Main Cast: Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, Fairuza Balk, Norman Reedus, Max Perlich
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This gang warfare drama is from director Scott Kalvert, whose previous film was the controversial and violent The Basketball Diaries (1995). In the sweltering summer of 1958, Leon (Stephen Dorff) and Bobby (Brad Renfro) are leaders of the Brooklyn street gang known as the Deuces. When their brother Alley Boy died from an overdose, the two toughs vowed to keep narcotics out of their turf, but now they're being muscled by a new and more powerful gang called the Vipers, fueled by drug money and led by mobster Fritzy Zennetti (Matt Dillon). As a vicious gang war heats up that will determine Brooklyn's future, a romance develops between Bobby and Annie (Fairuza Balk), the leader of a girl gang. Deuces Wild co-stars Frankie Muniz, Balthazar Getty, Max Perlich, Drea de Matteo, Deborah Harry, Vincent Pastore, Joshua Leonard, James Franco, and Johnny Knoxville. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Donna Ekins-Kapner - Art Director, Shira Levin - Associate Producer, Felicia Fasano - Casting, Mary Vernieu - Casting, Scott Valentine - Co-producer, Charlie Loventhal - Co-producer, Melissa Barrett - Co-producer, Marianna Astrom De Fina - Costume Designer, Adam Druxman - First Assistant Director, Scott Kalvert - Director, Michael R. Miller - Editor, Mario Ohoven - Executive Producer, Eberhard Kayser - Executive Producer, Marc Sferrazza - Executive Producer, Pete Antico - Fights Choreographer, Stewart Copeland - Composer (Music Score), Marvin Westmore - Makeup, David Snyder - Production Designer, John A. Alonzon - Cinematographer, Fred Caruso - Producer, Willi Baer - Producer, Paul Kimatian - Producer, Michael Cerenzie - Producer, Jan K. Bergstrom - Set Designer, Gregory Scott Hooper - Set Designer, Stephan Vonhase - Sound/Sound Designer, Pete Antico - Stunts Coordinator, Paul Kimatian - Screenwriter, Christopher Gambale - Screenwriter, David Barrett - Additional Cinematography, Josh Hakian - Special Effects Coordinator, James Lay - Supervising Sound Editor, Kieron Estrada - Assistant Location Manager
Refers to a type of high poker where twos are wild, meaning they can be
used to represent any card the players desires to better their
hand.
SoundPoker Says: A player can use a deuce to make the fifth card needed to form a full
house, to fill the "hole" in a straight, to make a pair and so on.
Leon (Dorff) and Bobby (Renfro) are brothers and also part of the Deuces, a street gang in Brooklyn. Ever since their other brother Alphonse(Alley Boy) died from a drug overdose, they made an effort to keep drugs off their block. Their rival gang, the Vipers, are a threat to their mission because they want to sell drugs, and a gang war is about to erupt. The plot unfolds with the use of flashbacks throughout the entire film, wherein the viewer learns of Marco, the drug dealer who supplied Alphonse with the lethal heroin dose. Marco is sent to prison for three years, and the story begins within days of his expected return to the neighborhood after his sentence is over. Marco plans revenge against Leon, whom he believes to have told the police about the heroin dose.
Leon's brother Bobby falls for a new girl who moves in across the street, Annie (Balk), who is the younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets", of the Vipers. Their attraction for each other complicates the gang rivalry, as loyalties are questioned and either can be used by the other. Fritzy (Dillon) is the mob boss who controls the larger area in which the Deuces and the Vipers live and operate, and they must answer to him on all matters, including getting permission to attack one another. Marco, too, is subservient to Fritzy, and cannot act against Leon without approval.Fritzy,in turn, answers to Mikey Festo,who is never actually seen in the movie but was originally slated to be played by Verne Troyer.
As the tagline states, there is very little firearm violence; most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, in keeping with the 1958 setting.
