{"id":565,"date":"2025-08-01T01:17:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=565"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:59:25","slug":"last-exit-to-brooklyn-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=565","title":{"rendered":"Last Exit to Brooklyn-1989"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Exit to Brooklyn-1989<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Uli Edel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #176<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #152<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"70141619\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed August 13, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Exit to Brooklyn is a slice-of-life type film that takes place in the early 1950s and is set in lower-class Brooklyn, NY.<\/p>\n

It tells the story of a group of struggling neighborhood people- sex workers, union members, drag queens, etc. whose lives intersect. Also in the neighborhood is a military base where soldiers come and go on their way to war-torn Korea.<\/p>\n

The central characters, though there are several with small yet interesting stories, are Harry, played by Stephen Lang, a sexually conflicted union worker with a wife and newborn child.<\/p>\n

He is in love with a selfish drag queen, and Marilyn Monroe lookalike, Tralala, played superbly by Jennifer Jason Leigh, a prostitute whose best days are behind her, and who will do anything for attention.<\/p>\n

The sets and cinematography in the film are very well done- the feeling of despair and hopelessness are accomplished by the dowdy streets, homes, and bars that the cast frequents.<\/p>\n

Some of the characters are sympathetic- the aforementioned plus Tralala\u2019s love interest, the Diner boy madly in love with Tralala, and the virginal seeming (but not really), Donna, portrayed by a young Rikki Lake. Other characters are abhorrent in their violence and hatred.<\/p>\n

Last Exit to Brooklyn is quite a dark film and sometimes tough to watch but captures a dreary time and atmosphere. The Brooklyn set is excellent in its dreariness.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Jason Leigh is the standout as the tough-talking, boozy prostitute who is losing her luster and the final scene of the film is truly a heartbreaker.<\/p>\n

The topics of union, strike, bisexuality, gangs, and drag queens are covered and unique characters and conflict\/loneliness are presented.<\/p>\n

This film is an overlooked gem from 1989.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Exit to Brooklyn-1989 Director Uli Edel Starring Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh Top 250 Films #176 Scott’s Review #152 Reviewed August 13, 2014 Grade: A- Last Exit to Brooklyn is a slice-of-life type film that takes place in the early 1950s and is set in lower-class Brooklyn, NY. It tells the story of a … Continue reading Last Exit to Brooklyn-1989<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7788,148,1141,6327,192,362,10338,1030,339,122,1591,10472,1657,1656,7464],"tags":[7789,150,1144,6330,193,363,10341,1040,123,340,1597,10479,1659,1658,7460],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-176-favorite-film","category-1989-films","category-burt-young","category-david-warshofsky","category-dramas","category-favorite-film-of-the-year","category-frank-vincent","category-jennifer-jason-leigh","category-lgbt-dramas","category-gay-films","category-ricki-lake","category-rutanya-alda","category-sam-rockwell","category-stephen-baldwin","category-top-250-films","tag-176-favorite-film","tag-1989-movie-reviews","tag-burt-young","tag-david-warshofsky","tag-dramas-2","tag-favorite-film-of-the-year","tag-frank-vincent","tag-jennifer-jason-leigh","tag-gaylesbian-films","tag-lgbt-dramas","tag-ricki-lake","tag-rutanya-alda","tag-sam-rockwell","tag-stephen-baldwin","tag-top-250-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21863,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/21863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}