The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie Review

"I got a ring for ya, Fran. I got a ring for ya. Around my bathtub."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 15, 2025

If there were shared film universes before Marvel Studios made it so, I'd like to think there's a corner of cinema where movies like Martin Davidson and Stephen Verona's The Lords of Flatbush resides with George Lucas's American Graffiti. The tough guys of 1950s Flatbush may lead a different life from the teens in Graffiti, but is it really all that different? Girls, cars, pool, ice cream shops, diners. The Lords may don leather jackets and amp up the aggression, but the film sets out to paint a picture of guys coming of age in Brooklyn, New York, where weakness couldn't be tolerated and problems amounted to how to snag the girl (or figure out what to do when she gets pregnant, as one subplot follows). The results are mixed, with The Lords of Flatbush becoming far more popular for the careers it helped launch than anything more timeless, but there's a rough-n-tumble charm here too that can't be denied.

"Listen to me. Listen to me, Daddy-O. See that girl that just walked out of there. If you ever show her a $1600 ring again, you know what's going to be written on your tombstone? Do you know what's going to be written on your tombstone? "I was dumb enough to show Frannie Malincanico a $1600 ring." You know what I mean? Do you?"

Brooklyn, 1958. Four teenagers fancy themselves a gang called The Lords of Flatbush: toughguy Stanley Rosiello (Sylvester Stallone), hothead Chico Tyrell (Perry King), brains-over-brawn Butchey Weinstein (Henry Winkler) and ride-or-die Wimpy Murgalo (Paul Mace). While Stanley tries to figure out what to do about his pregnant girlfriend Frannie Malincanico (Maria Smith) and her demands to be married, Chico attempts to woo upper crust Jane Bradshaw (Susan Blakely). But between stealing cars and hanging out at the local ice cream dive, the boys have bigger problems, like learning how to grow up and be men in a world without many stable male influences to guide them. Will these lost boys ever grow up? What will it take for The Lords to exchange their leather jackets for suits and ties? Co-written by directors Davidson and Verona, the film also stars Reneé Paris, Paul Jabara, Bruce Reed, Frank Stiefel, Joseph Stern, Ruth Klinger, Joan Neuman, Dolph Sweet, Antonia Rey, Lou Byrne and Bill van Sleet.

Winkler's persona may be more in line with his true self than Arthur Fonzereli, but you can see Stallone developing his schtick. The most engaging part of The Lords of Flatbush is watching these two familiar faces hone their craft, becoming, before our eyes, the actors we'll one day know and love. Winkler all but swipes characteristics from the other guys for the Fonz (Happy Days just so happened to also debut in 1974), the genesis of Stallone's brute with a heart of gold can be spotted a mile off (you can almost sense Rocky turning over and over in his brain), and the duo make for a magnetic set, even with King and Mace flexing their facial muscles enough to make Jim Carrey jealous. The hooting, hollering, hot-wiring and street fights come on a bit strong, and quieter, vulnerable moments seem to occur almost at random. But there's a warmth within The Lords of Flatbush that makes it all go down that much smoother. The shift from boys to men also happens much too abruptly, as if an entire act of the film -- or a good five years of story -- go without exploration, but the swift switch doesn't take too much of a toll.

Family life is also shortchanged, as are other areas of The Lords' lives that might offer more insight into their drives and desires. The leather jackets are clearly status symbols, but symbols of what? Belonging? Brotherhood? Toughness? Invulnerability? And where did the small-bit crimes start? What drives the boys to continue wreaking havoc? What do they gain by pushing back against society? Is this a product of losing fathers in WWII, aimless boys trying to fill a void left by hundreds and thousands of heroes? Or just a product of surviving and thriving a point in time in American history? Deeper questions are rarely answered, leaving us to wonder about far more of what's going on in the Lords' minds than we're given access to discover. Again, not a serious detriment, but it leaves The Lords of Flatbush feeling more hollow than its meant to. And perhaps it played much more poignantly in the mid-70s, when culture was having a moment of nostalgia for its collective '50s childhood. Today it's dated and slight, with the young faces of future stars the big draw and the story and characters too underdeveloped for their own good.

The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

IMDB references 35mm but The Lords of Flatbush was shot in 16mm, and it shows. Softer, rougher and grainier than most films of the era, the film's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation could be mistaken for a lesser transfer. However, look a little closer and note how close to the source the image hews. Colors are strong, with lifelike skin tones, warmly saturated primaries, vivid contrast, and deep, inky blacks. Several scenes fall victim to inherent yellow or green tinting (to Matrix-esque levels and beyond) and middling shadow delineation and crush is fairly rampant. But most, if not all of these issues trace back to the original film elements and shouldn't exactly be held against the remastering artists' and technical encoders' efforts. Detail is decent -- excellent at times, difficult to stomach at others -- but with reasonably well-defined edges, revealing textures (when the 16mm source allows) and refined grain (which gets about as aggressive and chunky as it comes). I also didn't detect any significant blocking, banding, haloing or other issues, though the intense grain makes it much harder to determine.

The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio mix is a solid but dated one. Dialogue is clear and intelligible for the most part, with only a few instances where voices are undersupported, tinny or worse for the wear. Other effects and music sound good, despite some hiss and issues that trace back to the original recordings and sound design.

The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included is the film's theatrical trailer.

The Lords of Flatbush Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Now, you're a pigeon, okay? Alright, now, shut your eyes. Come on. Watch me. You're going and you're flying and you're flying and you're going over mountains and you're going over the ocean and your arms are getting tired and you're going farther and farther. Now, right here, Chico, right here, look down, man. Look down. Do you see what's down there? China. China. You know what that means, man? China. You're in Tokyo, man. We're in Tokyo."

My dad loves The Lords of Flatbush, but he grew up in the '50s and idolized his older brothers, who weren't too far flung from the leather-donning badboys of the film. It's a far more dated and curious slice of 1950s fascination for me; one that almost feels as if it couldn't possibly reflect the reality of some teenagers of the era. But I know better, if that is my dad's stories are to be believed. Who can say? Flatbush helped launch the careers of Stallone and Winkler, and that alone makes it one worth watching at least once. Sony's Blu-ray release is a decent one too, with solid audio and video held back only by its source's inherent shortcomings.