tdrish On avenues A, B, and C, you have everything you want and need. What are you looking for? Name your price, and its yours! All three streets were given to a young 19 year old lad named Johnny, who has many responsibilities, but his main responsibility....keeping track of the drugs! And money! As if that wasn't enough of a burden, he has his home life, which is an absolute stink fest. His mom will sleep and dump a man quicker then you can know his name, and his sister doesn't stay around long enough to know what is going on. When Johnny is instructed to torch the same building his family is staying in, he wants his mom to go, but she doesn't know where. He doesn't care where, he just wants her to...go. In the meantime, poor Johnny is catching heat from the New York mobsters who want full control of their streets back, but Johnny's not going down without a fight, or a care in the world. Lucky for Johnny, this is a low budget movie, so its not going to get too brutal...or believable. On the plus side, we have some cool 80's effects going on in Alphabet City, but it can't make up for the lackluster script or plot that barely exists. Many scenes just drag, and its boring as hell. However, its a great attempt, the efforts seem to be there, even if it does fail on every level, and it does have a good concept to work with. It just doesn't....work....as bad as I would have wanted it to, it just doesn't work. A likeable movie? Sure, why not! It's not a bad movie, even if it does have its flaws. It's not a good movie either, so be prepared for a lot of....oh, can you please overlook the bad editing? The EDITING! It's way too obvious, and its one of my main complaints with the film. They either didn't know what they were doing, or they didn't have enough time to work on it. I don't know. Packed into this, a few scenes of awesome, and a few scenes of pure adrenaline rush! Does it make up for the downfalls? NO! But it sure doesn't kill the watch, either. 5 out of 10 stars from me.

eddierankey771 I watched this Saturday night on TCM, thinking how cool the mid-80's were until I witnessed watching this piece of sheet, simply unwatchable, the backdrops were obviously, cheaply and hurriedly put together, Spano can't act, easy to see he had no career, all he does is his best Richard Gere from scene to scene,looking more confused as this thing progressed, Jamie Gertz also appears, easy to see she had not enrolled in any acting classes and if I hear the name Johnny again, I'm going on a murder spree in Alphabet City. Furthermore, I felt raped and then left for dead in Alphabet City, you will too, if you watch this. -10 out of 10.

Scott LeBrun Passable urban action / crime flick starring Vincent Spano as Johnny, a young thug who gets into big trouble when his mobster bosses order him to torch a building, and because this is the same building in which his mom (Zohra Lampert) and sister (Jami Gertz) reside, he stalls and then ultimately defies them. If anything, "Alphabet City" is certainly a very slick affair, and it's no surprise that the director, Amos Poe, had music video experience. On the plus side, it is incredibly fast paced, and stylish, but in the end it's quite unmemorable. It's just too hard to care very much about any of these characters. The acting is generally competent but the performers are all basically playing archetypes, existing in a pretty standard story of people trying to rise above their meagre surroundings. It IS a treat to see the interesting Ms. Lampert; cult horror fans will recognize her from the 1971 favourite "Let's Scare Jessica to Death". Spano exerts a respectable amount of "cool" in the lead, with amusing support from Michael Winslow, best known as Jones from the "Police Academy" franchise who does have some dramatic moments here but also the opportunity to do some more of the sound effects shtick for which he's famous. Gorgeous Kate Vernon (daughter of the legendary John Vernon) is pleasing to look at, if not terribly convincing, in her first major role, and the same goes for the young Gertz. Familiar folk in smaller roles include Raymond Serra as the mob boss Gino, Tom Mardirosian as Benny, Tom Wright as a chauffeur, Clifton Powell as Ramon, and Miguel Pinero, creator of the stage play "Short Eyes", as a dealer. The dated pop soundtrack is good for some amusement, if also rather repetitive; the main music score is by industry great Nile Rodgers. The NYC location filming is a big, big asset. The climactic action, however, ends up descending into silliness. Overall, a fairly entertaining melodramatic little flick. Five out of 10.

Pepper Anne Ugh, this has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and this, in addition other movies I have seen, makes me very cautious of anything with Vincent Spano in the starring role.Alphabet City, is as one viewer commented, a nice visual display. Though space is developed out of a few cheaply constructed movie sets, it seems to be the only thing done with great care, presenting an atmosphere of moody colors (green and purple lighting dominates) and architecture. However, for most movies, visual aesthetics cannot alone suffice for the entertainment of a whole film. And with Alphabet City, it doesn't account for much more than a condolence prize as if to say, "well, at least the movie looked nice."Alphabet City takes place in the course of one day. Local street dealer, Johnny (Vincent Spano), comes off as arrogant more than he does tough. With everyone so nonchalant about his present occupation (which includes being a Mafia subordinate), it is a wonder why everyone is so shocked when things fall apart. Did they expect the good life of fast money to last forever? Early in the movie, the writers hint that something is wrong. That we should expect trouble, and the only place we should anticipate it, is to arise from Johnny's life as a street gangster. I mean, what the hell else should we expect it from, since nothing else really happens in this stupid movie. And, this is a little difficult to surmise at first, since we don't really get much of a story. We don't know much about the characters pivotal to Johnny's role.Johnny just keeps up the limited, arrogant character throughout the movie as he realizes things are going down. We aren't given much reason to care about the sequence of events, since nothing is really differentiated from one to another. For example, a bust breaks out at "The Store" where significant dealings occur. A heap of money is lost, leaving Johnny owing his boss a whopping fifteen grand (why a guy that powerful would hang on to Johnny who was noted for losing much cash before, still want to do so is questionable). But, it's like, Vincent Spano's deadpan delivery makes us wonder whether Johnny really cares about much of anything. He's too buy keeping up the tough guy front. And that's the case for the entire movie. The events transpire without too much development, and as a viewer, I certainly lose interest in a movie like this, because it only provides minimal explanation of what is going on, and gives little reason to tell the viewer why these occurrences are important. Alphabet City is a real disaster.