Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 13, 1993 TAG: 9311130058
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The story sticks close to the conventions of the genre. The characters are well written and well acted by a first-rate cast. Even Brian DePalma's fussy over-direction isn't enough to ruin the movie.
The setting is New York, 1975. Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is a big-time Puerto Rican drug dealer who's trying to go straight. In the film's first scene, he's shot several times in the stomach and then tells his story in voice-over flashback.
It begins a few months before when Carlito's crooked lawyer David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) gets him out of prison. Carlito had served five years of a 30-year sentence on a variety of charges before Kleinfeld wins an appeal based on a prosecutor's mistake. Carlito finds himself out on the street where he still has a fearsome reputation. But the drug business has changed and he doesn't want to go back to it.
Owing Kleinfeld a favor, he agrees to manage a disco that the lawyer owns. Though he says that his goal is to raise enough money to open a car-rental agency in the Bahamas, no one believes him. Not Kleinfeld, who has developed a dangerous cocaine habit to go along with his mob connections. Not Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo), an ambitious young man following in Carlito's footsteps. Not even his old girlfriend Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), a dancer with dreams of her own. And certainly not Steffie (Ingrid Rogers), the disco's most popular goodtime girl.
(It's worth noting that in both the film and the press material, the important male characters have two names; the women have only first names.)
David Koepp's script, based on two novels by Edwin Torres, seems accurate and only slightly romantic in its details of street life and the drug business. It's most interesting though when the focus is on Carlito's inner struggles. He's a stand-up guy, but where should his loyalties lie and how far can he go with them?
Though his work isn't going to make anyone forget his Oscar-winning performance in "Scent of a Woman," Pacino is excellent. He has taken the energy that drove his character in "Scarface" and muted it to a less explosive but no less intense level. Sean Penn, almost unrecognizable under a curly hairdo, should earn a supporting-actor nomination for a complex, carefully shaded performance. Penelope Ann Miller makes the most of a conventional role.
Brian DePalma handles the big action scenes fairly well but there's nothing new here. The big finish in Grand Central Station borrows heavily from his own work in "The Untouchables." In quieter moments the pace drags, and when DePalma decides to show off, as he does in the ridiculous opening when the camera hangs upside down for no reason, the action becomes unintentionally funny.
Somehow, "Carlito's Way" manages to survive those missteps and a soundtrack filled with hideous disco music. It's the kind of role and the kind of movie that Pacino's fans like to see - violent, sexy and full of life.
Carlito's Way ***
A Universal release playing at the Valley View Mall 6 and Salem Valley 8. 141 minutes. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, sexual content, nudity.
by CNB