movie was OK-- People seem to either LOVE it or have never heard of it.I didn't love it--i actually thought it was pretty average---but its not a bad watch by any means either. (kinda reminded me of The Substitute actually) Jan Michael Vincent is very Patrick Swayze in this movie. (looks like, sounds like, acts like) This could've been a movie with Patrick Swayze if it was made a decade later.Danny Aiello is fun to see here tho---love the sequence in which he and Jan Michael beat the crap out of the gang leader's car towards the end. (very Mystery Men of them!) If you ever wanna see how gritty NYC was before it got outrageously expensive and overly hipster--you should definitely check this out tho. One of the best things about seeing it was that there was a Q and A with one of the co-stars/writers of the film and he said the studio kept telling him and the cast and crew not too wander too far away from the set when they were shooting at night---otherwise they'd encounter the real version of these guys! (dig that subway station where the gang beats up Jan Michael at the beginning of the film tho--you'd never really think of a subway station as being particularly clean or dirty--cause its the subway--its always gonna be dirty no matter what! but its sparkling clean today compared to how it was back then---and you can see that for yourself here in this movie!) Art Carney is always welcome in my neighborhood tho. (i can't believe young gang-bangers especially in NYC wouldn't recognize Art Carney/Ed Norton---The Honeymooners ran every single night at 11 30 in NYC for years and years and years on a local station---in the early 80's there's no way they wouldn't know of him--even if this is fiction and Art Carney is much older then he was when he was Ed Norton! God help me I will never forgive that actor for having the same name as the sidekick on the honeymooners! its just not right that every time someone mentions Art Carney---the actor Ed Norton has to spring to mind and i gotta specify no not Ed Norton the actor--I mean Ed Norton the character!)

I think this is JMV's finest Hour and a half on film besides AIRWOLF and why this isn't out on DVD yet is beyond me. With all the crap they they do have out now, I would have thought I could find this somewhere but alas, I can't but thank god I have it on VHS when I copied it years ago for my own personal use.You have already read the storyline from the rest of the comments up there so take my word for it, this flick is worth watching if you like "Gangs tearing up the neighborhood and the good guys kick their asses in the end" movies.It's just a shame the JMV's career has since gone down the toilet.

The classic western hero is a lone stranger who rides into a town terrorized by a gang of ruthless ruffians. The townspeople let these ruffians prey on them because they are either too weak or too cowardly to drive them out.Meanwhile, the hoer is in the town out of some necessity. He prefers to mind his own business and look the other way. He is "just passing through" and doesn't plan to get entangled in the woes of others. Someway or somehow, however, the townspeople's fight becomes his fight, and he must stand up to the predators.When you think of this classic western hero, movies like George Stevens' "Shane" with Alan Ladd or John Sturges' "Bad Day at Black Rock" with Spencer Tracy come to mind. Indeed, westerns classics or otherwise are not being made in the numbers that they used to appear in on the silver screen. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean the classic western hero has vanished. He is alive, well and kicking ass in John Flynn's "Defiance" with Jan-Michael Vincent. "Defiance" is one of the few decent movies—along with Michael Winner's "The Mechanic"—that Vincent made before he destroyed his life with alcohol, narcotics, and various other forms of abuse.The setting of "Defiance" is not the old West. Instead, this tale of urban terror is set in the east side slums of contemporary New York City. The hero Tom Gamble, played with good natured but stalwart gusto by Vincent neither carries a six-gun nor rides a horse.Gamble is a footloose mariner laid over in town following his six-month suspension by his union for brawling. He is "just passing through" and he is eagerly awaiting the next ship out of town. The first ship is bound for South America, but he has to learn Spanish before he can get hired onto it.Gamble rents a cheap apartment and spends his time studying Spanish and drinking beer. Before long he gang that roans the neighborhood—they call themselves 'The Souls'—take an interest in the stranger.The Souls attack a young boy that Gamble has befriended, rob a bingo game, and murder a retired boxing champ. Along the way, they manage to beat up Tom Gamble, too. But Gamble gets back on his feet and goes after these thugs.The screenplay by producer Thomas Michael Donnelly is predictable, strictly a formula driven revenge actioneer. It appears as if Donnelly culled memorable scenes from "The Magnificent Seven," "Death Wish," "Billy Jack," and "High Noon" to make up his script.Imitative though it may be, "Defiance" is definitely a superior effort. There are no car chases or shoot-outs. It is knives, fists, and Louisville sluggers. The dialogue sounds realistic and the characters are well-rounded by both Donnelly's script and a talented cast.John Flynn, who directed "Defiance," has called the shots of several minor masterpieces such as "The Sergeant" with Rod Steiger, "The Outfit" with Robert Duvall, and "Rolling Thunder" with William Devane. Flynn specializes in tough, realistic, little action epics that recall the studio-bound James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart thrillers that Warner Brothers ground out in the 1930s and 1940s. Flynn crafts his movies with both economy and imagination. "Defiance" qualified as Flynn's best film when he came out in 1980 and a sleeper, too. Flynn has a knack for creating atmospheric situations and staging exciting rough & tumble fights that put to good use in "Defiance." He builds the action to a pressure cooker climax that explodes in a rousing finale. There isn't a slack moment in this fast-paced melodrama that has it share of humorous interludes.Jan Michael Vincent delivers his finest, most mature performance. Although he clenches his jaws and knuckles his fists, he never plays Tom Gamble as a muscle-bound moron. As Gamble, he is a modest, ordinary hombre who stand up for what he believes in and rejects any phony claims to being a hero.Art Carney is featured in a small role as a Jewish storekeeper who rebels against The Souls and gets severely beaten for his defiance. Rudy Ramos nearly steals the movie as the kingpin villain who heads up The Souls.Altogether, "Defiance" is a little movie. There is nothing pretentious about it. Moreover, it is not profane, lewd, or gratuitous. The ending is happy, and the theme of the community that rejuvenates itself is inspiring without being dripping with too much sentiment.

I saw this movie for the first time around 10 yrs when it first came out. I thought it was a cool movie then, and still do today. A straight forward plot, and the acting is so-so, but this movie is still a classic that throws back to old-school street gangs. If you like "The Warriors" (another classic in my book), then you should like this one. The leader of the gang's name is "Angel Cruse." How cool is this dude? So cool that he doesn't even fight until the end of the movie. Which is much anticipated throughout the movie with our hero Jan Michael. This movie also has some good dialogue and "one liners" (just like in "the warriors"). Another plus is Danny Aielo in this movie. Quite unknown when this movie came out, but he shines here in my opinion. Check it out!