A return to 'Alphabet City' at Metrograph

At 19, they gave Johnny the streets and everything on it. Tonight they want it all back! 

You have three chances to see the cult-y classic-ish "Alphabet City" from 1984 on a big screen at Metrograph this coming Friday, Saturday and Monday. 

Here's the Metrograph description of Amos Poe's crime drama, filmed in and around the East Village... 

A squalid slab of vintage '80s Downtown grottiness, Poe's features a leather-jacketed, Pontiac Firebird-driving Vincent Spano as a heroin dealer who decides to turn his back on the dope game when his gangster overlords command him to burn down the tenement building where his mother and sister live — but soon discovers his bosses aren't going to let him walk away without a fight. 

Shot by DP Oliver Wood in the scuzzy-glamorous style he would later perfect on 'Miami Vice,' with a score courtesy of Chic's Nile Rodgers, 'Alphabet City' is a seedy snapshot of Avenue A looking worse — and better — than it ever did. 

Behold...

 

And Poe will be at the theater for an introduction and Q&A during Saturday night's screening. 

Tickets, right this way. 

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St., just above Canal.

Citysearch gets fancy makeover

Citysearch busts out a new look. (It's still in beta...) As Cnet reports, "there's a more streamlined and Ajax-y interface, but a few important features have been tweaked as well." Citysearch has expanded to 75,000 towns and neighborhoods, "meaning that you can narrow down your focus to New York's East Village or Los Angeles' Culver City."

Indeed, you can now narrow down your focus to either the East Village OR Alphabet City! Subtle!

Welcome to Lettertown!

Good thread on Gawker this afternoon on two Bushwick residents referring to their neighborhood now as "BillyWick" or "BushBurg."

Sarcasto had a funny suggestion (one that I hope some developer or real-estate baron doesn't notice!).

Alphabet City...it heats up when the sun goes down!

I watched Alphabet City the other night for the first time in about, oh, 15 years. I wanted to like the movie more than I did. It's definitely worth watching for many reasons, such as seeing a hammy Jami Gertz play a high-priced teen hooker. There are also some great shots of what the neighborhood used to look like.

Anyway, from here on out, I'm only dressing like Vincent Spano.

Movie trailers have sure come a long way since 1984...



Bonus footage!




[Thanks to jeremizle for posting these.]

And another film called Alphabet City in the works...?