Just wanted to get some of you guys opinions and favorites.For me it's the French connection,The Seven-ups and Saturday night fever.
Have to mention Kojak,although it's a tv show.How about you guys?

What, my pms weren't good enough for you?

My buddy Alex is a Serb. But his Mom is an American who grew up in Brooklyn back in the '70s. So keep that in mind when recommending a film.

@Alex: Have you seen "Dog Day Afternoon" with Pacino? It was filmed entirely on location in Brooklyn. Great film, gritty as Hell, and depicts a long gone Outer Borough New York City. Definitely one of Pacino's top five performances. Maybe even top three. Some people think it was over the top, but not me.

Other recommendations off the top of my head: "The Seven Ups," with Roy Scheider. Best car chase scene in the history of film (pre CGI, anyway). And "The Lords of Flatbush." Incredibly young cast of future stars. A fun movie.

I was just telling some friends that my brother will be celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary next week. It reminds me that when he and his wife got married they had another couple getting married the same day and in the same hall as them - my brother's best friend, Bruce, and his wife, Linda. Bruce went on to try acting a few years later and he landed the role of 'Mike Mambo' (the pool player) in "The Lords of Flatbush".

Consider some of the stars that came out of that movie. Besides Stallone and Henry Winkler, there was Armand Assante, Dolph Sweet, Susan Blakely and the one I thought was best of the bunch - Perry King.

A REALLY fun movie!

Dolph Sweet was also great in "The Wanderers" as Chubby Galasso. Which, coincidentally, is another great New York movie. About my favorite borough no less!

Whenever I watch the part where they show the old Alexander's on Fordham and the Concourse, I flash back to my Mom walking me there for school clothes as a kid .

You were a little Fordham Baldy then???

pb, were the Baldies really bad ass then?

Yeah, they were a little before my time but they were notorious, even in the sixties when I was a little kid. They were real tight with the tough Jewish guys from Bathgate and up on the Concourse. I don't know why Richard Price left that out of the book and movie. They got along MUCH better with those guys than with the Bainbridge Irish. Not getting ethnic here, just stating a fact. In the Bronx of my youth the Jews and Italians always seemed to find each other.

A lot of them ended up with real wiseguys from the neighborhood. But they weren't really all bald. That was just in the movie. Dion was a Baldy for a few minutes before he picked up his first guitar and got hooked on Hank Williams. True story. Verbatim. Straight from the man's mouth.

OK, thanks for the answer.

I had a friend (a few years older than me) who grew up there in the '50s/'60s and he told me about some of the guys who had really tough cars then. He told of a gal, supposedly a really hot, blonde who would drive around in a 'Vette and it was written on the side of her car "If you beat me, you can eat me". He swears it was a true story. Dunno exactly where in the Bronx this was, but did you ever hear of anything like that?

Sounds like Christie Brinkley in "Vacation."

Doesn't ring a bell. But I'll see if any of the old guard remembers her.

Bad head cold. Tylenol pms just kicked in. I'll talk to you tomorrow .

It would have been in the mid '60s.

Feel better!

Yes pb,your pms were very helpfull,always look forward to your feedback.You know that
It is true my mother is raised in Brooklyn in the 60s and 70s,so i guess that got me hooked to those 70s style,gritty street,type of movies.Acctually never watched Dog day afternoon,so thanks for that idea.Remmember reading something that it was acctually a bank in Gravesend those guys were atempting to rob.Heard nothing but good stuff about that movie.And you cant go wrong with Al Pacino.
Seven ups and the French connection are my two favorite movies of that kind.You gotta love Tony Lo Bianco in those two.I like the way he is always impeccably dressed,those overcouts,those suits are great.70s fashion was very cool.
Only watched a trailer Lords of Flatbush,guess you cant go wrong with that one.
Oh yeah,i have to mention Mean streets.We mentioned earlier PB.Thats maybe the best portrail of NY life in the city.Ofcourse,i wouldnt know that :),but thats how i imagine it.

Maybe even Serpico,not a bad movie too.

Agree.the cast is promising to begin with.Also,who dosent like a movie about the 50s aswell.
The Wanderers was a gang from south brooklyn acctually,right?Think i read that somewhere.On the net they allways mention The Fordham baldies as one of the toughest gangs,along with The red wings from east harlem,and the South brooklyn boys.
Read somewhere that the name acctually didnt come frome gang members being bald,but the way that they used to shave guys from other gangs bald.lol
Dont know if thats true or not.

I think the order of who was the baddest is a little off. I think the Red Wings was up at the top of the list. Then everyone else. Mainly because they had access to real guns.

Ask pizza if I am right on this never saw it. But the female baldies would fight they would attach razor blades to their nails.

Red wing debs were just pussy

Red Wings were from Harlem, the Baldies were from the Bronx. Two different worlds, apples and oranges. Let's just say you didn't want a problem with either of them .

There were female baldies with razors??what do you mean red wings debs were pussy?

Thats so true PB,also i looks like they didnt like each other that much.Remmember reading that in 1954 a baldie got shot by a red wing in front of their hungout north of 187th street,and 2 years latter a red wing got shot in retaliation.Tough kids no doubt

Another 70s classic comes to mind The Warriors.Great movie.Remmember when i was a kid a bunch of us came to my appartment and we watched the movie,got so pumped up that we went outside looking for a gang fight.Thats what a great movie does to you

A friend of ours a harlem boy was an actor in both the French connection and the seven ups. Benny Marino I put up a YouTube with us playing baseball in Jefferson park. We made believe we were hitting him with a baseball bat. My brother may have really hit him by accident.

My wife went to school with Tony Lo Bianco he was in both movies as well.

Yeah i saw that video,whats it called?so i can find it on youtube.What age was that guy,i read he was born in 1941,true?Tony lobianco,one of my top 3 favorite actors.What school was that?new utrecht?

Most gangs never left their neighborhood. Except like to go out in the city.

Their was a story that got around. A few Red Wings went to the Peperment lounge. They had words with some guy. Later they kidnaped off the street. Took him to some place in Harlem. They found out he was a Jew. So they crucified him to two by fours et him hang around for a while then killed him.

Another one, Alex.

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3." The original 1974 version is an absolute classic. Put that on at the top of your list.

Gonna watch that tonight,never heard of it acctually.Just watched The wanderers today.Loved the movie,great movie.The actor who played Richie was the one who stared in Wiseguy tv show,right?
Have to mention that half-blackexplotation movie "accross the 110th street",like that movie also.Have you seen it.Liked the song by Bobby Wormack first,than saw the mivie.It's not bad,has a little mafia in too.

Oh yeah, I've spoken about "Across 110th Street" here many times. The movie AND the song. The song was used again for the intro to "Jackie Brown." Great stuff.

Now I'm disappointed in you, Alex. You caught Ken Wahl, but did you not notice that the actress who played his pregnant girlfriend was none other than a very young Toni Kalem, who close to twenty years later would go on to play Big Pussy's wife on "The Sopranos"?

What am I gonna do with you?

Yeah now that you mention it i remmember the song being an intro for Jackie Brown.

Belive me even now that you pointed that out about Toni Kalem,i still can't remmember her being pussy's wife.Just thinking today that girl is kinnda hot. but Kalem isn't a italian last name,and she does look italian.Maybe her mother.Don't know how i missed that detail about her PB.Am sorry Have you seen American hustle?I usually don't watch movies made after '00s but that one is not bad at all.Also 70s fash.

Even Carlito's way is about 70s NYC,and if u look real close u can see Pussy from the Soprano's.Pastore is in that seen when Carlito's girls dances with an Italian,and his jew lawyer starts talking s..t.