"The Deuce" - HBO Series with James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Uh oh, bad wig alert.

 

Looks like they're bypassing punks most vibrant years in NYC. Still a must see.

 

'77 was certainly a more tumultuous year (blackout, Son of Sam, Bronx fires, verge of bankruptcy, Reggie vs. Billy & Thurman and then the 3 HR on 3 pitches, mayoral primary: "vote for Cuomo not the ****" in reference to victor Ed Koch, Studio 54 opens). '78 was comparatively calm (what wouldn't be after '77?). It had the blizzard (which was actually the second snowstorm within about 3 weeks; the first was the same foot of snow but it came straight down so it wasn't as disruptive) but not much else. Perhaps the producers felt that by setting it in '77 they'd have to address all the insanity happening in NY that year, leaving them less time to focus on the established characters.

 

Our car was broken into on the upper west, and all our luggage was stolen while visiting relatives, but I can't remember if that was '77 or '78. Giuliani sure cleaned up that town.

 

He didn’t, actually. He just covered up and moved the dirt around.

 

He helped ruin it. But we won't go there.

 

Perhaps you're right. The show isn't music centric anyway, but "punk rock" and the gay disco scene really got jump started in the early-mid seventies. As did the baths. Wonder how they'll treat that?
Thurman Munson.

 

Of all the possible NYC tales that can be used in the Deuce, I'm thinking Plato's Retreat, or a place very much like it, would be a perfect fit!

 

Given the awesome music supervision of season one, season two should really be a treat. Maggie Gyllenhaal is everything.

 

What do you like about her? I just don't get it, but maybe I'm missing something. Even in the Batman Begins vs Dark Knight, I thought Katie Holmes thoroughly outshone Gyllenhaal, and that's saying quite a lot.

 

There were some very....interesting...aspects of NY that he helped destroy. I feel that a big city should have EVERYTHING

 

If you had to commute by IRT (among other things) before and after Giuliani, I suspect you'd be singing a different song.

 

Funny you say that- I rode the IRT almost every day for 30 years, in fact I rode it today ! Yes, the trains and stations are better (though the MTA is under NY STATE control, not New York CITY, so Guiliani had nothing to do with any improvements)....I just feel that a great city should have everything available, from high culture to sleaze, as long as nobody is getting hurt or coerced...As someone who spent way too much of my wayward youth in Times Square, I have a soft spot in my memory for the "old days"...Show World RIP...

 

I really don't understand this sentiment. The state could repaint the train cars all day and night, and it would be filled front-to-back with graffiti and bad actors instantly until Giuliani came along. I was riding the IRT 30 years ago as well. Maybe you don't remember how bad it was.

Ok, but people were being hurt and coerced and Deuce is a bit accurate in that regard. A city has a responsibility to all its citizens to provide a safe and clean environment. That's why they get our tax dollars and have a police force. Giuliani started out as a democrat prosecuting the mafia, and you can't have a functional police force when there was the level of corruption (shown I'm not sure how accurately in Deuce). I think you're romanticizing those times by remembering your formative years, but you probably know friends/family who did not thrive in that environment and had their lives ruined.

When you're a kid with nothing to lose riding the IRT it's a bit different than people with families who've worked hard for what they have. I remember at age 21 riding the IRT when I was threatened by a guy weilding an ice pick and I seriously feared for my life. If there weren't quite a few people on the subway, it could have gone differently. My aunt was followed by someone from the station and had her head bashed in with a trash can lid. That kind of thing should not happen, and after Giuliani made some serious changes, it mostly stopped.

 

And they still are. It’s just different people now.

And besides the fact that it should now be extremely clear what a joke Giuliani was and is, if you look up the actual stats on NYC you’ll find that the crime rate started dropping before he came to power.

 

I don't think Dinkins did his job. That brings to mind another crime drama: The Wire. Crime data is routinely cooked or calculated to favor the administration that is really not doing its job to fight crime. I can only go by what I see with my eyes as a commuter and it was clear that Giuliani cleaned up the IRT and the streets.

 

Gosh, I completely disagree. I thought Katie Holmes seemed way out of her league in that role and Maggie was a big step up. I thinks she's excellent in this.

 

I could get into any number of ways in which Rudolph was a lousy mayor, but it would go in a bad direction.

 

There was the obvious danger in the 70's in NYC dependent on what you did and where you did it. But as a guy in his late teens/early 20's, I had inumerable great times there between the years 76-83, first going down from Boston on weekends+ to see bands, then eventually liviing there while working in the record business. I tried not to ride the subway or walk in Alphabet City at 3AM, but there was so much good stuff around in every part of the city for those of us that wanted to explore. And the city catered to artists. Painters, actors, musicians, etc. Cheap housing, clubs, studios, small theater; it was a great time. You basically could be an artist full time, making a few bucks extra by working at at book or video store, or what have you. It was just a wonderful time there before the money came in and decided that it would be better to clean it up for tourists and the rich.

I still love NYC. It's better then Boston or San Francisco, two cities that I have intimate knowledge of. Even while tailored to the rich, it's so big and still retains some craziness and diversity. Still a great city to walk around in, and still the only big city that I would ever consider living in again if I ever win the lottery.

 

Took the subways at 3 or 4 am without a second thought. Stayed out of alphabet city but the lower numbered streets on the LES were part of my scene, so there I was.
Maybe I just looked like one of the people you wanted to avoid.
Great place to be from the early 70's and into the early 80's. Had a fabulous time and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Still love it here, greatest city in the world.

 

I was at CB's quite a bit in those days till early morning, so walking around areas where others wouldn't dare wasn't an issue for me. People looking a certain way was of no concern. I'm sure I invited more then a few stares and raised eyebrows back in the day with my get ups. If I could avoid the subway I did, but I remember quite a few drunken nights where there was no other way to get where I was staying so I rode it. Had friends with places on the LES that I'd crash at, but not Alphabet City.

 

As I lived in Brooklyn (even then) the only way home was the subway. Those winter nights walking from CBGB to the RR or LL train were a trip.

 

Ok, but why? Maggie always has the exact same expression on her face with that affected Mona Lisa smile and the only emotion she seems to convey is ambivalence. Even when she found out she would be dying in TDK--no change in her emotion whatsoever. At least Katie Holmes brought some passion to the role, got angry with Bruce Wayne and even smacked him across the face when he started to let vengeance rule him. I can't see Maggie pull that off. She has one speed: ambivalence. From what I remember of the first season of Deuce that's all she brought to the role.

 

I certainly see more than that, but if you don't like her, you don't like her. I'm not going to convince you.

For a different role of hers, I thought her few scenes in the 2009 drama/comedy "Away We Go" were the highlight of the movie.