BBM Enterprises Online - Carlito's Way review

    Ten years after they joined forces and brought us the classic mob movie Scarface, Brian De Palma and Al Pacino teamed up again and produced another movie of equal stature, although it didn't carry with it the controversy of its predecesor.
     The movie tells the story of Carlito Brigante who has just been released from prison after five years and determined not to go back, however, he soon begins to unwittingly slip back into the lifestyle that he wanted to leave behind. His lawyer (played superbly by Sean Penn) becomes one of the major factors in this slide back to the dark side, he is untrustworthy and basically corrupt and later he begins to get a nasty Coke habit which only makes things worse. After Kleinfeld gets in some deep shit with a local mob family, as Carlito tells him "he is no longer a lawyer, he's a gangster" and this situation sets up the thrilling climax to the movie.
     Often refered to as the "American Hitchcock" and a huge admirer of Alfred Hitchcock himself Brian De Palma's direction of Carlito's way is equally as good as in Scarface and he displays his talent to the full. There is also the Long Take which he employed later in Snake Eyes, and although not as long as the one at the beginning of Snake Eyes which lasted about seven minutes, this one is just as impressive. It occurs when Carlito is being chased through Grand Central Station and I clocked it in at about 2mins 16secs. I didn't notice it the first time that I saw the movie but this time I did and was mightily impressed with it, the more Long Takes the better in my opinion. However, none of these beat the opening shot from the Orson Welles film A Touch of Evil, if you haven't seen it and you see it advertised on T.V. anytime I suggest that you check it out, it's an excellent film and don't be put off by the fact that it was made in 1958.
     The acting of the lead parts is absolutely superb. Pacino as Carlito doesn't quite have the screen presence as he showed in Scarface but he is not far off, and when I first saw this movie it made me realise that Sean Penn is a very talented actor indeed. The slimy, corrupt, coke-head lawyer that he plays is captured perfectly and in my opinion he is just as good as Pacino in the movie.
     There are similarities between Scarface and Carlito's Way - the use of the billboard advertising Paradise, the ills of Cocaine, Pacino and De Palma and many of the same actors that appeared in Scarface etc. however this is not a bad thing, Carlito's Way has its own distinct identity and the film is equally good enough to stand alone in its own right as a great film. The last half hour of the film is brilliant on first viewing.