Year of the Dragon – 1985
Posted by Scott on 09 Mar 2008 at 02:16 am | Tagged as: Underrated Films
Director Michael Cimino is responsible for one of the most acclaimed movies of the 1970’s, The Deer Hunter. He followed that with one of Hollywood’s most notorious disasters, Heaven’s Gate. Toast of the town to laughing stock in two years. Showbiz can be a fickle beast. Cimino would return five years later with the bloody, ultra-violent, fist-to-the-face crime drama, Year of the Dragon. Not for the squeamish, this movie is badass.
Mickey Rourke plays Stanley White, grizzled Vietnam vet and decorated cop, who’s put in charge of Chinatown. Joey Tai (Jone Lone) unleashes a wave of violence to become the new Chinese mafia kingpin in New York City. White warns his bosses, “the gutters will run red with blood,” but they don’t agree. When bodies start piling up, White declares war on Joey Tai. The rollercoaster story takes us from seedy Chinatown streets, to the lush mountains of Thailand.
The heart of this movie is Stan White. A bitter vet, fed up with status-quo, he is the ideal antihero. He has no friends, ignores his wife, and has an affair with a beautiful young reporter (Ariane). Mickey Rourke nails this role. Has there been a more under-appreciated actor than Rourke? This guy has been in Diner, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Angel Heart, and Barfly. That’s a damn good resume. 
Written by Oliver Stone, Year of the Dragon pulls no punches. Rape, gunshots to the face, and decapitation are just some of the acts perpetrated. I’ve seen some violent films and this is near the top of the list. Violence, however, makes it compelling. The drug trade is a nasty business; there are no winners. The pushers live a kill-or-be-killed existence. The cops, faced with bureaucratic obstacles, are forced to bend the rules. There are few epic cop movies, but Year of the Dragon is one of the best.
