Movie Review: Deuces Wild

Stars (Out of 10): 7

One Word Summary: Surprising

Full Review:

   Deuces Wild is about a gang in New York, the Deuces, who decide that they're going to keep the streets clean, instead of following the paths of most gangs. They protect their territory from drugs, abusive fathers etc. But when the leader of another Brooklyn gang gets paroled, he plans on bringing his group into their territory. The Deuces are
demanding peace and tranquility... even if they have to fight for it!

    The very first thing that struck me about this movie, is that it is exactly like West Side Story... the only difference really, is that Deuces Wild didn't have the song and dance numbers. You have the guy falling in love with a girl from the other side... You have a kid who wants to join the gang, help them out even though they want him to "scram"... and you've got a whole lot more, I just don't want to give up the ending.

    For some reason critics hated this movie. Gene Seymour from the L.A. Times gave it a D- and said "... it's both inexplicable and inexcusable..."Stephen Holden from the New York Times called it "...so overheated that every spasm of violence becomes a frenzied production number."  Now this confuses me a little, because I found no fault in most of this movie. At some points it was stereotypical, at some it was plain old gay. But there have been so many movies out that were tremendously worse, I don't know why this one got all the bad reviews it did.

    As I said earlier Deuces Wild was West Side Story. And to me that's a positive. I don't think anyone would doubt how great West Side Story was. Deuces Wild had most of the stuff it had, then it had some nice fight scenes. It was refreshing to see two guys going at it with lead pipes. The special effects were minimal and I
liked that. It was a departure from most movies where special effects rule the whole two hours.

    In conclusion... this obviously isn't going to be many people's favorite movie. But it's gotten more bad press and bad reviews than it deserved. It had some interesting qualities about it that I wouldn't have expected after just seeing a trailer and reading someone's review.

Conclusion:  

Yahoo! Movies Description:

Drama,
Crime/Gangster and Romance

1 hr. 37 min. The summer of 1958 forever changed the Brooklyn landscape. Aside from the sweltering summer heat and the loss of their beloved Dodgers, Brooklyn was in a state of unrest. It was a time when rumbles escalated into gunfights and honor was quickly becoming a thing of the past. A new breed of wise guys threatened to take control of Brooklyn's rough streets, but only one gang wouldn't back down: the Deuces. Soon, however, the Deuces began to realize that loyalty and midnight rumbles could no longer protect them from the turbulent times ahead.