Spike of Bensonhurst

I grew up in Brooklyn. I knew Spike and his friends. Their names and faces were different, but their lives were the same. If you treat this movie as a political statement you will be offended. If you treat this movie as entertainment you'll suffer. But if you treat this movie as a sociological exercise, you will be enlightened. No movie made before or since, has captured the essence of Brooklyn so effectively. Story, plot progression, and emotive content are deliberately sacrificed to the end of painting a realistic portrait of both the subjects and their neighborhood. At the film's conclusion, the characters, like their environs, develop little. Such is Brooklyn.

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.

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!

I have been an advocate of this movie since it came out. It is charming and endearing. Sasha Mitchell exudes a natural warmth that grabs your attention and leaves you smiling. The movie is well written, well acted and well produced. On its own terms, this is an entertainement that gives much pleasure which lingers long after you've seen it. It is well worth renting.

Unlike the majority of my fellow reviewers, I really like this movie and am proud to say I own a copy. It's very funny in part and everyone gives a good performance. Even Geraldine Smith is hysterical. Whoever did the casting did a great job.