Mafia Kid

This is one strange movie, and that's why I love it so much. The actors overact, the lead actor is a jerk, his Portuguese sidekick is a riot, and the last scene is strangely touching and uplifting. Oh, and the dialogue has to be heard to be believed. No, this is no Godfather, but I doubt that that was Paul Morrissey's intention. If you don't take it too seriously, you're in for one strange, fun viewing. Oh, and the Spanish pop music soundtrack by Coati Mundi is just great! I'm not joking, either. . . Gus Van Sant should have remade this instead of Psycho.

Former Factory alumni Paul Morrisey's Spike of Bensonhurst(1988) is a funny film about the streets of Brooklyn. Like most of his other films, this one's an acquired taste. You either love Morrisey's work or you hate it. Spike is a punk kid who also happens to be a lousy club fighter.

He's always in and out of trouble, making life miserable for every one around him. Then one day, Spike makes a very stupid decision that'll nearly destroy his life. You might want to call this movie a lowlife Rocky. I highly recommend this film. I enjoyed it and you might too! Sasha Mitchell is Spike, Ernest Borgnine, Talisa Soto, Rick Aviles (R.I.P.) and Sylvia Miles also co-star.

Check it out. If you can find it!

Spike of Bensonhurst is a lot of fun. It's an only slightly idealized look at life in Brooklyn's ethnic enclaves in the 1980s, by former Warhol co-conspirator Paul Morrissey. With amusing and well deployed performances by Mitchell and by Borgnine as the neighborhood Mob boss he runs afoul of, it's one of the few Brooklyn- or New York-set movies from that era that actually looks like it was filmed there, not on a set. (Even Martin Scorcese's films of the period - although not his 1970s movies, of course - look slick by comparison.)

Maybe people don't like the fact that Spike implies strongly that life goes on even amidst crack, ethnic violence, and corruption and doesn't preach about these things - just presents them as facts of the local situation, without letting them get in the way of humor? Somehow, the movie leaves you amused and feeling good in spite or even because of some of the more graphic stuff it shows you.

This is an odd movie. The script and acting are toned-down John Waters, the plot structure is no more than it has to be (and sometimes not even that), but the look of the film, especially the composition of shots, is beautiful, careful, and coldly objective. Morrissey has a unique eye, demonstrated on the cheap in "Trash" and displayed here in surreal, over-saturated color.

Alan Bowne, sadly, will not be around to enjoy SPIKE's reemergence (assuming that Image gets off its ass and publishes a long-awaited anamorphic DVD release); but the film's many fans will rejoice. Image published a pan-and-scan transfer on LaserDisc in 1989.

In other reviews of the film on this site, some (perhaps myopic?) individuals skewer SPIKE for its depiction of certain Italian characters - failing to notice that the foibles of women, Jews, gays, Puerto Ricans and W.A.S.P.s share equal billing. Morrissey & Bowne's targets were hypocrisy and bigotry. The score - a double bullseye.

Viva Spike Of Bensonhurst. While we're asking, may we have an official DVD release of Andy Warhol's BAD, another classic of the period?