China Girl

This superior exploitation picture is a tough, stylish but often painfully misjudged reworking of Romeo and Juliet, with rival teenage gangs battling it out, sparked by the inter racial love affair between an Italian (Panebianco) and a Chinese girl (Chang). Ferrara makes excellent use of the Chinatown and Little Italy locations, and delivers the choreographed violence with his usual muscular panache, but his handling of the younger, inexperienced actors is distinctly dodgy. The major strength of the script is its accommodation of three generations: the elders and their aspiring sons are seen to conspire against the warring youngsters, putting money before family. But the bitter taste of this radical undercurrent is ultimately drowned out by saccharine sentiment and histrionic overkill.