Carlito's Way

CARLITO'S WAY (18)

D: Brian de Palma

Universal (Martin Bregman, Willi Baer & Michael A. Bregman)

USA 🇺🇸 1993

145 mins

Crime/Drama

W: David Koepp [based on the novels 'Carlito's Way' and 'After Hours' by Edwin Torres]

DP: Stephen H. Burum

Ed: Bill Pankow & Kristina Boden

Mus: Patrick Doyle

PD: Richard Sylbert

Al Pacino (Carlito Brigante), Sean Penn (David Kleinfeld), Penelope Ann Miller (Gail), John Leguizamo (Benny Blanco), Ingrid Rogers (Steffie), Luis Guzman (Pachanga), James Rebhorn (Norwalk), Joseph Siravo (Vinnie Taglialucci), Viggo Mortensen (Lalin)

The Untouchables saw Brian DePalma's best work as a director. Since then, his movies have been very hit and miss. Carlito's Way is one of his much better movies and sees Al Pacino deliver a fantastic performance as the title character, a Puerto Rican ex-con trying to play it straight. It's a shame he's upstaged by Sean Penn as a crooked lawyer and Penelope Ann Miller as his love interest.

On the downside, the movie was a tad too long but the final hour is all quite mesmerising and it's a real shame DePalma ends the movie with a climactic scene set in a railway station, akin to the final scene in The Untouchables. Nevertheless, one of the better gangster movies of the 1990's.

8/10