Carlito's Way
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| Carlito's Way | |
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| Directed by | Brian de Palma |
| Produced by | Martin Bregman, Michael Scott Bregman, Willi Bär |
| Written by | Edwin Torres, David Koepp |
| Starring | Al Pacino Sean Penn Penelope Ann Miller Luis Guzman Viggo Mortensen John Leguizamo |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Running time | 144 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Carlito's Way is a 1993 gangster film based on the novels Carlito's Way and After Hours by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp and directed by Brian De Palma. It stars Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo and Viggo Mortensen. The movie's soundtrack, "I Love Music", was performed by Rozalla.
The two novels on which the film are based follow the exploits of Carlito Brigante, a fictional Puerto Rican drug dealer and hustler, who goes to prison and struggles to go straight after his release. The 1993 film is based on After Hours (it used the title of the first novel to avoid being confused with Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours) and focuses on Carlito's endeavours once he is released from prison with the help of his lawyer.
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[edit] Plot
1975. The film begins as an apparently wounded Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is being wheeled away on an ambulance gurney. As a wheel becomes stuck in a crack in the pavement, the flashback of events begins. The story begins in a courthouse, where Carlito's lawyer Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) has just succeeded in getting Carlito released from prison after more than five years due to the prosecution using illegal means to gather evidence.
An exuberant Carlito celebrates in the courthouse, a celebration which continues through the rest of the day and night as Carlito and Kleinfeld dance and drink the night away. At the very end of the night, however, Carlito makes a surprising announcement to Kleinfeld: he intends to go clean. Knowing that Carlito has been a gangster and drug dealer since he was a kid, Kleinfeld is highly doubtful about this, but Carlito insists on it and explains his plan: to buy into a car dealership in the Bahamas, renting cars to rich tourists. Kleinfeld points out that Carlito doesn't have any money, resources, or contacts, or even a knowledge of how the car business works, Carlito replies that he'll work on that.
The next day Carlito visits his old neighborhood and is disturbed by how much has changed during his years in jail and how few people he knows. He runs into Pachanga, a friend and fellow gangster, who runs down a laundry list of their friends who have either died or been sent to prison. This confirms Carlito's determination to stay away from the underworld, but everyone he tells about the matter from friends to former bosses prove to be as skeptical as Kleinfeld.
Circumstances quickly conspire against Carlito, however. A young cousin of his has gotten involved in the drug trade as a messenger and runner and is on his way to a big deal when Carlito meets him. The cousin, who seems to regard his criminal profession as a game, insists on Carlito coming along as his backup during a drug deal just to see the reaction to his semi-legendary cousin. Unfortunately, the gang being dealt with have already killed the cousin's boss, and betray and kill Carlito's cousin as well. Carlito ends up having to shoot his way out of the drug dealer's den and in the course of fleeing from the scene he takes the money from the deal. He uses the money to buy into a nightclub owned by a gambling addict named Saso, who needs investors to avoid being killed due to his gambling debts.
Carlito's influence is immediate and positive, as he begins to turn the club into a moneymaker and saves every penny possible. Among other changes that Carlito makes: he brings in his friend Pachanga to be his right hand man/enforcer, and encounters Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo, a young gangster from the Bronx that several people, including Saso, loudly say is a young Carlito.
Still, Carlito's life is far from trouble free. He decides to look up Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), a former lover and Broadway dancer. The two meet again, but with some awkwardness and some sliver of their previous romance. Lalin (Viggo Mortensen), a former friend, is sent into the club wearing a wire and attempts to get evidence to put Carlito back behind bars. Although this is dealt with quickly, it shows that the government hasn't forgotten about Carlito, and someone close to him has attempted to set him up. Furthermore, a comment made by Lalin leads Carlito to investigate what Gail has told him a little more closely, and he finds her dancing not in a play but rather on stage in a strip show. Their relationship actually eases somewhat after that, as Carlito proves tolerant of it and some of the anxiety from Gail is removed.
Not everyone's life is going so well. Kleinfeld is doing drugs, specifically cocaine, and drinking more and more. Also, a mob boss client of Kleinfeld, Tony Taggalucci, has his sights set on the lawyer. He believes that Kleingfeld stole a million dollars from him that was supposed to be used for a payoff in order to avoid prison time. Now stuck on Riker's Island and with his health fading, Tony T blames Kleinfeld and gives him an ultimatum; help him break out of prison, or have a mob hit put on him. Between the stress and the drugs, Kleifeld's behavior changes and becomes dangerous. He picks a fight with Benny Blanco at Carlito's club over a waitress there, and Carlito is forced to intervene when Kleinfeld pulls a gun. While being thrown out Blanco attacks and disrespects Carlito, which results in Pachanga and a couple of the other guys from the club giving Blanco a severe beating, however on Carlito's orders they don't kill him, as Carlito fears that the police would come down on him with otherwise.
Afterwards Kleinfeld approachs Carlito and begs for his help with the escape attempt for Tony T. He has a plan; Kleinfeld has a boat that he'll sail into the river to pick up Tony, and Carlito and one of Tony's sons will be along to assist him. However, once there the increasingly erratic Kleinfeld instead opts to kill both Tony and his son. A horrified Carlito, realizing the severity of the transgression exclaims, "You killed us, Dave! You killed us." The bodies are left in the river, and Kleinfeld naively assumes that if the mob can't prove anything they won't come after him or Carlito. Carlito knows that's not the case, and begins to wonder how he'll survive this. Eventually he decides that the only thing to do is to grab the money, Gail, and leave town a little earlier than expected. Carlito also hears a disturbing rumor: that his friend Pachanga is spying on him for Benny Blanco. Pachanga is said to be angry at being broke and doing legit work with nothing to show for it. Carlito brushes it off however, deciding to trust him.
In the middle of explaining things to Gail, the DA's office calls Carlito in to talk. There the prosecutor plays a tape of Kleinfeld offering to testify against Carlito in return for investigations against Kleinfeld being dropped. This is the apparent source of the failed sting earlier involving Lalin. The prosecutor offers Carlito a deal, explaining that they know that Carlito has gone legit and that Kleinfeld is now a far more important target for them. Also, the Feds know that Kleinfeld and Carlito were involved in the incident with Tony T, and in fact there's already been an attack on Kleinfeld, which has put the lawyer in the hospital. Despite that Carlito refuses to testify against Kleinfeld and goes to the hospital to learn the truth.
Kleinfeld, in a bitter rant, admits to selling out Carlito. While pretending to help Kleinfeld with his gun, Carlito deftly unloads it without Kleinfeld noticing and leaves him there. On the way out he notices a suspicious man dressed as a police officer, and sure enough it turns out to be Tony T's other son, Vinny, come to finish the job on Kleinfeld. With his gun unloaded, Kleinfeld has no chance, and is killed by Vinny.
Carlito returns to the club intent on getting the money and getting out, once there however he is greeted by a group of Italian gangsters he has done business with in the past. He knows they're there to stall him and try to find out for sure if he was on the boat with Kleinfeld, but is unable to get away. Vinny arrives and makes a comment about Kleinfeld, when Carlito responds by saying he hasn't seen Kleinfeld lately, the Italians know that he's involved.
However, before they have a chance to do anything Carlito does manage to make an excuse to get away and escapes through a back way out of the club. A wild chase ensues where the Italians chase him throughout the city subway system and into Grand Central Station, where the train Carlito and Gail will be taking out of town is waiting. Carlito nearly manages to give them the slip, but is spotted and is drawn into a wild gunfight where he manages to kill all of his pursuers except for Vinny himself, who is badly wounded but staggers after Carlito as he runs towards his train. Vinny is shot by the police, but while Carlito is distracted he is ambushed by someone he didn't expect: Benny Blanco. Blanco shoots him three times with a silenced gun, then shoots Pachanga, who, it turns out, was indeed working for him, before leaving.
This starts Carlito's reflection on his life before dying on a stretcher as Gail tearfully watches. Before his death, he hands Gail the money that he saved for their new life together and wishes her a good life. The film ends with Carlito having a vision of Gail dancing on an exotic beach with the son she had with Carlito and the song "You are so beautiful" playing in the background.
[edit] Prequel
Edwin Torres' first novel Carlito's Way was filmed and released direct-to-video in 2005, under the title Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. Although critically panned, Torres did give the film his blessing and considers it to be quite an accurate adaptation of the first half of his novel, with a planned sequel for the second half in the works. [1]
[edit] Trivia
- Voted "Best Film of the 1990s" by the French publication Cahiers du Cinéma
- Although based on the novel After Hours by Edwin Torres, the title was changed to Carlito's Way to avoid confusion with Martin Scorsese's film After Hours
- Sean Penn supposedly took the role of Kleinfeld to fund his directorial project The Crossing Guard.
- The ending was initially to be filmed in the World Trade Center, but the bombing during that time meant director De Palma had to change the location to Grand Central Terminal, which he initially resisted, since the ending to his previous film The Untouchables also famously took place in a train station.
- The idea for the film came about when Pacino handed the first novel to producer Bregman. After realizing Pacino was too old to play the part in the first book, David Koepp was brought in to adapt its sequel. Only when the script had reached its final draft was director Brian De Palma brought in to helm the film.
- The Kleinfeld character has often been described as the inspiration for the character Ken Rosenberg of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas fame. Both are Jewish, have the same taste in clothing and are rendered increasingly paranoid and incoherent by their cocaine addiction.
- The song by Slipknot titled (Sic) has a clip of Pacino (Carlito) shouting "Here comes the pain!" from about 30 minutes into the movie.
[edit] See also
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