Brian De Palma’s “play nice” films—in which he shows that he can groove to the strictures of pop cinema while reinvigorating formulaic stories with his formal gifts—often have an acrid aftertaste. While watching The Untouchables or Mission: Impossible, the De Palma acolyte may sense the artist’s resentment at having to impersonally flex his mastery. Carlito’s Way, though, is an exception.
Working from a vivid screenplay by David Koepp, adapted from two novels by Judge Edwin Torres, De Palma embraces the romantic possibilities of mainstream cinema, using his skill to deepen the audience’s engagement with melodrama rather than to interrogate it. The 1993 film is an increasingly endangered bird—an intelligent and beautiful entertainment for adults—that was taken for granted by many at the time.
The opening credits sequence establishes a different De Palma register—a cohesion between the sentimental pull of pop cinema and the...
Working from a vivid screenplay by David Koepp, adapted from two novels by Judge Edwin Torres, De Palma embraces the romantic possibilities of mainstream cinema, using his skill to deepen the audience’s engagement with melodrama rather than to interrogate it. The 1993 film is an increasingly endangered bird—an intelligent and beautiful entertainment for adults—that was taken for granted by many at the time.
The opening credits sequence establishes a different De Palma register—a cohesion between the sentimental pull of pop cinema and the...
- 9/26/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
Arrow Video has just announced an all-new remastered 4K Uhd release of Al Pacino‘s gritty crime drama with his former Scarface director Brian De Palma. Carlito’s Way is scheduled to hit the streets with this new special edition on September 26. The details for product are listed below.
Arrow Video description:
Academy Award winner Al Pacino reunites with his Scarface director Brian De Palma for this tough-minded thriller about a gangster looking for salvation down the mean streets of 1970s New York City. Gangster Carlito Brigante (Pacino) gets released early from prison thanks to the work of his lawyer, Kleinfeld. Vowing to go straight, Carlito nonetheless finds dangers waiting for him in the outside world. As Carlito works toward redemption, Kleinfeld sinks into cocaine-fuelled corruption. When Kleinfeld crosses the mob, Carlito gets caught in the crossfire and has to face a hard choice: remain loyal to the friend who...
Arrow Video description:
Academy Award winner Al Pacino reunites with his Scarface director Brian De Palma for this tough-minded thriller about a gangster looking for salvation down the mean streets of 1970s New York City. Gangster Carlito Brigante (Pacino) gets released early from prison thanks to the work of his lawyer, Kleinfeld. Vowing to go straight, Carlito nonetheless finds dangers waiting for him in the outside world. As Carlito works toward redemption, Kleinfeld sinks into cocaine-fuelled corruption. When Kleinfeld crosses the mob, Carlito gets caught in the crossfire and has to face a hard choice: remain loyal to the friend who...
- 6/30/2023
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
“Violent Night” villain John Leguizamo has a retroactive bone to pick with Italian-American Al Pacino being cast as Puerto Rican and Cuban characters in “Carlito’s Way” and “Scarface,” respectively, saying that despite his super star status, the decision by director Brian De Palma was “odd.”
Leguizamo, who costarred as Benny Blanco in “Carlito’s Way,” told Insider this week that Pacino was “kind of doing like a Cuban/Mexican accent. I know he’s trying and he’s a great actor, so brilliant, he was my hero.”
“But it was odd, man,” the actor added. “It’s an odd experience to be a Latin man in a Latin story written by a Latin man and the lead guy’s a white guy pretending to be Puerto Rican. I’m not going to lie, it’s surreal. It was surreal. I turned the part down a few times and then eventually I decided to do it.
Leguizamo, who costarred as Benny Blanco in “Carlito’s Way,” told Insider this week that Pacino was “kind of doing like a Cuban/Mexican accent. I know he’s trying and he’s a great actor, so brilliant, he was my hero.”
“But it was odd, man,” the actor added. “It’s an odd experience to be a Latin man in a Latin story written by a Latin man and the lead guy’s a white guy pretending to be Puerto Rican. I’m not going to lie, it’s surreal. It was surreal. I turned the part down a few times and then eventually I decided to do it.
- 12/3/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
He's been accused of running the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history, allegedly using ill-gotten funds for private jets, escort services and to hire a pricey basketball coach for his 16-year-old son, according to court records obtained by People. But Philip Esformes, 47, remains behind bars, as his lawyers battle a federal judge who has denied Esformes bail until his trial for allegedly bilking government programs out of $1 billion, according to court records. "This is the largest single criminal health care fraud case ever brought against individuals by the Department of Justice," Leslie Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General of the...
- 9/8/2016
- by K.C. Baker, @kcbaker77777
- PEOPLE.com
He's been accused of running the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history, allegedly using ill-gotten funds for private jets, escort services and to hire a pricey basketball coach for his 16-year-old son, according to court records obtained by People. But Philip Esformes, 47, remains behind bars, as his lawyers battle a federal judge who has denied Esformes bail until his trial for allegedly bilking government programs out of $1 billion, according to court records. "This is the largest single criminal health care fraud case ever brought against individuals by the Department of Justice," Leslie Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General of the...
- 9/8/2016
- by K.C. Baker, @kcbaker77777
- PEOPLE.com
Following are some supplemental sections featuring notable director & actor teams that did not meet the criteria for the main body of the article. Some will argue that a number of these should have been included in the primary section but keep in mind that film writing on any level, from the casual to the academic, is a game of knowledge and perception filtered through personal taste.
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Other Notable Director & Actor Teams
This section is devoted to pairings where the duo worked together at least 3 times with the actor in a major role in each feature film, resulting in 1 must-see film.
Terence Young & Sean Connery
Must-See Collaboration: From Russia with Love (1962).
Other Collaborations: Action of the Tiger (1957), Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965).
Director Young and actor Connery teamed up to create one of the very best Connery-era James Bond films with From Russia with Love which features a great villainous performance by Robert Shaw...
****
Other Notable Director & Actor Teams
This section is devoted to pairings where the duo worked together at least 3 times with the actor in a major role in each feature film, resulting in 1 must-see film.
Terence Young & Sean Connery
Must-See Collaboration: From Russia with Love (1962).
Other Collaborations: Action of the Tiger (1957), Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965).
Director Young and actor Connery teamed up to create one of the very best Connery-era James Bond films with From Russia with Love which features a great villainous performance by Robert Shaw...
- 7/14/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
Carlito’s Way
Directed by Brian De Palma
Screenplay by David Koepp
(Original Novels ‘Carlito’s Way’ and ‘After Hours’ by Edwin Torres)
Us, 1993
Unfortunate though the fact may be, even the most positive minded and patient of film addicts cannot always be satisfied by the product, a disquiet often in defiance of popular opinion. We all have a list of films that everybody seems to love except us, just as we all have a collection of guilty pleasures that the more objective critics would turn their noses up at. Search for the tags ‘Brian De Palma’, ‘Al Pacino’, ‘gangster’ and ‘Hispanic’ and you’ll find Scarface. Look a little harder and you’ll find another, superior effort made ten years later that unfairly falls into its shadow.
Disquiet becomes distaste when you find the film you loathe is stealing the limelight from one you love.
This is Carlito’s Way we’re discussing,...
Directed by Brian De Palma
Screenplay by David Koepp
(Original Novels ‘Carlito’s Way’ and ‘After Hours’ by Edwin Torres)
Us, 1993
Unfortunate though the fact may be, even the most positive minded and patient of film addicts cannot always be satisfied by the product, a disquiet often in defiance of popular opinion. We all have a list of films that everybody seems to love except us, just as we all have a collection of guilty pleasures that the more objective critics would turn their noses up at. Search for the tags ‘Brian De Palma’, ‘Al Pacino’, ‘gangster’ and ‘Hispanic’ and you’ll find Scarface. Look a little harder and you’ll find another, superior effort made ten years later that unfairly falls into its shadow.
Disquiet becomes distaste when you find the film you loathe is stealing the limelight from one you love.
This is Carlito’s Way we’re discussing,...
- 9/10/2012
- by Scott Patterson
- SoundOnSight
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting, "Prince of the City: Remembering Sidney Lumet," a memorial retrospective of Sidney Lumet's work, will take place July 19 - 25 at the Walter Reade Theater. Guest appearances include screenwriter Walter Bernstein after the screening of "Fail-safe" on July 20 and Luis Guzman, Paul Calderon and Judge Edwin Torres after the screening of "Q&A" on July 24. Other screenings of his work ...
- 6/28/2011
- Indiewire
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