The Lords of Flatbush

The Lords of Flatbush

DVD cover. Left to right: Perry King; S. Stallone; Henry Winkler; Paul Mace
Directed by Martin Davidson
Stephen Verona
Produced by Stephen F. Verona
Written by Martin Davidson
Gayle Gleckler
Stephen Verona
Sylvester Stallone (additional dialogue)
Starring Perry King
Sylvester Stallone
Henry Winkler
Paul Mace
Music by Joe Brooks
Paul Jabara
Joseph Nicholas
Cinematography Edward Lachman
Joseph Mangine
Edited by Muffie Meyer
Stan Siegel
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • May 1, 1974 (1974-05-01)
Running time
 86 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $160,000 (estimated)
Box office $4 million (rentals) (US/Canada)[1]

The Lords of Flatbush (stylized onscreen as The Lord's of Flatbush) is a 1974 American drama film about street teenagers in leather jackets from the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Directed by Martin Davidson and Stephen Verona, The Lords of Flatbush is a low-budget film starring Perry King, Henry Winkler and Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was also credited with writing additional dialogue.

A portion of this film was shot in Stamford, Connecticut. The wedding scenes were filmed in an area of town called Cove on Dale Street. Some school scenes were shot at Abraham Lincoln High School in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. The opening exterior scenes were shot at Samuel J. Tilden High School, the only school used in the film which is actually located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.[2]

Plot

Set in 1958, the coming-of-age story follows four Brooklyn teenagers known as The Lords of Flatbush. The Lords chase girls, steal cars, play pool and hang out at a local malt shop. The film focuses on Chico (Perry King) attempting to win over Jane (Susan Blakely), a girl who wants little to do with him, and Stanley (Sylvester Stallone), who impregnates his girlfriend, Frannie (Maria Smith), who pressures him to marry her. Stanley agrees to marry her, even after finding out before the wedding that Frannie never was pregnant. Butchey Weinstein (Henry Winkler) is highly intelligent but hides his brains behind a clownish front, while Wimpy Murgalo (Paul Mace) is a colorless follower in awe of Chico and Stanley.

Cast

Production

Richard Gere was originally cast as Chico but was fired due to conflicts with Stallone during rehearsals. As Stallone put it:

“ We never hit it off. He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table. One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with. Then we were rehearsing at Coney Island and it was lunchtime, so we decided to take a break, and the only place that was warm was in the backseat of a Toyota. I was eating a hotdog and he climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper. I said, “That thing is going to drip all over the place.” He said, “Don’t worry about it.” I said, “If it gets on my pants you’re gonna know about it.” He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car. The director had to make a choice: one of us had to go, one of us had to stay. Richard was given his walking papers and to this day seriously dislikes me.[3] ”

See also

References

  1. ↑ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 50
  2. ↑ http://umbrooklynborn.blogspot.com/2008/09/lords-of-flatbush-35-years-later.html
  3. ↑
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