"YOU THINK YOU'RE BIG TIME?!"

What's your favourite mobster movie scene? Is it the scene
in GOODFELLAS when TOMMY (Joe Pesci) shoots Spider for growing "cojones" and telling him to f*ck off? How about the "batting practise" scene in CASINO? (Brutal!) I think mine has to be Al Pacino and Sean Penn's scene in CARLITO'S WAY when they use a boat to rescue a mob boss from Ryker's Island Prison Barge. Without giving away too much, I'll just say things don't go particularly "smoothly"...


Carlito Brigante was a "mean little bastard" ever since he was a little boy. A convicted felon, Carlito (Al Pacino) is more than convinced that he can turn his life around after he is exhonerated in court thanks to some shifty investigative techniques by the District Attorney including illegal wiretaps. With the help of his lawyer Davey Kleifeld, (played by Sean Penn) Carlito is as he puts it "rejuvenated, re-invigorated, and soon to be relocated" in an opening court scene that sets up the premise nicely.

So what lies on the outside for a career criminal who is serious about keeping his nose clean? CARLITO'S WAY is a brilliant movie directed by BRIAN DePALMA about the temptations of a once powerful drug dealer trying his hand at "retirement". Sure, it may sound like an unoriginal plot but DePalma's direction, excellent character development and performances (especially Penn's) make this film a must-see.

This movie has the elements of a great mobster movie with it's colorful characters and crisp dialogue. Overall the movie is really one of a man's demons coming back to haunt him. Trying to face them head-on, only to realize in the end that his greatest enemy is staring back at him in the mirror. The pressures of a Puerto Rican's "tough guy" bravado and expectations of the street that sees everything..."she's watching".

Carlito Brigante (Pacino) is set on starting a new life after spending 5 years in prison (the movie is set in the seventies)...with aspirations of getting some money together (legitimately, if possible) Carlito's dream is to rent cars to tourists in "paradise". A more low-key lifestyle where he can relax without worrying about getting "capped" or "tagged".

But what Carlito quickly learns is that everywhere he turns, his reputation precedes him and old "associates" in the drug-peddling business are eager to hook him up to the life he so desperately wants to put behind him. This, along with the ever present breathing down his neck by the slighted D.A. who is hell-bent on putting him back behind bars, makes for a rather unrelaxed retirement!

After re-igniting his one time romance with an artistic dancer Gail (Penelope Ann Miller) to whom he once promised he would never break her heart (but did of course) His reasons for making it up to her and staying legit are all the more within his grasp. At least he thinks they are.

With a sizeable investment in a nightclub, Carlito finds himself surrounded by platform shoes, cocaine, and disco music ("What a guy has to come back to when he loses five years") Where did he get the investment money? Legit? You think?

Sean Penn's performance as Carlito's lawyer Davey Kleifeld was absolutely riveting. Almost unrecognisably thin and balding, Penn's portrays a lawyer on the brink of a complete breakdown, strung out on a nasty cocaine habit with rumors of "pocketing" a powerful mob boss's million dollars. Penn plays this role with a desperate, nervous urgency that must be seen. (He's been one of my favourite actors since I first saw this movie).

The love story between Carlito (Pacino) and Gail (Miller) is convincing and the two have some touching scenes. The viewer feels sympathetic toward's Carlito because you just know that his is an uphill battle and his dream of "paradise" is so close he can touch it, yet so far away.

SPOILER? NAH!
The movie makes no attempt at hiding what happens to Carlito in the end as it begins with him streched out on a gurney with eyes wide open with a glint of peace and maybe even relief...a fitting ode to a volatile, tiresome life that while couldn't have been forseen, was nevertheless somehow, expected.

I regard this picture in the upper-echelon of mobster movies, along with such classics as GOODFELLAS and THE GODFATHER and while these may be superior movies to CARLITO'S, it remains one of my personal favourites because of Sean Penn's performance alone. Don't get me wrong; Pacino is his usual potent self, it's just that Penn is really incredible here. His character spirals so out of control so quickly, a once good-guy turned "gangster" (as Carlito puts it) with Penn really adding a vulnerable quality to the character that reminds the viewer that he is after all, human.

Of course for the acting to be as absorbing as it is, a film needs good dialogue, visual detail, direction, etc...
CARLITO'S WAY delivers in spades! Some extremely suspenseful cat and mouse scenes along with an intense shoot-out a la UNTOUCHABLES along with subtle forshadowing throughout the movie leaves the viewer as satisfied as one feels after a huge meal at a buffet restaurant (you know when you have to undoe that button on your pants and know you shouldn't have gone for seconds...but hell, it was worth it anyway?).

FINAL THOUGHT:

Sean Penn is God. Not THE God maybe, but A God at the least! Nah, on second thought he's just as human as you and me...I mean he's just an actor, right? Actors used to be servants in the employ of the wealthy for entertainment value; so why is it that they've become rediculously overpaid and idolized by millions as if they are Gods? Ah well, that's a whole other review...don't get me started!


RUNNING TIME: 2hrs. 25 mins.
RATED R (VIOLENCE, NUDITY, LANGUAGE)
(Based on the novels CARLITO'S WAY
and AFTER HOURS by EDWIN TORRES)