Noites Violentas no Brooklyn

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.

After being blown away by the film version of Requiem for a Dream, I recently began reading some of Selby's books. I started with The Room and moved on to Last Exit to Brooklyn. Tonight I watched the film.

I think it's very unfortunate that people have criticized it here for exactly the qualities that make it unique compared to most American films. Yes, it's dark, and yes, there are not always clear resolutions to every character's part of the story. Those are qualities present in Selby's book and it would have been a shame for the filmmakers to abandon them, just as it would have been a shame for Aronofsky to cave to the pressures to find a happier ending for his film of Requiem...

As a reader of the book I think those negative comments are even more misguided, because the screenwriter did quite a bit to try to make the material more accessible for the viewing audience. He intertwined what are essentially separate stories (the book is more like a collection of short stories around related themes than a traditional novel), and found what was probably the happiest ending possible given the material. The book doesn't end on the relief of the end of the strike, but finishes with an amazing coda that contains characters like Abraham, a man who spends money on clothes and his car but won't cough up to buy vitamins for his malnourished children.

My one big complaint about the screenplay was the treatment of Harry Black's character. In the book he is a largely ineffectual blowhard who is laughed at by almost everyone around him, but in the film he is almost heroic at times, leaping into the middle of the confrontation at the picket line. I think his descent is more credible in the book, but Selby was also able to get inside Harry's head on paper in a way that's difficult to translate into film.

Overall I think this film is a very excellent adaptation of extremely difficult material, and I recommend it to anyone who is willing to watch a story about the pain and suffering that happens in everyday life without the Hollywood gloss.

Having been born in NYC during the late fifties it was important for me to read, see and finally own Last Exit To Brooklyn. Our household was always a violent and unhappy one. None of us lived in the streets like the characters in the film but the violence from there was definitely reflected in our day to day life. Heartwrenchingly faithful to the mood and sentiment of Hubert Selby's important novel I am continuously surprised at how films like this are overlooked in a larger, classic sense. This is not a pleasant film. The German direction and influence put me in mind of Fassbiner's Berlin Alexanderplatz. There was a similar grotesque as well as aesthetic beauty that I found to be very compelling. Most of all, however, I was remarkably impressed by Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance. She gave us the flip side of Marylin Monroe, the antithesis if you will. I'm pretty sure that she has not, as yet, received Oscar recognition and am puzzled how her performance in Last Exit did not get her a nod. This film come highly recommended.

Working class life in 1950's Brooklyn is disrupted by a strike.

One of these films that seems about nothing in the explaining (the ups and downs of the roughhouse working-class), but is a very powerful piece in the watching and highly recommended.

The film reminded me of an X rated version of American Graffiti where people go about their ordinary lives, but somehow, we become fascinated. While actually shot in West German (when there was one) there are too many real NY character actors for us to notice.

There is fair amount of stupidity and leaching. The male hustler and the whore stick in your mind longer, but the working class morals of all the characters are well observed. Certain scenes actually play no real role in the plot, but add to the feel of time and place.

A lot of people will be shocked by this movie. It is brutally frank and at times violent, but it is never just put there for entertainment. This is an adult picture dealing with adult themes and adult lives. I found it quite hard to watch at times myself, but I think it is an important film and no insult to the classic Selby book which inspired it.

In 1952, a panoramic view of the other side of North America is presented through the life of different characters and their dramatic stories, having Brooklyn in common. Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a prostitute, connected with a violent street gang composed of small time crooks. They swindle most of Tralala clients, stealing their money. She meets a young lieutenant from Idaho, who falls in love with her. The labor union is on strike against the employers, placing picket against the trucks and protesting in front of the factory. American soldiers are again fighting in another war, this time against Korea. Maybe the only missing point in this film is the declared racism of those times. This sad, depressive and violent movie is another great work of Uli Edel, mainly known by `Christiane F'. The cast has amazingly performances, and the scene when Tralala is raped by dozens of men in an abandoned car is one of the most strong I have ever seen in a movie. I agree with the words of IMDB User Comments: `Great film, but not a piece of entertainment'. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Noites Violentas no Brooklin' (`Violent Nights in the Brooklyn')