Carlito's Way
November. 10,1993 RA Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him, and lead a better life outside NYC.
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Reviews
Wonderful character development!
The Worst Film Ever
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
More than simply a gangster movie, a great drama. Good plot, superb acting by Al Pacino and Sean Penn. And Brian De Palma's direction was excellent, for once more than a B-grade version of Martin Scorsese. (Scarface was another exception).
Any movie about an ex-con who tries to go straight but comes up against all sorts of obstacles, really has to be good to overcome the natural scepticism of audiences who will justifiably feel that they've seen it all before. Fortunately, there's enough about "Carlito's Way" that's original, interesting and enjoyable to prevent it from being seen as too hackneyed, too predictable or too run-of-the-mill and a great deal of the credit for this must be down to the fact that it's based on two books called "Carlito's Way" and "After Hours" which were both written by Judge Edwin Torres who, no doubt, drew extensively on his experience as a New York State supreme court judge to inject his story with its impressively high level of authenticity.In a New York City courtroom in 1975, Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino), a Puerto Rican drug dealer and alleged assassin, becomes a free man again after having served only 5 years of his 30-year prison sentence. The legal loophole that was exploited to secure his release was spotted by his shady lawyer and best friend David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Now feeling older and wiser after having had plenty of time to reflect on his life, Carlito announces to the court that he has been totally rehabilitated and is determined to leave his old criminal life behind and finally go straight.Carlito makes his first mistake when he returns to his old neighbourhood and is persuaded by his young cousin Guajiro (John Ortiz) to accompany him on a routine delivery of some drugs to a local dealer. Their meeting descends into chaos when Guajiro is double-crossed and murdered and after the ensuing shoot-out, Carlito finds himself back on the street but $30,000 richer, after having pocketed some money which had been left unattended after all the shooting had stopped.Carlito promptly uses his newly acquired windfall to buy a partnership in a nightclub with the intention of earning the $75,000 he'd need to fulfil his long-held ambition of taking up an offer he'd had from an old friend to buy a share in his car rental business in the Bahamas. Soon, he starts to make good progress in achieving his goal and things then get even better when he meets up with his ex-girlfriend Gail (Penelope Ann Miller) and they rekindle the relationship which they'd been forced to end when Carlito was imprisoned.An unwelcome development then follows when Kleinfeld is cornered into assisting an Italian mob boss to escape from the Riker's Island prison barge where he's been incarcerated and Carlito feels that he can't refuse when his friend asks for his help. When the escape plan is put into action, the seriously unstable and coked-up Kleinfeld kills both the mob boss and his son and this leads Carlito to decide that if he's ever going to fulfil his dream of going to the Bahamas with Gail and their unborn child, he'll need to do so rapidly because the mob boss' son and his men will inevitably be coming after him with revenge on their minds.Told in flashback with Carlito providing the narration, this gangster movie is consistently tense, violent and very fatalistic but it's also surprisingly romantic. The relationship between Carlito and Gail is beautifully portrayed throughout and a hug that they share soon after reconciling provides an especially warm and powerful expression of their feelings for each other. Similarly, there's another particularly romantic moment at the end of the movie when Carlito, accompanied by the sound of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful", stares wistfully at an illuminated advertisement which features a picture of a Caribbean Island and the slogan "Escape to Paradise".Brian De Palma's use of slow motion, black and white and revolving camera-work at various points is both stylish and effective and the extended chase sequence that brings the movie to its climax is brilliantly executed. Commendably, there's also a consistent vibrancy that runs through the whole movie that makes its duration seem significantly shorter than its actual 144 minutes.Al Pacino is marvellous as the ageing gangster whose downfall is ironically sealed by two of his more noble actions when he, through loyalty, agrees to help Kleinfeld and also unwisely shows mercy to another character who doesn't deserve it. Sean Penn is terrific as the corrupt, duplicitous and cocaine-fuelled lawyer who long ago lost sight of the line between what's legal and what isn't and the remaining cast members are also excellent with stand out contributions from Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzman and John Leguizamo (as the unforgettable "Benny Blanco from the Bronx").
Carlitos way is about inner city people trying to make it in a cruel a ruthless competition for money and power. Following both a street thug and a morally bankrupt star lawyer the movie portrays human beings from different social classes each trying their best to make against the backdrop of the coke and crime ridden urban environment of the 70's USA. Al Pacino gives Carlitos warmth. He stands out as a sympathetic guy trapped in a game of honor codes and eye-for-eye mentality, while Sean Penn shines as a the highly educated and cynical chess player, while also coming off as being ridiculous and pathetic. Sean Penns dance moves are hilarious. This movie is remembered for the tension between the sympathetic yet slightly grotesque portrayal of 70/80 coke parties and crime fests, like movies from Scorcese. Everyone seems locked in to their destiny and despite trying to skew it ends up on their chosen path. Just like the movies title alludes to.Like Scarface the movie features some of the best and most ridiculous cocaine party scenes, complete with old business men dancing and prancing with sweaty foreheads and near heart attack looking moves.
Brian De Palma has a unique tone for his mafia films, and "Carlitos Way" is no different, with a suspense characteristic of a thriller alienated to a good script and good pace, Brian was already an experienced guy had already directed His greatest classics when he took over the direction of this Longa, and you can see his touch and tone in the film. We have a script that tells the ending, and then shows the story, is an interesting resource, and is applied wrapped in many techniques, such as the mixture of PB with color, the camera ripple and the narration, is a moment almost the part of Of the film, after this moment we see in fact the trajectory of Carlito 'Charlie' Brigante (Al Pacino), the gangster who is taken out of jail, back in the streets, and all he wants is redemption and live the rest of his life away from Streets with his beloved, but ends up wrapped in the problems of his friend and lawyer David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). "Carlitos Way" is a film that talks about redemption, Carlitos really is trying to change and believes that he can change, until he reaches the point where he accepts his destiny, it is a lyrical love story that has as background the Mafia, Murders, traffic and crimes, we see the love of friendship, loyalty and the special person, and how the relationship between them works, is an interesting and very well-adapted story. Even often using ex-machine features, Brian holds and strings his script convincingly giving Carlito a look of a Tony Montana mixed to Eliot Ness. Brian de Palm is a very accurate guy in the technique of his films, he knows how to work the camera very well, and here it is no different, he makes the viewer a compliment, we have a little camera used in tripod, that walks, Zoom, opens the frame and especially, is always in the right place in moments of tension, even some plans of the film are very simple, in the directional aspect, Brian does not miss, the movie sometimes reminds the great "Scarface", perhaps the scenes Of nightclub, but the photograph, she is different, she is gray and more suburban, aligned to a punctual trail that always pulls to a suspense. Al Pacino and his beard fill the screen always, even if his acting is not brilliant, Al Pacino has a masterful grandeur, it is impossible to take his eyes off him and not feel intimate for his character, Sean Penn is also very well in his moments, First a centered lawyer and then a mobster who hates gangsters, Penelope Ann and her almost angelic beauty is also wonderful, and contrasts even physically with Carlito's character making the viewer cling more to the couple in that air of "Forbidden Love." "Carlitos Way" is among the best works of Brian De Palma for his subtlety and because he can keep a footprint and lead to the end without making the film coarse or boring.