Deuces Wild
Encyclopedia
Deuces Wild is a 2002 American action
-crime film
directed by Scott Kalvert and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. It stars Stephen Dorff
, Brad Renfro
, James Franco
, Matt Dillon
, and Fairuza Balk
amongst others. The film is set in 1958 Brooklyn
, New York City
. Martin Scorsese
was the executive producer, as a favor to Paul Kimatian.
As the tagline states, there is very little firearm violence; most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, in keeping with the 1958 setting.
) and Bobby (Brad Renfro
) are brothers and members of the Deuces, a Brooklyn street gang. Ever since the death of their other brother Alphonse "Allie Boy" from a drug overdose at the hands of Marco (Norman Reedus
), they keep drugs off their block. This puts them in opposition to the Vipers, another local gang headed by Marco who want 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. Marco plans revenge against Leon, whom he believes ratted him out to the police.
Bobby falls for a new girl who moves in across the street, Annie (Fairuza Balk
), the younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets", a Vipers member and heroin dealer. Their attraction for each other complicates the gang rivalry. Marco beats and rapes Betsy in order to push Leon over the edge. After a series of skirmishes between the Vipers and Deuces, neighborhood Mafioso Fritzy (Matt Dillon
) orders Leon and Marco to make amends hours before the climactic rumble. Leon disobeys this order in a fight at the docks where Marco is killed along with Jimmy Pockets, leaving Bobby and Annie free to take her mother to Los Angeles. Leon is in turn shot and killed by one of Fritzy's men in retaliation for ignoring his orders. Before leaving, Bobby drops a wheelbarrow full of cinder blocks on Fritzy's car, presumably killing him.
.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
-crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
directed by Scott Kalvert and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. It stars Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
, Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...
, James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
, Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, and Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Alejandra Balk is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz...
amongst others. The film is set in 1958 Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
was the executive producer, as a favor to Paul Kimatian.
As the tagline states, there is very little firearm violence; most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, in keeping with the 1958 setting.
Plot
Leon (Stephen DorffStephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
) and Bobby (Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...
) are brothers and members of the Deuces, a Brooklyn street gang. Ever since the death of their other brother Alphonse "Allie Boy" from a drug overdose at the hands of Marco (Norman Reedus
Norman Reedus
Norman Mark Reedus is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal as Murphy MacManus in the 1999 film The Boondock Saints as well as its 2009 sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day and for the character of Daryl Dixon in the AMC television series The Walking Dead...
), they keep drugs off their block. This puts them in opposition to the Vipers, another local gang headed by Marco who want 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. Marco plans revenge against Leon, whom he believes ratted him out to the police.
Bobby falls for a new girl who moves in across the street, Annie (Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Alejandra Balk is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz...
), the younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets", a Vipers member and heroin dealer. Their attraction for each other complicates the gang rivalry. Marco beats and rapes Betsy in order to push Leon over the edge. After a series of skirmishes between the Vipers and Deuces, neighborhood Mafioso Fritzy (Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
) orders Leon and Marco to make amends hours before the climactic rumble. Leon disobeys this order in a fight at the docks where Marco is killed along with Jimmy Pockets, leaving Bobby and Annie free to take her mother to Los Angeles. Leon is in turn shot and killed by one of Fritzy's men in retaliation for ignoring his orders. Before leaving, Bobby drops a wheelbarrow full of cinder blocks on Fritzy's car, presumably killing him.
Cast
- Stephen DorffStephen DorffStephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
as Leon - Brad RenfroBrad RenfroBrad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...
as Bobby - Fairuza BalkFairuza BalkFairuza Alejandra Balk is an American film actress. She made her theatrical film debut as Dorothy Gale in Disney's Return to Oz...
as Annie - Norman ReedusNorman ReedusNorman Mark Reedus is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal as Murphy MacManus in the 1999 film The Boondock Saints as well as its 2009 sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day and for the character of Daryl Dixon in the AMC television series The Walking Dead...
as Marco - Max PerlichMax Perlich-Biography:He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a teacher and his father, Martin Perlich, a writer and radio programming director and announcer, worked for a time with the Cleveland Orchestra. The Perlich family moved to Los Angeles, California when Max was four...
as Freddie - Balthazar GettyBalthazar GettyBalthazar Getty is an American film actor and member of the band Ringside. He is known for the roles of Thomas Grace on the American action drama Alias and Tommy Walker on the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters.-Early life:...
as Jimmy "Pockets" - Drea de MatteoDrea de MatteoDrea de Matteo is an American television actress, perhaps best known for her roles Joey Tribbiani's sister Gina on the NBC sitcom Joey, as Angie Bolen on ABC's Desperate Housewives, and as Adriana La Cerva on the acclaimed HBO TV series The Sopranos, a role for which she won the Primetime Emmy...
as Betsy - Vincent PastoreVincent PastoreVincent Pastore is an Italian-American actor, often cast as a mobster and best known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos.-Early life:...
as Father Aldo - Frankie MunizFrankie MunizFrancisco "Frankie" Muniz IV is an American actor, musician, writer, producer, and racecar driver. He is known primarily as the star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. In 2003, he was considered "one of Hollywood's most bankable teens". In 2008, he put his acting career...
as Scooch - Louis LombardiLouis LombardiLouis Lombardi is an American actor.Lombardi was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Louis Lombardi, Sr. On television, Lombardi had a recurring role on The Sopranos as Agent Skip Lipari, and guest starred on such shows as Entourage, Heroes and CSI. He was a cast member of a 1990s...
as Philly Babe - Matt DillonMatt DillonMatthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
as Fritzy - Deborah HarryDebbie HarryDeborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
as Wendy - James FrancoJames FrancoJames Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
as Tino - Josh LeonardJoshua LeonardJoshua Granville Leonard is an American actor, known for his role in The Blair Witch Project.-Early life:Leonard was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Joann, an operator of a children's theatre, and Robert Leonard, a theater professor. He was raised in State College, Pennsylvania...
as Punchy - Johnny KnoxvilleJohnny KnoxvillePhilip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
as Vinnie Fish - George Georgiadis as Willie
- Jackie TohnJackie TohnJaclyn "Jackie" Tohn is an American actress and musician. She is also known for taking part in American Idol season 8 making it to Top 36 on season 8...
as Mary Ann
Reception
The film received negative reviews and currently holds a 3% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.