Empire State

In 1987, America charted the changing face of corporate America with Oliver Stone's Wall Street.

In Britain, Empire State chronicled the transformation of the East End of London. These are two very different movies with contrasting budgets.

This low budget film is filled with future actors for Eastenders. It has a sprawling cast that all meet up in an East End nightclub. Frank (Ray McAnally) is a lowtime gangster who runs the nightclub. Only to find that his lease of the club has been bought out and his boxer's latest fight was nobbled and he lost a lot of money.

Paul (Ian Sears) is the up and coming Yuppie gangster who has some initial backing to develop a housing project. Paul needs the money from Chuck (Martin Landau) an American investor who has flown into to look at the proposals.

In the midst of all this are other characters such as a journalist looking for a missing person who came down to London and disappeared.. A crook with financial issues and under pressure from his girlfriend.

Director Ron Peck is a name familiar in queer British cinema. There is homosexual subtext in this film. Several characters are rent boys or use rent boys. There is even a camp element to the movie.

Empire State is also underdeveloped. You care little about the characters and there is no focussed story. For example Paul has no other investors lined up apart from Chuck. You wonder how he managed to get this far with his plans.

The random shootout at the end is bewildering. A lot of the movie does not make sense.

Empire State was funded by Channel 4 at a time when they released low budget films at regular frequencies. Good news for the British film industry but there was not much quality control. It was as if Channel 4 were hoping that more by luck they will have their next Mona Lisa or My Beautiful Launderette.

Empire State disappeared without trace. Not finding an audience in the cinema, the video rental market or even on television.

A film that plays out over the course of a single day and night, following the misadventures of various peoples whose lives are entwined with the titular nightclub. Your enjoyment of EMPIRE STATE will depend on how much you enjoy watching an evocation of '80s-era East End London, seeing as the movie is chock full of dated locales, fashions and dialogue, especially during the latter interludes set within the nightclub itself.

Plot elements are familiar from anyone who's seen the type of gangster flicks favoured by Guy Ritchie; there's drug dealing aplenty, along with gambling and illegal hand-to-hand fights. The film is a thriller and it certainly held my attention throughout, although that was partly due to the expectation of drama that never really arose. British viewers will spend half of the film struggling to remember the name of that actor they recognise from one British TV show or the other. There is also, unusually, a strong homosexual angle to the plot, as most of the main characters seem to be rent boys and even the imported American star (Martin Landau) gets up to some dodgy goings-on in his hotel room. The director, Ron Peck, appears to be an important figure in British gay cinema. This one-of-a-kind movie is understandably obscure by modern standards.

Empire state... is a nightclub in the rough and tumble east end of london. When blondie pete shows up, no-one seems to know his friend mick who works there, but there are many other things going on to keep him occupied. Martin landau, ten years after space 1999, is chuck, an investor in a nearby development project. There's a gay undercurrent to the film as well. Lots of loose threads swirling around. There's a reporter nosing around, and apparently there were several drug related deaths at the club. It seems they were using the club after hours as a fighting venue, with gambling. SO many subplots. It just gets silly. And violent, kind of a parody of studio 54. And the violence that was happening in london at the time. Cathryn harrison is marion, and gets top billing, apparently for being the grand-daughter of rex harrison. Directed by ron peck. Probably best known for nighthawks. Harrison died young at 59.

I saw this dvd in the British Film Institute shop in London and had the idea I had liked it years ago. So I bought it and my god it is awful. If there is a plot I don't see it. There are no good performances. I must have enjoyed the titillation of the women's outfits and the nudity when I saw it 30 years ago. The sets are amazing but there is no shape or plot.

Empire State is an amazing film,as the trailer saya it's a 'night on the edge'...it certainly is.The film is set in London's Docklands and is one of the best 1980's club movies around.It's a real shame the film didn't get a big release...We follow the lives of very different characters arond one night at the 'Empire State' club.Don't be put off by the fact that the film has a (sort of)gay theme,there's nothing too kinky.I think that it is best watched in summer,because the settings are just right,the stylish direction is great and the songs are perfect.Watch this movie and see what you've missed in the way of a great crime/drama/thriller film...