Last Exit to Brooklyn

"Last Exit to Brooklyn," despite some very good reviews from a few national critics, was a most repulsive experience for me, reveling as it does in the social disorders of Brooklyn's Red Hook area during the 1950s, played as broad melodrama laced with R-rated excesses.

Based on the book by Hubert Selby Jr., "Last Exit to Brooklyn" ties together some of his short stories and invents a new one, examining low-life misfits who are affected by the ongoing strike at the local metals factory.

Stephen Lang is the most effective presence, abusing his wife and his privileges as the shop steward and eventually giving in to his sublimated feelings of homosexuality when he meets a transvestite and falls in love.

Jennifer Jason Leigh also plays well her role as a prostitute with a Marilyn Monroe look who is looking for something better. She spends a few days with a soldier heading out to Korea in a bizarre variation on "Pretty Woman" and eventually is gang-raped.

The third major character is played by Burt Young as a father who, at first, can't believe his daughter (Ricki Lake) is pregnant, then after the baby is born has a fight with the father, knocking the child to the floor — all this during the young couple's wedding reception.

There's no one in this movie to have sympathy for, to like or identify with — even a young boy who seems innocent is corrupted by the end, and the stalwart union leader (very well played by Jerry Orbach) sanctions violence to help end the strike.

Worse, however, is the approach, with everyone from hard hats to gays to streetwalkers being played in the broadest stereotypes, as if placing all the action in the '50s is sufficient reason to portray offensive images.

I can understand why some critics have embraced this film; one person's shocking exploitation is another's bold statement.

But after two hours of wallowing with this crowd, I felt like I needed a shower.

"Last Exit to Brooklyn" is rated R for violence, sex, nudity, profanity and drug abuse.