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Oscar winning director Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) and Oscar winning writer Oliver Stone (Midnight Express) join forces with Oscar winning actor Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) in this classic 80 s crime thriller that blows the lid off New York s criminal underworld.
Deep in the heart of New York s Chinatown thrives a criminal community a thousand years old, the Triad, an illicit network of ruthless corruption and power. As the new godfather of the organisation, Joey Thi (John Lone, The Last Emperor) decides it s time to declare war on the entrenched interests, both Italian and Oriental, in the lucrative drug trade. The streets run red with blood of his enemies. That is until NYCs most decorated cop, ex Vietnam vet, Stanley White (Mickey Rourke), takes over the Chinatown precinct. White wages a private battle against the chaos on his turf and only one man can survive the inevitable confrontation.
Deep in the heart of New York s Chinatown thrives a criminal community a thousand years old, the Triad, an illicit network of ruthless corruption and power. As the new godfather of the organisation, Joey Thi (John Lone, The Last Emperor) decides it s time to declare war on the entrenched interests, both Italian and Oriental, in the lucrative drug trade. The streets run red with blood of his enemies. That is until NYCs most decorated cop, ex Vietnam vet, Stanley White (Mickey Rourke), takes over the Chinatown precinct. White wages a private battle against the chaos on his turf and only one man can survive the inevitable confrontation.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Michael Cimino said part of the reason he made it Year of the Dragon was to prove that he could come in on time and on budget (which he did) after being fired from Footloose for asking for a very minor increase in the budget (can you blame them after Heaven's Gate?) and seeing The Yellow Jersey and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (a four hour western with most of the dialog in Sioux? Sure, Mr Cimino, and shall we declare bankruptcy now to save time?) fall through. Tempting fate, Cimino even cast two of the bit players from Heaven's Gate in the leads, Mickey Rourke sporting stylishly grayed hair and Caroline Kava as his ovulating wife.
Yes, the dialogue is highly variable and the epilogue ("He's a good cop but he just won't give up!") is worthy of public ridicule. Yes, the Vietnam parallels are overplayed at every opportunity ("It's just like Vietnam! Nobody wants to win this thing!"). Yes, the plot is pretty much standard-issue. Yes, co-writer Oliver Stone and Cimino show off their research by giving characters big historical speeches about Chinese civilization and the hundred years of discrimination the Chinese suffered in America at every turn. Yes, the motivation is sometimes laughable - they kill Rourke's partners and a family member but it's only when they lay hands on his mistress that he decides that "This time he's gone TOO FAR!" But there's an epic grandeur to the film that's unusual in the cop movie genre. It's not just scenes like the spectacular entry into a drug-dealing Thai general's village either: even the nightclub where Mickey Rourke beats up John Lone (quite excellent here) is large enough to hold an aircraft carrier. Cimino doesn't really do small, and his sense of grandeur gives the film a gravity it doesn't really deserve. And his eye for a good set piece that deserted his subsequent films is still very visible in the restaurant shootout. Overblown it may be, but it's far from being just a guilty pleasure.
Although widescreen, Sanctuary's DVD comes up short on extras - the French edition also has a trailer while the US disc includes a pretty decent audio commentary by Cimino and trailer.
Yes, the dialogue is highly variable and the epilogue ("He's a good cop but he just won't give up!") is worthy of public ridicule. Yes, the Vietnam parallels are overplayed at every opportunity ("It's just like Vietnam! Nobody wants to win this thing!"). Yes, the plot is pretty much standard-issue. Yes, co-writer Oliver Stone and Cimino show off their research by giving characters big historical speeches about Chinese civilization and the hundred years of discrimination the Chinese suffered in America at every turn. Yes, the motivation is sometimes laughable - they kill Rourke's partners and a family member but it's only when they lay hands on his mistress that he decides that "This time he's gone TOO FAR!" But there's an epic grandeur to the film that's unusual in the cop movie genre. It's not just scenes like the spectacular entry into a drug-dealing Thai general's village either: even the nightclub where Mickey Rourke beats up John Lone (quite excellent here) is large enough to hold an aircraft carrier. Cimino doesn't really do small, and his sense of grandeur gives the film a gravity it doesn't really deserve. And his eye for a good set piece that deserted his subsequent films is still very visible in the restaurant shootout. Overblown it may be, but it's far from being just a guilty pleasure.
Although widescreen, Sanctuary's DVD comes up short on extras - the French edition also has a trailer while the US disc includes a pretty decent audio commentary by Cimino and trailer.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Perhaps not the greatest film, but I always remember this one because of Rourke's performance as a cop doggedly struggling to do the right thing in the face of impossible odds - including his own arrogance and ignorance. Stanley White is almost impossible to like as a character but Rourke somehow instils beneath all the character's unpleasant attitudes and manner an almost saintly purity of purpose and 'good'. It's a timeless performance of how the cynicism and corruption of the world and the brutality of his nature should make White hopelessly evil, yet somehow he rises above himself to be something better than the 'good' people around him. Harvey Keitel did something similar in Bad Lieutenant, but Rourke was there first.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A searing urban crime movie that ranks right up with the best of the genre. An incendiary script, evocative and explosive direction, and great performances all add up to an unfairly overlooked minor classic. Featuring a powerhouse performance from Mickey Rourke, back before he and director Cimino ('The Deer Hunter') squandered their singular talents, this is an unforgettable experience.
The film ranks as a five-star classic, but is marked as a four due to the total lack of extras on the disc.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
YEAR OF THE DRAGON...CIMINOS LAST GREAT PICTURE...
Year of the Dragon [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
YEAR OF THE DRAGON STARS MICKEY ROURKE AS A DOGGED AND SLIGHTLY UNHINGED COP STANLEY WHITE, WHOM IS GIVEN NEW... Read more
YEAR OF THE DRAGON STARS MICKEY ROURKE AS A DOGGED AND SLIGHTLY UNHINGED COP STANLEY WHITE, WHOM IS GIVEN NEW... Read more
Published 20 months ago by sam lowry
Year of the dragging on.
Dull, plodding tedium. Woefully miscast, you can actually see where the actors are trying to outdo each other in the acting equivalent of dance offs, scenes feel far too long and... Read more
Published 24 months ago by D. Manley-Leach
Good Cimino
Michael Cimino's more modest comeback film after "Heaven's Gate" is pretty much spot on.
The positives are the great location shooting and sets, ballsy/bloody action,... Read more
The positives are the great location shooting and sets, ballsy/bloody action,... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2009 by Dave
Oliver Stone script
While this movie was made over 23 years ago, it not only holds up over time, it gets better with age. I am delighted it is now out on DVD. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2008 by Billy Ray Cyrus
One of the best gangster / crime films of all time - brilliant
In fact, this is not just one of the great crime films of all time, it is one of the best films of the 80s full stop. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2008 by George Nada
When Rourke was Hot Stuff !!!
This is the first movie in Rourke's golden years: Year of the dragon (1985), 9 1/2 weeks (1986), Angel Heart (1987), Barfly (1987): every single one underrated IMO. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2007 by Jay
Special fried Rice or Hong Kong Duck ?
This is either a spicy flawed classic or an over boiled turkey. True it does have some great set pieces. Read more
Published on 2 April 2007 by M. Locke
Forget it, kid! It's Chinatown!
The title refers to the immortal line from the Roman Polanski 1974 film noir classic. Although that film ends in Chinatown, Year of the Dragon is Chinatown. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2004 by cybergel78
First aid for a seemingly underappreciated film..?
First of all, it is a sorry state of affairs indeed that the availability of this film seems to be rather limited. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2002 by sisselg
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