Watch Alphabet City For Free

Really Surprised!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Looking at film history, one can pick any decade and easily find a film that deals with the subject teen angst, crime, or juvenile delinquency. The 80's are no exception to that, as we can see with 1984's "Alphabet City". Taking place in the real life (and at the time troubled) neighborhood of New York City, it concerns the story of a young, punk street dealer named Johnny (Vincent Spano in his younger days). Johnny lives the life, has a hot girlfriend and young daughter, as well as a sweat ride. But he begins to have second thoughts about everything when he's ordered by his mob boss, Gino (a very effective Raymond Serra) to burn down the building where his mother and little sister are living. What follows next is a run for his life as Johnny does everything to collect old debts to get himself and his family out of dodge. Before I go on, let me be honest: The film won't win any academy awards. It is what is, a low budget teen crime drama. And yet the film is memorable, if not for its writing than for the look and feel of it. "Alphabet City" perfectly captures the time it was made in, the early eighties, be it the fashion (the bright colored "tights" girls used to wear in night clubs, Oh Yeah!) or the quasi disco/early 80's dance music that was happening at the time. One song called "Lady Luck" is especially memorable since they play it throughout much of the film. It might not be anything special, but after a while, it is pretty catchy. Another point that helps is the dedication the actors give to their roles, despite the film being as low budget as it is. Vincent Spano is fairly convincing as the drug dealer who grows a conscience, as is Michael Winslow as Lippy, Johnny's drug addicted partner in crime. In particular, Winslow makes you feel for Lippy, as he inspires feelings of hopelessness and despair with his crazy antics and street rhythms. Rounding out the cast is Kate Vernon as Angie, Johnny's girlfriend, and a very young and just starting out Jami Gertz as Johnny's sister Sophia. But above all, perhaps what makes "Alphabet City" so memorable is a genuine feeling of the price one might be required to pay when he enters the drug game (Another commenter on this site who admits to being involved in the drug trade during this time said the same thing. Luckily for him, he was able to get out of the game but not before seeing many of his friends being "retired" for good). And on that note, if you're in the mood for some 80's fun and decent teen story, check out "Alphabet City". Directed by Amos Poe.

Passable urban action / crime flick starring Vincent Spano as Johnny, a young thug who gets into big trouble when his mobster bosses order him to torch a building, and because this is the same building in which his mom (Zohra Lampert) and sister (Jami Gertz) reside, he stalls and then ultimately defies them. If anything, "Alphabet City" is certainly a very slick affair, and it's no surprise that the director, Amos Poe, had music video experience. On the plus side, it is incredibly fast paced, and stylish, but in the end it's quite unmemorable. It's just too hard to care very much about any of these characters. The acting is generally competent but the performers are all basically playing archetypes, existing in a pretty standard story of people trying to rise above their meagre surroundings. It IS a treat to see the interesting Ms. Lampert; cult horror fans will recognize her from the 1971 favourite "Let's Scare Jessica to Death". Spano exerts a respectable amount of "cool" in the lead, with amusing support from Michael Winslow, best known as Jones from the "Police Academy" franchise who does have some dramatic moments here but also the opportunity to do some more of the sound effects shtick for which he's famous. Gorgeous Kate Vernon (daughter of the legendary John Vernon) is pleasing to look at, if not terribly convincing, in her first major role, and the same goes for the young Gertz. Familiar folk in smaller roles include Raymond Serra as the mob boss Gino, Tom Mardirosian as Benny, Tom Wright as a chauffeur, Clifton Powell as Ramon, and Miguel Pinero, creator of the stage play "Short Eyes", as a dealer. The dated pop soundtrack is good for some amusement, if also rather repetitive; the main music score is by industry great Nile Rodgers. The NYC location filming is a big, big asset. The climactic action, however, ends up descending into silliness. Overall, a fairly entertaining melodramatic little flick. Five out of 10.

I've had a huge crush on Vincent Spano ever since Phrophecy 3! So when I caught this on cable the other night, I was over the moon! He rocks the 80's hair in this thrill-a-minute roller coaster ride in New York City's scary, scary East Village. If New York is anything like the place in this movie, I sure don't want to go! I'll stick to Dubuque, thank you very much. I loved the dancing in the movie, but could have used more singing. And what about all the shameful nudity? Jesus didn't make Vincent Spano's beautiful body to be sullied in such a way.Love ya, Vincent! Wish you worked more!

Ugh, this has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and this, in addition other movies I have seen, makes me very cautious of anything with Vincent Spano in the starring role.Alphabet City, is as one viewer commented, a nice visual display. Though space is developed out of a few cheaply constructed movie sets, it seems to be the only thing done with great care, presenting an atmosphere of moody colors (green and purple lighting dominates) and architecture. However, for most movies, visual aesthetics cannot alone suffice for the entertainment of a whole film. And with Alphabet City, it doesn't account for much more than a condolence prize as if to say, "well, at least the movie looked nice."Alphabet City takes place in the course of one day. Local street dealer, Johnny (Vincent Spano), comes off as arrogant more than he does tough. With everyone so nonchalant about his present occupation (which includes being a Mafia subordinate), it is a wonder why everyone is so shocked when things fall apart. Did they expect the good life of fast money to last forever? Early in the movie, the writers hint that something is wrong. That we should expect trouble, and the only place we should anticipate it, is to arise from Johnny's life as a street gangster. I mean, what the hell else should we expect it from, since nothing else really happens in this stupid movie. And, this is a little difficult to surmise at first, since we don't really get much of a story. We don't know much about the characters pivotal to Johnny's role.Johnny just keeps up the limited, arrogant character throughout the movie as he realizes things are going down. We aren't given much reason to care about the sequence of events, since nothing is really differentiated from one to another. For example, a bust breaks out at "The Store" where significant dealings occur. A heap of money is lost, leaving Johnny owing his boss a whopping fifteen grand (why a guy that powerful would hang on to Johnny who was noted for losing much cash before, still want to do so is questionable). But, it's like, Vincent Spano's deadpan delivery makes us wonder whether Johnny really cares about much of anything. He's too buy keeping up the tough guy front. And that's the case for the entire movie. The events transpire without too much development, and as a viewer, I certainly lose interest in a movie like this, because it only provides minimal explanation of what is going on, and gives little reason to tell the viewer why these occurrences are important. Alphabet City is a real disaster.