Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: a great thriller from the 80s with Mickey Rourke at the top.
A mysterious wave of violence has just hit Chinatown. Captain Stanley White, a very strong personality, leans towards the theory of the development of a Chinese mafia. A duel to the death will pit him against the neighborhood godfather.
This pitch is that of The Year of the Dragon, an incredible thriller released in theaters in 1985 and which is one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorites. If you like The Godfather, then you will love this great mafia film directed by Michael Cimino and which gives Mickey Rourke the best role of his career, that of an obsessive, racist and diehard ex-Vietnam veteran, ready to sacrifice everything in his personal crusade.
When Michael Cimino embarks on The Year of the Dragon, he has just experienced everything: glory with Journey to the End of Hell, rewarded with five Oscars including those for Best Film and Best Director, then hatred from the industry with he resounding failure of Heaven’s Gate, which caused the near bankruptcy of the United Artists studio. The thriller he signed then, even if it only became truly cult over time, allowed him to bounce back.
Oliver Stone on the screenplay for this great thriller
Superbly staged, violent (you won’t forget the shooting scene on the railway bridge), The Year of the Dragonwritten by Cimino and Oliver Stone based on the novel by Robert Daley, is an incredible work. With its powerful atmosphere, the masterful interpretations of Mickey Rourke and John Lone, and its subject (immigration and its management by the American government) which still resonates today, this thriller surprises with its modernity. Don’t miss this masterpiece!
Tonight on Arte at 9 p.m.