Year Of The Dragon

This past weekend we lost a very talented filmmaker, Michael Cimino. Unfortunately, Mr. Cimino only had one hit that he is best remembered for. But what a film it is, 1978's The Deer Hunter. He is just as well remembered for his biggest flop, 1980's Heaven;s Gate. Heaven's Gate was such a huge disaster that it bankrupted United Artists. That being said, it's not as horrible as people make it out to be. Even though he still found work in the year's that followed, the Heaven's Gate dibacle seem to shroud Cimino's later work. One of those films that was sadly overlooked, also happens to be what I think his best work, 1985's Year Of The Dragon.

Mickey Rourke stars as Stanley White, a decorated police captain and Vietnam War vet who has been assigned to the beat of Chinatown. Stanley makes it his mission to take down Chinatown's biggest crime lord Joey Tai, John Lone. Tai puts up quite a battle with Stanley leading to some testosterone fueled confronatations and one of the greatest climaxes I've ever seen.

This is what a would call a full blown machismo movie, and I love it. This is a guys movie with little to offer for a female audience. Rourke, who worked with Cimino in Heaven's Gate and Desperate Hours, is perfectly cast as the morally ambiguos Stanley. He is a little young for the role, which is why his hair is dyed, but it's hard to imagine anyone else in the part. The underrated Lone is very good as well as the menacing Tai.

The film was greeted with some controversy over it's portrayal of Asian American's, which I think is silly There's good people and bad people, no matter what your race is.

Cimino, along with screenwriter Oliver Stone, has crafted one of the greatest gangster films of all time.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.