The Lords of Flatbush
The Lords of Flatbush
PG | 01 May 1974 (USA)
The Lords of Flatbush Trailers

Set in 1958, the coming of age story follows four lower middle-class Brooklyn teenagers known as The Lords of Flatbush. The Lords chase girls, steal cars, shoot pool, get into street fights, and hang out at a local malt shop.

Reviews
Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
adonis98-743-186503 A group of kids in Brooklyn form a gang. From this moment on they do everything together. This makes things easier but at the same time they have to face new problems. Despite an alright dup of perfomances from both King and Stallone 'The Lords of Flatbush' is a weird mix of different genres alongside with lots of bad comedic moments and romances between the leads that didn't even felt realistic (Stallone's especially). The acting was mediocre, the story was half cooked and the movie came out before Sly's Rocky years so it makes sense for his acting to be once hot and once cold. Overall a big disappointment for me cause i was expecting way more effort. (5.4/10)
sddavis63 "The Lords Of Flatbush" is a coming of age movie - part of the trend in Hollywood in the 70's of looking back nostalgically to the 50's, when things were a lot simpler. Girls were girls and guys were guys and Ike was president and everybody had a house and two parents, and all was well. The Lords (or Lord's as it's spelled on their jackets) are basically a gang (or, a "social athletic club" as they call themselves.) They're high school drifters, perhaps smarter than they seem but not seeming to have much ambition aside from girls and the odd bit of mischief like stealing a car or getting into fights. But high school is coming to an end and the future is beckoning and they all react in different ways.To be honest, I really didn't find much of a story here; certainly, nothing that kept me glued to the screen as I watched this. Mostly, it's interesting to watch because of the cast. The two who made it biggest, of course, were Henry Winkler and Sylvester Stallone. Within a couple of years of making this movie, Winkler would be a TV pheenom as "The Fonz" on "Happy Days," and Stallone, of course, would be nominated for an Oscar for his performance as "Rocky Balboa" in "Rocky" - which would become his most famous and iconic character. But at this point neither were particularly well known. It might be a bit anachronistic, but it's hard to watch this film and not see the genesis of "the Fonz" or "Rocky" coming through in Stallone's "Stanley Rosiello" and Winkler's "Butchey Weinstein." On the subject of anachronisms, although there's no connection with the cast, you can't look at the chaotic classroom scene at the beginning of the movie without thinking at least for a moment of "Welcome Back, Kotter," which would be on TV about a year later.Basically, the performances here are fine. I thought one of the more interesting characters was Jane, played by Susan Blakely. She's strangely drawn to Chico (played by Perry King) - perhaps it's a sort of "bad boy" attraction - but somehow she also knows that he's not ready for what the future holds and she'll only go so far with him, while holding on to a much more promising relationship with another guy. Unlike Chico, Stanley does grow and develop as a character, coming to understand the meaning of responsibility, which probably led up to the most nostalgic moment of the movie for me.I was not a child of the 50's, but rather of the 70's and early 80's. But as the movie focused in on Stanley and Fran's wedding, I really did get a feeling of nostalgia, particularly as the closing "Wedding Song" played - thinking back myself to friends from high school that I haven't seen in decades, wondering what happened to them, reflecting on choices I made and how my life turned out (and it's good!) I liked the ending. It doesn't turn this into an especially good movie. There have been better coming of age movies, and there really wasn't any consistent plot holding this together so that it really did seem to drag out a lot longer than its 1:25 runtime. But it is interesting to see actors like Winkler and Stallone at this stage of their careers, before they became famous. (4/10)
Desertman84 The Lords of Flatbush is a coming-of-age film about street teenagers in leather jackets from the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York that was set during the 1950's.It features Perry King, Henry Winkler and Sylvester Stallone and Susan Blakely. The story was set in 1958.The story involves street teenagers such as Chico,who attempts to win over Jane but does not him;Stanley,who impregnates his girlfriend,Frannie and is pressured to marry her;Butchey Weinstein,who is highly intelligent but tries to front being a clown; and Wimpy Murgalo,a follower of Chico and Stanley.This was a pretty good and least likely heard film from the 70's about the '50's wherein the characters have hairstyles that is similar to the characters in Grease.Also,we get to see talented thespians such as Stallone,King,Winkler and Blakely showcase their talent before they became popular.The coming-of-age story was definitely something that would entertain the viewer despite the fact that one may find it dated when seen at present.
Lee Eisenberg The '50s nostalgia spawned by "American Graffiti" was bound to include a number of movies imitating "American Graffiti". "The Lords of Flatbush" - deliberately rendered with the grammatically incorrect "Lord's" - is an example. I wouldn't call the movie a ripoff since it's more of a drama. The movie does have character development. It's clear that the main characters don't have much ambition beyond their greaser lifestyle. Whereas most nostalgia movies have soundtracks of songs that people are immediately going to recognize, this one contained songs that I didn't know. As for these guys' future, I sometimes wonder if any greasers went through a hippie stage.Anyway, it's not a great movie but still worth seeing.Doesn't it seem as if, watching Henry Winkler's character, you keep thinking that you're watching a serious version of Fonzie?