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Sylvester Stallone, with Jay Will, in Tulsa King.

Tulsa King review – Sylvester Stallone gets his first ever TV role! As a slow-moving 75-year-old gangster

The movie star’s televisual debut is full of fun, retro energy and action hero-lite antics, as he plays a veteran mobster trying to take over Oklahoma. Just don’t expect innovation

D o you know what I hate? I hate it when you spend 25 years in prison keeping shtum for your New York mafia family and on your release they exile you to Oklahoma with some nonsense about it being virgin mob territory and yours for the taking, instead of reinstating you as the capo dei capi’s righthand man. On this matter, Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone – yes, that Sylvester Stallone) and I are as one.

That, alas, is 75-year-old Dwight’s situation at the beginning of 76-year-old Stallone’s first television venture, Tulsa King (Paramount+). Essentially a pragmatist, he simply punches the new capo unconscious, packs his bag and heads to the Sooner State. There he is startled by grasshoppers, baffled by the youthful slang of his cab driver Tyson (Jay Will), and quickly intrigued by the legal pot dispensary on the outskirts of town. Before they’ve even got to his hotel, he has had Tyson pull over and wait while he nips in and establishes the first node in what I’m sure will soon be a flourishing protection racket. Emerging with his first 20% weekly cash cut from owner Bodhi (Martin Starr), he chucks a wad of notes at Tyson, appoints him his personal driver for $2,000 a week and tells him to buy a Navigator by tomorrow. The hotel receptionist introduces him to the concept of an Uber and apps when he wants to go out that evening. I could ask if we are meant to assume he has been in solitary confinement rather than merely incarcerated for the last quarter of a century, but I remember trying to explain telephone banking to my 70-odd-year-old parents (who have not served any time in prison) and realise that any amount of technical ignorance they want to heap on Dwight is probably only fair.

Anyway. Dwight may be a made man but he is also a Good Guy and always available to right injustice when he sees it. As long as he hasn’t caused it, you may add, which only proves you haven’t understood a thing. Thus he performs a quick beat-down on the car dealer who assumes Tyson (who is Black) is a crack dealer and refuses to sell him the Navigator for cash. “The irony is,” he tells him gently before embarking on the skull-cracking, “you were afraid of the wrong thing.” Thus he performs largely the same service on a man groping a woman at a hen party. And, of course, he goes home with the woman – Stacy, played by Andrea Savage – to lay to rest any doubts we have about Dwight’s potency. She is horrified to learn his true age once they have done the deed. She had him down as a “hard 55”, and over the unpacking of the accuracy of that line we shall quickly pass.

By the end of the first episode, Stacy has been revealed to be a member of the local alcohol, tobacco and firearms police unit – and Dwight, via a mugshot at her morning briefing, revealed to her to be an ex-hitman come to town. There are other threats to Dwight’s peaceably corrupt existence gathering at the margins, too. That’s good. We need some stories with the skull-cracking.

Only one episode was made available for review, which is enough to say that its retro energy (move slowly and break things) and simple moral philosophy (move slowly and break bits of people who are worse than you) is great fun and the easiest viewing you’ll find that has still had some effort and intelligence put into it. It knows exactly what it has to work with and doesn’t threaten to frighten anyone with innovative tricks or boundary-pushing.

Creator Taylor Sheridan (the man behind the hit western Yellowstone ) and writer/executive producer Terence Winter ( Boardwalk Empire ) have hand-tooled the series around Stallone, playing exactly to his strengths and on his legacy. There is wisecracking and a few gags but no actual comedic content, because we all remember Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, and nobody wants to go back there. There is action, because that is what he means to us. And there is all the resonance of both character and actor finding themselves out of place – be it in Tulsa or television – and slightly out of time and bringing their years of experience to bear on making a success of their new circumstances. You cannot help but root for them both.

  • Sylvester Stallone
  • TV crime drama

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tulsa king movie review

Dwight “The General” Manfredi ( Sylvester Stallone ) has spent the last 25 years in prison, taking the fall for his friends in the New York mafia. He ain’t no snitch; he’s good at keeping his mouth shut, working out, and brushing up on his reading (Faust, Shakespeare, The Laws of Human Nature  by Robert Greene ) while he waits to reap the rewards for his loyalty. “I married this life, and I’m gonna see if it married me back,” Sly growls in reedy voiceover. 

But his exit from the frying pan leads him right back into the fire: Rather than take his former place in the organization, the don’s son has taken his place as capo. They send him off to start criminal operations in a whole new frontier: Tulsa, Oklahoma. There’s gold in them thar hills, they might say (albeit with pinched fingers), but for Dwight, it feels like he’s being put out to pasture. Doesn’t matter, though; if there’s anything Dwight’s good at, it’s adapting. Well, that and breaking skulls.

There’s a lot to like about Taylor Sheridan ’s “Tulsa King”—clearly his next step in his plot to dominate the easy-chair demographic after his smash-hit Western drama “Yellowstone.” Most of it lies in its light, effervescent tone, with the wiseguy-in-a-strange-land appeal of something like “ Get Shorty ” (book, film, and TV show). When Dwight arrives in Tulsa, he steps out of the airport only to be immediately smacked in the face by a grasshopper “bigger than [his] cock.” No matter, with all his smooth-talking precision, it’s not long before his driver (Jay Will’s Tyson) becomes his erstwhile sidekick as he shakes down a local weed dispensary (run by Martin Starr ’s spaced-out Bodhi) to start his first protection and money laundering racket. By all indicators, Tulsa couldn’t have possibly seen him coming.

tulsa king movie review

There are glimmers of threats to come in these first two episodes, to be sure, and there’ll come a time when Dwight can’t bluster or bludgeon his way through a situation. As a last-minute scene with Max Casella ’s heretofore-unintroduced character indicates, he may not be the only mafia game in town. And what’s more, on his first night out, Dwight sleeps with a divorcee bridesmaid ( Andrea Savage ) who turns out to be an ATF agent hot on his heels. But for now, Sheridan and showrunner Terence Winter (“Boardwalk Empire”) are content to let us luxuriate in the delight of watching Stallone do his thing in a decidedly unfamiliar climate: the West. 

When “Tulsa King” coasts on its winking, knowing comedy, it’s gangbusters. Stallone, for all his failed attempts at starring in explicit comedies (“ Rhinestone ,” “ Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot ”) is, when he wants to be, a really funny guy. Dwight’s a perfect conduit for his particular combo of affable aggression, like Joe Pesci ’s character from “ GoodFellas ” if he were as tall as he truly wanted to be. He talks fast (well, fast for Sly) and makes friends at the edge of a knife, spending scene after scene warming up to or dressing down the show’s honky-tonk cast of characters.

There’s admittedly a certain red-state appeal to a man’s man like Stallone riffing on the perceived cosmopolitan nature of 21st-century life. Dwight is a man not just out of space, but time; having spent a quarter century in the big house, he’s perplexed by smartphone apps, legal weed, and all these goddamn pronouns . “I feel like Rip Van Winkle,” he confesses to Bodhi after accidentally getting high in the backseat of a car. 

tulsa king movie review

But these moments of political incorrectness don’t read as rebukes of the advances of society, not in the way the average “Yellowstone” fan might respond to them. Rather, Dwight’s confused and lost about his place in the world—about the years he sacrificed to a mentor who repays him with exile or the daughter who won’t talk to him anymore. He’s a man alienated by his circumstances, forced to rebuild himself in a world that no longer shares his values. 

That’s Dwight, and that’s also Stallone: Television, it seems, is his Tulsa, and the big-screen legend consciously bristles in his new confines. But the 76-year-old shows no signs of slowing down, and on the small screen he seems, if anything, even larger than he did before. Under Winter and Sheridan’s pen, “Tulsa King” is both mafia dramedy and Western, Sly sitting somewhere between Chili Palmer and John Wayne ’s Ethan Edwards in “ The Searchers .” 

It’s a fitting space for him to occupy, both as aging action star and wizened character actor. The show around him occasionally struggles to keep up— Garrett Hedlund , Dana Delaney , and Annabella Sciorra are barely present, despite occupying significant space in the credits and press materials. But it’s worth sticking around to see what role they’ll play in Sly’s most interesting ride into the sunset.

First two episodes screened for review. Tulsa King comes to Paramount+ on November 13th.

Clint Worthington

Clint Worthington

Clint Worthington is a Chicago-based film/TV critic and podcaster. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of  The Spool , as well as a Senior Staff Writer for  Consequence . He is also a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and Critics Choice Association. You can also find his byline at RogerEbert.com, Vulture, The Companion, FOX Digital, and elsewhere. 

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Tulsa King’ On Paramount+, Where Sylvester Stallone Is A New York Mob Capo Exiled To Oklahoma

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Paramount+

  • Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone Accused Of Disparaging "Ugly" Background Actors On 'Tulsa King', But Director Denies Claims

Stream it or skip it: ‘expend4bles’ on starz, the latest entry in a franchise that's on life support, savannah guthrie doubts ryan gosling can revive 'rambo' on 'the drew barrymore show': "he's not all buffed up like sly", carl weathers imbued apollo creed — the embodiment of the american dream —with power, confidence, and intelligence.

It seemed to be inevitable that Sylvester Stallone was going to do a streaming series; the only question would be what kind of Stallone character would he play. In  Tulsa King , he plays a savvy and well-read mob capo who is just coming back to the real world after a 25-year prison stint. How does the “family” reward his loyalty for doing that stretch? By sending him to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

TULSA KING : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Shots of a prison. A voice says, “This is USP Caden, a federal prison in Northern Pennsylvania.”

The Gist: Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), is a New York mafia capo who has been serving a 25-year prison stint for a murder ordered by his boss, Pete Invernizzi (A.C. Peterson). During his entire stretch, he’s done a lot of reading and never flipped on his boss.

When he goes to meet Invernizzi, he finds out that not only are his son Chickie (Domenick Lombardozzi) and Vince Antonacci (Vincent Piazza), kids back when he went away, are now capos, he also finds out that he’s being sent to Tulsa, of all places. Of course, Dwight feels that’s a slap in the face given his loyalty to Invernizzi, and doesn’t have a problem punching Vince’s lights out when he gets in his face. “He’s not a capo to me,” he tells Chickie.

The idea is that he can pretty much build out an empire there and send back the family’s cut every week. Of course, Dwight is not happy with the exile, but tries to make the most of it. He hires local cab driver Tyson (Jay Will) as his personal driver. And when they drive by a local weed dispensary — a concept that’s foreign to a man who’s been in prison since the ’90s — Dwight figures it’s a good place to start his empire.

He walks in, sees the stoned hipsters behind the counter, and demands to see the boss, Bohdi (Martin Starr). Seeing that he’s keeping hundreds of thousands in cash in his safe, Dwight offers him “protection” for 20% of the store’s profits. Bohdi doesn’t quite know what Dwight is going to protect him from, but he’d rather pay the 20% than have Dwight break his foot.

Dwight does see his newfound freedom as a way to reconnect with his daughter, with whom he cut off communications 18 years ago, but he’s not quite sure how to go about it yet, especially from so far away. So he gets an Uber (something he has no concept of; he also has no idea what an app is or that cell phones have them now) and goes to a local honkytonk run by Mitch Keller (Garrett Hedlund), who has also done a stretch of prison time.

There he runs into a bachelorette party, and one of the attendees is a smart, attractive woman, Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage), whom he takes back to his hotel. After sleeping together, Stacy, who’s going through a divorce, is horrified to learn that Dwight is 75 years old. Later in the episode, we see that her job will put her in direct conflict with Dwight. But despite both of those things, she’s still drawn to him.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Take The Sopranos , transfer it to Oklahoma and add Sly Stallone, and you have Tulsa King .

Our Take: There are three huge names attached to  Tulsa King : Stallone, Paramount+ uber-producer Taylor Sheridan and  Sopranos writer Terence Winter. It should lead to a fish out of water drama that has a bit of a sense of humor, a fair amount of cursing and violence, and a bit of emotional drama around Sly’s character Dwight trying to reconnect with the life he left when he went to prison. After the first two episodes, it’s not there yet. But by the end of the second episode, there are signs that it could get there.

The first episode has too much of Stallone barreling through his scenes, being about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It leans too hard on the fact that he’s been in prison for a quarter-century, where he takes offense at Tyson calling him a “gangster,” he has no idea what a smartphone is, and he somehow manages to shake down a very legal weed business.

It’s that scene, and another one where he punches a car dealer for assuming Tyson was a drug dealer because he is Black, that made us say, “Welp, this here New Yorker is going to tell these country bumpkins what’s what” in a very snarky tone while watching. It’s a very east-coast view of what is derisively called “flyover country,” and something that we don’t expect coming from Sheridan (Winter, on the other hand, is fully capable of looking down on a place like Tulsa).

The second episode, where Dwight, Bohdi and Tyson go to Bohdi’s supplier out in farm country, is a bit better, mainly because Stallone’s performance is a bit toned down. There is still a bit too much of the “Rip Van Winkle” aspect to Dwight (he even mentions that very character), because he’s confounded by the whole pronoun thing, and the fact that some places don’t take cash anymore. It’s not very subtle, and seems to be a dog whistle to the core demographic for many of Sheridan’s shows.

What we hope is that, as we get to know Dwight and his crew, as well as Stacy and Armand Truisi (Max Casella), who is getting sweaty at Dwight’s presence in town, a lot of this unsubtle stuff will fade away. There certainly is enough talent in front of and behind the camera to make  Tulsa King an enjoyable series. It just needs Winter to go back to doing what he does best, which is crafting compelling characters that aren’t as one-dimensional as what we see in those first two episodes.

Sex and Skin: The sex between Vincent and Stacy is inferred; even when he takes the group Stacy is with to a strip club with a “Live Nudes” sign outside, the dancers aren’t nude.

Parting Shot: Dwight looks out his hotel room window, and his voice over says, “From this point on, this town and everything in it belongs to me.”

Sleeper Star: The more we see Martin Starr, always one of our favorites, play against Stallone, the more we like the pairing. Stallone is over the top, and Starr is his usual sighing, monotone self, and they go together well. We’re also looking forward to seeing Dana Delany, who isn’t in the first two episodes. Our guess is that she’s a love interest for Dwight.

Most Pilot-y Line: When a bug hits Dwight as he leaves the airport, he asks what that was. A woman holding a bible tells him it’s a harmless grasshopper. “That thing was the size of my cock,” he says. Oy.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The second episode of  Tulsa King gave us hope that the series can be an enjoyable series with a bit of a sense of a humor about its fish-out-of-water conceit and that Stallone can turn down the Sly schtick. But there were still a lot of issues that make us think that the show could end up being as nuanced as a plate of spaghetti topped with ketchup.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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tulsa king movie review

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Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King (2022)

Following his release from prison, Mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he builds a new criminal empire with a group of unlikely characters. Following his release from prison, Mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he builds a new criminal empire with a group of unlikely characters. Following his release from prison, Mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he builds a new criminal empire with a group of unlikely characters.

  • Taylor Sheridan
  • Sylvester Stallone
  • Andrea Savage
  • Martin Starr
  • 308 User reviews
  • 25 Critic reviews
  • 5 nominations total

Episodes 19

Official Trailer

  • Dwight 'The General' Manfredi

Andrea Savage

  • Stacy Beale

Martin Starr

  • Goodie Carangi

Jay Will

  • Armand Truisi

Domenick Lombardozzi

  • Charles 'Chickie' Invernizzi

Vincent Piazza

  • Vince Antonacci

A.C. Peterson

  • Pete Invernizzi

Garrett Hedlund

  • Mitch Keller

Dana Delany

  • Margaret Devereaux …

Tatiana Zappardino

  • Caolan Waltrip

Dashiell Connery

  • Security Guard Fred

Barry Corbin

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Mayor of Kingstown

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  • Trivia Sylvester Stallone 's first leading role in a television series.

Non-Descript Character : Where do you worship?

Dwight 'The General' Manfredi : I really don't go to church.

  • A Statue of The Sioux Indian Chief "Touch the Clouds" wearing a War Bonnet and a Bone Choker necklace (breastplate) imposed on top of the Brooklyn Bridge
  • Golden Driller Statue imposed on the Statue of Liberty
  • Route 66 Western Gateway Arch imposed on a Major Manhattan "Avenue". In New York City, in the Borough of Manhattan, that are several numbered "Avenues" that are criss-crossed by smaller numbered streets.
  • Connections Featured in CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley: Episode #45.7 (2022)

User reviews 308

  • Nov 20, 2022
  • How many seasons does Tulsa King have? Powered by Alexa
  • November 13, 2022 (United States)
  • United States
  • Official Instagram
  • Ông Trùm Vùng Tulsa
  • Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (Season 1)
  • 101 Studios
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  • Runtime 40 minutes
  • Dolby Digital

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Sylvester Stallone’s First TV Show, ‘Tulsa King,’ Is All in Good Fun

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“Yellowstone,” “Mayor of Kingstown,” “1883” — so far, Taylor Sheridan ’s steadily expanding TV universe has hewed closely to the writer-director’s breakthrough hit. And why not? Kevin Costner’s soapy family saga is a ratings juggernaut, its success credited to a setting in what’s left of America’s wild west, where the old ways of doing things clash with new ideas of right and wrong. A prequel, “1883,” ditches any pretense by abandoning the present to live fully in the past. Surrounding the Duttons’ actual ancestors are colonizers and covered wagons, shootouts and scenic vistas. If Costner represents the last of the cowboys, then Sam Elliott is their paragon at the peak of their prevalence. Even “Mayor of Kingstown,” which has no narrative ties to “Yellowstone,” is told like a modern Western with a heavy emphasis on family, reform, and machismo. Jeremy Renner may not wear a Stetson, but he may as well have a six-shooter hanging from his hip.

Families, gunfights, and a healthy respect for rural America aren’t all these shows have in common. Dating back to his first feature screenplay, the 2015 film “Sicario,” Sheridan’s work has always been deadly serious. John Dutton has nearly died a dozen times. His forefathers’ long journey toward Montana was a deadly one. “Mayor of Kingstown” is so fixated on being taken seriously, its best actor is killed off within the first hour.

Perhaps that’s why “ Tulsa King ,” Sheridan’s latest series for Paramount, feels like a breath of fresh air. Starring Sylvester Stallone as an aging gangster exiled to Oklahoma after a 25-year prison sentence, the first two episodes feature their fair share of punches, posturing, and family problems. But so far, it has more in common with movies like “Space Cowboys” and “The Old Man and the Gun” than “Sicario” and “Wind River”; stories about old men trying to make good before it’s all over, but doing so with a wink and a smile. In the hands of showrunner and co-writer Terence Winter (“Boardwalk Empire”), there’s also a breezy quality to the proceedings that befits the star’s dual skillset: an intimidating heavy one minute and a waggish teddy bear the next. In future seasons, if not the next few episodes, “Tulsa King” could end up adopting its creator’s predilection for self-seriousness, but the show’s geniality and Sly’s sparks offer a better, brighter path forward.

Tulsa King Jay Will as Tyson, Sylvester Stallone as Dwight Manfredi, and Martin Starr as Bodhi of the Paramount+ original series TULSA KING. Photo Cr: Brian Douglas/Paramount+. © 2022 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Meet Dwight Manfredi (Stallone). Dubbed “The General” (since, as he tells people, he was named after Dwight. D. Eisenhower), the lifelong New Yorker has spent two-and-a-half decades in federal prison in order to shield his mafia boss from any charges. Now free, he’s looking forward to a proper reward: a fat payday, a party at Scores gentlemen’s club, and a proper post in the family’s upper ranks. But a lot has changed in 25 years. Kids that Dwight has only seen in diapers are now men who give orders — who give him orders. And one of those orders is to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, set up an illicit operation, and kick back $5,000 a week to his superiors (you know, just to start).

“Tulsa King” doesn’t waste much time establishing its premise. No clear reason is given as to why “there’s nothing left” for Dwight in his major metropolitan hometown. Even more vexing: Dwight’s opening voiceover reveals he regrets joining up in the first place: “Not 25 years, not 25 seconds” of prison time was worth becoming a gangster, he says. So it makes sense when he takes out his frustration over being banished by thumping a protected mafioso in the nose, even if it makes less sense that he quickly finds his composure and packs his bags. It’s safe to assume some loyalty remains, after spending half his adult life in the clink, or he’s in no position to cut and run at 76 years old, but these are assumptions the audience is asked to make on their own and fast. Before you can say, “What gives?” he’s being pepper-sprayed with holy water by a religious wacko at the Tulsa airport.

Forgiving further unpolished plot movement is relatively easy from there on out because Oklahoma is where things get good. Stallone playing a fish out of water who’s also a bull in a china shop proves perpetually entertaining. The second episode sees Dwight trying to settle into his new digs, making light comedy out of bribing a DMV clerk, applying for a bank account (sans legitimate identification), and accidentally getting high during a key contract negotiation. Winter wisely grounds each awkward or unforeseen scenario in character development, letting viewers get to know Dwight while subverting his tough guy persona, and Stallone’s comedic chops fit Dwight like one of his fine Italian suits.

“Tulsa King” is tailored for the broad-shouldered, barrel-chested actor — not just his action skills, but his ability to surprise. There’s no hiding Stallone’s physical prominence, and the series makes brief use of his physicality, with more brawling and battles sure to come. But there’s a difference between standing out and inviting attention. Most of the time, Dwight acts like an everyman — like there’s nothing abnormal about what he’s doing, even when his mere presence makes things a bit unusual for everyone else. Part of that choice is rooted in character: Dwight has to insist he’s just a normal guy in order to avoid suspicion from the authorities as he goes about establishing a criminal enterprise. Part is in service of the series’ lighter mood. (The hulking Stallone sipping an espresso, mourning the loss of proper glass cups, is just smart observational humor.) But acting innocent is also one of Sly’s specialties, dating all the way back to Rocky Balboa — a rough-and-tumble brawler with a heart so big he’s got room for Adrian plus three pets (Butkus, Cuff, and Link). Seeing the star feign ignorance, exhibit fearlessness, and relent to his real feelings (every so often) gives “Tulsa King” a beating heart of its own.

With only two episodes to evaluate, there’s plenty of time left for Winter’s latest to grow or… not. Once the newness of Tulsa wears off for Dwight, he’ll need to find fresh comedic sources, and there’s no telling what those might be — or if the series will simply lose its loose, laidback vibes altogether. But for now, “Tulsa King” is a much-needed light amid Sheridan’s dark universe — and much of it is thanks to its star.

“Tulsa King” premieres Sunday, November 13 on Paramount+. Episodes will be released weekly, and the first two hours will air on the Paramount Network as a special engagement Sunday, November 20 at 9 p.m. ET.

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‘Tulsa King’ Is a Rickety Star Vehicle for Sylvester Stallone: TV Review

By Joshua Alston

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Tulsa King

“ Tulsa King ,” the new Paramount+ drama created by Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter, is entirely too conventional and workmanlike to be a remarkable series. And yet it is remarkable – and oddly fascinating – for a couple of reasons.

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In “Tulsa King,” Stallone inhabits a role clearly conceived with him in mind, and it makes all the difference. “Tulsa King” is a clumsy misfire, but when the show works, it works precisely because of Stallone’s charming, if characteristically mannered, performance. Stallone’s range is as compact as ever, but he navigates it with the precision of a contortionist trapped in a box. “Tulsa King” isn’t a great show with him, but it would be far less interesting without him.

Chickie (a thickly coiffed Domenick Lombardozzi) tells Dwight there’s no longer room for him in the New York organization. His only option is to accept a new assignment: establishing a foothold in Oklahoma’s second-largest city despite having never set foot there. In Tulsa, he’ll be faced with the dual challenge of decoding a new business environment while acclimating to a world different from the one he left behind. Perhaps there is some country for old men after all, and Dwight is determined to seize it.

The premise suggests an uphill battle for an aging crook applying his old-school ways to today’s graft. But the pilot almost immediately extinguishes that potential by putting Dwight on a glide path. A quarter-century out of the hustle hasn’t dulled Dwight’s criminal instincts even slightly. In fact, after barely a couple of hours in the Sooner State, and still toting his luggage, Dwight’s already lined up a personal driver (Jay Will) and the first reluctant inductee into his protection racket. He quite literally strolls into a weed dispensary on a lark, and, within minutes, has put its owner, Bodhi (Martin Starr), under his thumb.

Presumably Dwight’s second act won’t always be quite this smooth, but there’s not much in the two episodes screened for critics that signal roadbumps ahead. The episodes are more interested in calibrating Dwight as a criminal antihero with a refined moral code so as to prevent the audience from turning on him. The pilot gives Dwight opportunities to confront casual racism and clobber a bar patron for getting handsy with women, flashing just enough virtue to let viewers know he’s a capo they can love without guilt.

There’s not even a well-defined antagonist by the end of the two episodes. Sure, there are hints of his pre-prison life creeping in to complicate his new one. And nothing good can come of his romantic spark with Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage), whose inconvenient connection to Dwight will be more than obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it for literally two seconds. But, at least in the first two episodes, Dwight’s only enemy is time itself and all the rideshare apps, TikTok trends, and meme stocks it has unleashed in his absence.

True to Sheridan’s conservative-skewing brand, Dwight whines about personal gender pronouns despite having no reason to even know about such contemporary culture wars, much less to have a dog in the fight. The “what’s the deal with pronouns” monologue sounds like something Stallone might actually say himself, even if it makes no sense for the character he’s playing. Which is what makes Stallone oddly watchable in a show that usually isn’t. By building the world of “Tulsa King” around him, Sheridan and Winter have created a character Sly can’t help but get right.

“Tulsa King” premieres on Nov. 13 on Paramount+ with new episodes rolling out weekly.

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Season 1 – Tulsa King

Where to watch, tulsa king — season 1.

Watch Tulsa King — Season 1 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Tulsa King 's stale comedy sometimes feels like ordering spaghetti with marinara and instead getting egg noodles and ketchup, but Sylvester Stallone still commands the screen with his swaggering charm.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Sylvester Stallone

Dwight "The General" Manfredi

Andrea Savage

Stacy Beale

Martin Starr

Max Casella

Armand Truisi

Domenick Lombardozzi

Charles "Chickie" Invernizzi

Vincent Piazza

Vince Antonacci

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Critics reviews, season info.

IMAGES

  1. Paramount+ Releases New Trailer For 'Tulsa King' Starring Sylvester

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  2. Tulsa King (2022)

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  3. Tulsa King (2022)

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  4. Paramount Press Express

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  5. Tulsa King Teaser Trailer: Sylvester Stallone Leads Paramount+ Series

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  6. Paramount+ Debuts Teaser Trailer For TULSA KING Starring Sylvester

    tulsa king movie review