kalvert supplies a commentary track on the DVD. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

This gang warfare drama is from director Scott Kalvert, whose previous film was the controversial and violent The Basketball Diaries (1995). In the sweltering summer of 1958, Leon (Stephen Dorff) and Bobby (Brad Renfro) are leaders of the Brooklyn street gang known as the Deuces. When their brother Alley Boy died from an overdose, the two toughs vowed to keep narcotics out of their turf, but now they're being muscled by a new and more powerful gang called the Vipers, fueled by drug money and led by mobster Fritzy Zennetti (Matt Dillon). As a vicious gang war heats up that will determine Brooklyn's future, a romance develops between Bobby and Annie (Fairuza Balk), the leader of a girl gang. Deuces Wild co-stars Frankie Muniz, Balthazar Getty, Max Perlich, Drea de Matteo, Deborah Harry, Vincent Pastore, Joshua Leonard, James Franco, and Johnny Knoxville. Karl Williams

Product Details

• UPC: 883904126584
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Time: 1:37:00