''Deuces Wild'' is a 2002 American
crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
film directed by
Scott Kalvert
Scott Kalvert (August 15, 1964 – March 5, 2014) was an American film director, known mainly for his 1995 film ''The Basketball Diaries (film), The Basketball Diaries'', starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg, and 2002's ''Deuces Wild ...
and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. The film stars
Stephen Dorff
Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Roland West in the third season of HBO's crime drama anthology series ''True Detective'', PK in '' The Power of One'', Stuart Sutcliffe in ''Backbe ...
,
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in ''The Client'' (1994). He went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards.
Prior to bein ...
,
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Ma ...
,
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination.
Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...
, and
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Influential in popular culture, Balk is known for her portrayals of distinctive " goth-girl" characters, often with a dark edge. She has appeared in numerous in ...
.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
was originally the executive producer (as a favor to Paul Kimatian), but he eventually removed his name from this film. It was the final film of
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
John A. Alonzo
John A. Alonzo, ASC (June 12, 1934 – March 13, 2001) was an American cinematographer, television director, and actor known for his diverse body of work in both film and television.
Alonzo pioneered handheld work, lighting techniques and high ...
before his death in 2001.
Plot
Leon and Bobby Anthony are brothers and members of the Deuces, a Brooklyn street gang who protect their neighborhood of Sunset Park. Ever since the death of their youngest brother Alphonse "Allie Boy" from a drug overdose at the hands of Marco, the leader of the Vipers, a neighboring rival street gang, they fiercely keep drugs off their turf. This puts them in strong opposition to the Vipers, who want to continue to sell drugs in the neighborhood. On the eve of Marco's return from a three-year stint in prison, a gang war seems imminent, as the Deuces violently retaliate with suspicion against Vipers muscleman and bookie Philly, who ekes out a vacant nightclub to establish business down the block. Marco, along with hoping to re-establish his drug pushing enterprise, plans revenge against Leon, whom he believes ratted him out to the police for selling the killing "hot shot" to Alphonse.
Bobby falls for a new girl who moves in across the street, Annie, the uninvolved younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets", a Vipers member and heroin dealer, who takes care of their elderly dementia ailing mother. Their attraction for each other complicates the gang rivalry, especially with Leon, who mistakenly fears, feels Annie may be using Bobby. After jumping Deuces member Jackie in kind for the earlier attack, causing more gang fights in the neighborhood, Marco begins his activities again and allows the Vipers to rampage and terrorize residents across the block to establish his return for good. Later, Marco and the Vipers intimidate Bobby while on a date at the beach with Annie, before beating and raping Betsy (Leon's girlfriend) to push him over the edge.
After Leon runs a car through the Viper's main hangout, neighborhood Mafioso Fritzy orders Leon and Marco to make amends; unopposed to Marco's drug dealing, knowing he can profit off of his racket and without appeal to Leon's cause to keep the neighborhood safe, Leon and Marco agree to a gang war, much to Fritzy's disappointment. Annie defends her mother from another one of Jimmy's outbursts with a kitchen knife and having enough of their troubled life in Brooklyn, wishes to run away with Bobby and her mother. As the Deuces and the Vipers meet at the docks for their confrontation, battle ensues. Marco is killed by Leon in a duel, being saved by tag-along kid Scooch, while Jimmy Pockets is shot and killed by Philly, who accuses him of stealing the gang's stash of money. Leon is shot and killed by one of Fritzy's men in retaliation for ignoring his orders.
At Leon's funeral, Bobby and the gang, along with his and Annie's mother, pay their last respects to Leon. In a small epilogue, Bobby explains that his mother will go to live with their uncle in Long Island, he and Annie are free to take her mother to Los Angeles to start anew, gives Scooch and Father Aldo of the nearby Catholic church part of the stolen stash of money to invest and that after the funeral, this would be the last time he would see the Deuces again, as gangs throughout Brooklyn would eventually disappear. Before leaving, Bobby drops a wheelbarrow full of cinder blocks on Fritzy's car, presumably killing him, to uphold Leon's word that "there would be no more junk on the streets".
Cast
*
Stephen Dorff
Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Roland West in the third season of HBO's crime drama anthology series ''True Detective'', PK in '' The Power of One'', Stuart Sutcliffe in ''Backbe ...
as Leon Anthony
*
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in ''The Client'' (1994). He went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards.
Prior to bein ...
as Bobby Anthony
*
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk (born May 21, 1974) is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Influential in popular culture, Balk is known for her portrayals of distinctive " goth-girl" characters, often with a dark edge. She has appeared in numerous in ...
as Annie "The Ice Cube" Pockets
*
Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore (; born July 14, 1946) is an American actor. Often cast as a mafioso, he is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''.
Early life
Pastore was born to an Italian-America ...
as Father Aldo
*
Frankie Muniz
Francisco Muniz IV (; born December 5, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned him an Emmy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Award n ...
as "Scooch"
*
Balthazar Getty
Paul Balthazar Getty (; born January 22, 1975) is an American actor and musician. His acting debut was in ''Lord of the Flies'' (1990) as Ralph. He went on to appear in '' Lost Highway'' (1997) and had a recurring role as Richard Montana in '' Ch ...
as Jimmy "Pockets"
*
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination.
Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...
as "Fritzy"
*
Norman Reedus
Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror drama series ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy Mac ...
as Marco Vendetti
*
Max Perlich
Max Perlich (born March 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor. In 1990, Perlich won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the hit indie film ''Drugstore Cowboy'' and was nominated for the same ...
as Freddie
*
Drea de Matteo
Andrea Donna de Matteo is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Adriana La Cerva on the HBO television drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2006), for which she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...
as Betsy
*
Louis Lombardi
Louis Lombardi (born January 17, 1968) is an American actor known for his roles in ''The Sopranos'', ''Fantasy Island'', and ''24''.
Early life
Lombardi was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Louis Lombardi Sr.
Career
On telev ...
as Philly "Babe"
*
Deborah Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
as Wendy
*
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Ma ...
as Tino Verona
*
Josh Leonard as "Punchy"
*
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971), best known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, writer, producer, and professional wrestler. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show ...
as Vinnie "Fish"
* George Georgiadis as Willie
*
Jackie Tohn
Jaclyn Tohn is an American actress and musician. She is best known for playing Melanie "MelRose" Rosen on the Netflix series '' GLOW'', and for taking part in ''American Idol'' season 8, making it to Top 36 (the Semi-finals). She also took part ...
as Mary Ann
Production
The film was shot in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Originally the film would be released in September 2001, but due to the
9/11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
it was pushed back to 2002.
Reception
The film received negative reviews and currently holds a 3% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.
Box office
In its opening weekend the film grossed $1,020,000 million in 1,480 theaters in the United States and Canada, debuting number 6 of box office. ''Deuces Wild'' grossed $6,080,065 domestically and $202,381 internationally for a worldwide total of $6,282,446.
Accolades
Home media
The film was released in DVD on August 6, 2002 and also in Blu-Ray on September 22, 2015.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deuces Wild
2002 films
2002 crime drama films
2000s crime drama films
American crime drama films
American gang films
American gangster films
American independent films
Films set in Brooklyn
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in 1955
Films set in 1958
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
United Artists films
Films scored by Stewart Copeland
Films about brothers
2000s English-language films
2000s American films