The first scene ofCarlito's Way is in black-and-white, and features a close-up of a bearded Al Pacino as someone puts three bullets into him. He slides to the ground, and, as the stretcher arrives to wheel him away for medical care, he begins a mental monologue that forms the movie's running narrative -- the story of how Carlito Brigante (Pacino) came to be in this unenviable position.
It is 1975 in New York City, and Carlito has just been released from prison as the result of a clever appeal by his good friend and lawyer, David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). After delivering an impassioned speech to the court about how he now intends to go clean, the former assassin and "J.P. Morgan of the smack business" returns to his Puerto Rican neighborhood to run a disco club with the aim of legitimately earning the $75,000 he needs to buy into a rental car business in the Bahamas. Along the way, however, Carlito discovers that a violent reputation isn't easily dismissed, and before long he's forced into a kill-or-be-killed situation. Balancing out the negative influences in Carlito's life is his girlfriend, Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), one of the few people he truly trusts.
Brian DePalma has been on a skid recently. Although several years past, his disastrous adaptation ofThe Bonfire of the Vanities is still fresh in the minds of everyone unfortunate enough to have endured it, and his "return" to the thriller genre withRaising Cain wasn't a lot more promising.Carlito's Way is a step up, but this is not the same DePalma who got the adrenaline moving withThe Untouchables.
Carlito's Way has a number of superbly-directed action sequences, and there are moments of absolute brilliance, but these are connected by a plodding narrative that sputters to find an appropriate pace. Two hours and twenty minutes is too long for this motion picture; there are numerous scenes that could have found their way to the cutting room floor without sacrificing much of the story. DePalma, however, appears unwilling to have cut anything with Pacino in it (the shooting script was nearly identical to the finished product).
The last half-hour has the electricity of any good thriller, except for one little problem: we already know the ending. Some films (No Way Out comes to mind) are enhanced by the storytelling method employed here -- starting at the end, then going back and telling everything through flashbacks.Carlito's Way is not one of these. By letting us know how Carlito is going to be shot, DePalma drains suspense from the big chase through Grand Central Station.
Coming off his virtuoso performance inScent of a Woman, Pacino doesn't really deliver this time around. His portrayal of Carlito is competent, but not masterful. While it's helpful to remember that a below-par offering from Pacino can be better than an outstanding job by certain other actors, that won't prevent the viewer from comparingCarlito's Way unfavorably toScarface, Serpico,And Justice for All, Scent, andThe Godfathers. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Pacino gets out-acted by Sean Penn, who hardly looks like himself with frizzy hair and nerdy glasses. Penn plays an exceptionally annoying lawyer who spends most of his time snorting cocaine, and he does an excellent job in this low-key, but critical, role.
For the most part, Penelope Ann Miller is "just there." Her Gail is perhaps too sweet to work in a strip joint and be the girlfriend of a gangster; it isn't until one of her last scenes when we see a harder edge, and even then her performance verges on histrionics. Gail's love is supposed to represent Carlito's redemption, and the reason he thinks dreams are worth having, but I'm not sure the connection between these two characters is strong enough for that to come across.
David Koepp's screenplay has some winning lines (such as "Favor gonna kill you faster than a bullet"), which isn't surprising considering the source material. The movie is based on two novels (Carlito's Way andAfter Hours) by New York Justice Edwin Torres, one of the city's harshest judges (in sentencing one criminal, Torres informed him that "your parole officer hasn't been born yet"). Torres writes from his experience of what passes through his courtroom, so parts ofCarlito's Way are based, however loosely, on reality.
Technically,Carlito's Way is a combination of the innovative and the banal. The camerawork is invigorating, if sometimes too exotic. DePalma makes good use of the steadicam during the chase sequences, and this heightens whatever tension is present. Jellybean Benitez, a former DJ and club manager, is the music supervisor, and his choice of about a dozen mid-seventies hits helps to establish the time-frame. Patrick Doyle's score, however, is horribly out-of-place.
Carlito's Way probably should have been a taut thriller, but choices by DePalma in both presentation and editing have hamstrung it. Expectations for the film were high, so there's likely to be a fair amount of disappointment surrounding its release. To paraphrase Pacino'sScent of a Woman character, no "Hoo-ha"s forCarlito's Way.
© 1993 James Berardinelli