The movie premiered at the New York Film Festival. Many members of the audience, including Abel Ferrara's wife, walked from the movie theater. At a second showing of the movie the following day, Larry Fishburne and Nicholas St. John were booed from the stage.
Mark Caro, writing for the Chicago Tribune gave the movie only 1/2 star. He said "``King of New York,`` [is] a film more interested in leaving impressions than spinning a smooth narrative". He also said that both the star, Christopher Walken, and the movie "remains just out of grasp".[1]
Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a rating of 71%.[2]Roger Ebert gave the movie two stars.[3] Janet Maslin from New York Times said the movie was "a chillingly ambiguous portrait of its title character."[4]