Defiance
Defiance
Tommy takes up temporary housing in a New York City neighborhood plagued by a violent gang called the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman, and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.
jackmeat reviewedJuly 16, 2025
My quick rating - 5.4/10. Surely doesn't capture the "gang" culture from the 70s and 80s that "The Warriors" captured to a tee, but this one is still a decent watch. Jan-Michael Vincent stars as an out-of-work seaman who takes up temporary residence on the Lower East Side of NYC. For those who have never seen what the city used to look like before it got cleaned up and modernized, this might be a big surprise to you. Anyway, his character crosses paths with the local gang that runs the neighborhood, and the obvious ensues. Instead of being some quiet, bad ass killing machine as many of these movies tend to throw at you, we instead just have an everyday guy who just wants to keep to himself. Until he is pushed too far, that is. The movie itself does take a more emotional approach to what is happening on the streets, and what the locals will need to do to take back their more harmonious way of life. For reference, I checked a few reviews, and this is a real love or hate movie. I strangely sit in the middle since I see the good, but as I watched, I felt the bad. Too often, scenes are wasted on things that don't seem to matter, and other scenes that needed more push to get the cast going and united tend to be skipped over. Still, there were a few of these movies released around this time, and this was my first viewing of this one. I would say for the period, it is one of the better ones. BTW, anyone old enough will be interested to see Art Carney in any other role aside from Honeymooners re-runs as "NORTON"