Last Exit to Brooklyn **** (1989, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Lang, Burt Young) – Classic Movie Review 9409

It has been left to the Germans to make a film version of Hubert Selby Jr’s harrowing, controversial novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, banned following a private prosecution in July 1966, after its publication in Britain in 1964, because of its frank exploration of troubled homosexuality, prostitution and sexual confusion.

Uli Edel directs a savage tale about the sad characters in the underbelly of Brooklyn society in the 1950s, focusing on Jennifer Jason Leigh’s hapless prostitute Tralala, who falls in love with a naive young sailor client, and Stephen Lang’s tragic union leader, Harry Black, who tries to resolve the strike while hiding he is a communist.

The 1989 drama Last Exit to Brooklyn is a violent, disturbing film, but it is extremely well made by Edel who has created a coherent narrative from a fragmented novel. It is a visual and emotional powerhouse with searing images and subtle performances. Mark Knopfler’s score is a major asset.

Selby Jr has a cameo as a Car Driver.

Also in the cast are Burt Young, Peter Dobson, Christopher Murney, Jerry Orbach, Alexis Arquette, Stephen Baldwin, Jason Andrews, Sam Rockwell, James Lorinz, Maia Danziger, Camille Saviola, Cameron Johann, John Costelloe, Bernard Zette and Ricki Lake.

Last Exit to Brooklyn is directed by Uli Edel, runs 102 minutes, is made by Allied Filmmakers, Bavaria Film and Neue Constantin Film, released by Constantin Film (1989) (Germany), Guild Film Distribution (1990) (UK) and Cinecom Pictures (1990) (US), written by Desmond Nakano, based on Hubert Selby Jr’s novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, shot by Stefan Czapsky, produced by Bernd Eichinger, scored by Mark Knopfler, and designed by David Chapman (Production Design) and Mark Haack (Art Direction).

It is the debut English language feature of German director Uli Edel, after his Christiane F (1981) was released in a dubbed English language version.

Male characters in Selby Jr’s stories are named Harry: Harry Black in Last Exit to Brooklyn; Harry White in The Demon; Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream; and  Harry Barnard in Waiting Period.

The rights for the British edition of Last Exit to Brooklyn were bought by Marion Boyars and John Calder, and it was published to favourable reviews and sales of 14,000 copies. But the director of Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford complained and Sir Cyril Black, Conservative MP for Wimbledon, started a private prosecution in July 1966, leading to guilty verdict at London’s Marlborough Street Magistrates’ Court. Then the public prosecutor brought an action under the Obscene Publications Act. At the nine-day trial in London’s Old Bailey, witnesses for the prosecution included the publisher Sir Basil Blackwell, while scholars Al Alvarez and Professor Frank Kermode appeared for the defence. There was a guilty verdict but in August 1968 an appeal led by lawyer/ writer John Mortimer was successful, marking a turning point in British censorship law.

Selby Jr’s Requiem for a Dream (2000) was also filmed. Selby Jr wrote all of the dialogue for Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2003 surreal neo noir thriller Fear X.

Hubert Selby Jr died on 26 April 26 2004, aged 75.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9409

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com