source: Last Exit to Brooklyn

Trailer—Last Exit to Brooklyn

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Really such a brilliant classic, Loved this the moment it started and have revisited the movie many times. The characters are so richly developed and Brooklyn, looks amazing and charged with atmospheric. Strangely it took a european hand to produce a film adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr's dark but often comedic novel 'Last Exit to Brooklyn'. The German film maker Ili Edel, has done a sterling job transferring not only the look but an almost fantasy feel to a once 'down at heel' area of New York and made at a time when it was still highly dangerous to walk around this part of town. It sort of adds up to the brooding atmosphere and potential danger lurking behind every corner. The backdrop to the story is a critical strike action by local dock workers but it's more to do with the trial and tribulations of an almost underclass, of brooklyn inhabitants and captures perfectly the feel of street. For me it's a cinematic masterpiece.

One of Leigh's best performances in a role that seemed to be written for her. You are rooting for her or ANYONE among the denizens of the strikebound Brooklyn docks to find a way to a better life but at the same time know that no one will make it. The Pieta like still-life after the climatic was a wonderful comment on both the content of the movie itself and the searing quality that some art can have. It is on my list of most depressing movies, which includes "The Damned", "The Pawnbroker", "The Night Porter".

The way "the golden era" really was. The statement on the state of the 1950s presented in Last Exit is shocking, enlightening, and well supported by beautiful performances of an ensemble cast. Jennifer Jason Leigh as Tralala, a hooker WITHOUT a heart of gold (for a change) and Burt Young as a union hard hitter coming to terms with his sexuality are most notably inspiring. Excellent direction and a powerful script make Last Exit emotionally draining, and compelling.

The picture of an innocent 1950s promulgated by films of the time was thoroughly refuted with the book Last Exit to Brooklyn, which portrayed a world of sex and violence that would ring just as true if written about the present age. It was a dark book, and the movie is appropriately downbeat. It is a movie with no especially good people. Some of the people are likable, but even the likable ones are not really good people; some are criminals, thugs and users, some are more foolish and selfish and clueless (and at least one was made nicer than in the book). The movie is done very effectively. There are some memorable scenes, and Jennifer Jason Leigh gives yet another memorable performance mixing, as usual, intense character and clothes removal. I didn't think it was a great movie, but if I were more prone to dark, hopeless movies, as I was when younger, perhaps I would think so. It's certainly interesting.

Last Exit to Brooklyn is a great flick. It's brutal, dark, funny as heck at times, and in the end uplifting. Watching this movie it was hard to imagine this was based on a book from the 50's. A book which explores homosexuality, prostitution, sexual confusion would seem to be almost unheard of subjects in the uptight, Leave It To Beaver 1950's. People who put down this film don't know what they're talking about. The author of the book this movie was based on said himself he thought this was one great adaptation of his novel. And he was sure right. Folks who can handle the dark, brutal films of David Lynch, the Coen Brothers and Tarantino, Scorsese, Kubrick, Hartley and Fosse will dig this movie. But if "You've Got Mail" is your idea fo a great rental, you won't like it a bit. It's just as well, a lot of great, cool films aren't for everyone.