Carlito's Way (Enhanced Edition) (DVD)

The DVD version I have of this has no extras but its one of those films that is just worth buying and watching although a special edition would be nice.

The film is a gangster film but is different to the usual films of this genre - it opens with Carlito ( Al Pacino) being shot at a train station and narrating the story of how he got there as he is wheeled down the platform by the medics.

Its set in 1970's New York hence ...
...of Carlito Brigante - a legendary Hispanic gangster who gets sprung from prison on a technicality by his oily lawyer Kleinman (an exceptional and unrecognisable Sean Penn). Carlito is through with crime and has a dream of buying into a used car dealership with someone he met in prison. This would get him out of New York and down to the coast.

No-one believes him - especially the DA who goes to desperate lengths to get evidence that ... more

The DVD version I have of this has no extras but its one of those films that is just worth buying and watching although a special edition would be nice.

The film is a gangster film but is different to the usual films of this genre - it opens with Carlito ( Al Pacino) being shot at a train station and narrating the story of how he got there as he is wheeled down the platform by the medics.

Its set in 1970's New York hence Pacinos stylish leather mac and beard and tells the tale of Carlito Brigante - a legendary Hispanic gangster who gets sprung from prison on a technicality by his oily lawyer Kleinman (an exceptional and unrecognisable Sean Penn). Carlito is through with crime and has a dream of buying into a used car dealership with someone he met in prison. This would get him out of New York and down to the coast.

No-one believes him - especially the DA who goes to desperate lengths to get evidence that will put Carlito back behind bars. As a favour for an old friend Carlito agrees to run a nightclub as the current manager is on the take due to gambling debts. He agrees on the condition that everything is above board and he only stays until he has raised his cut to buy into his dream and then he is gone.

Nothing runs this smoothly though and everyone seems to be desperate to get Carlito back in - his first mistake is to go along with his young cousin on a routine drug deal as his cousin feels it will make him look good to go in there with a legend. This particular set-piece is brilliantly done and ends with everyone but Carlito dead.

This is where everything starts to go downhill for him - the only light he has is Gail, the woman he fell for before being busted, he never told her what he did or where he went as he didn't want her seeing him in prison. Hence her frostiness towards him when he shows up at her dance-class.

Soon everyone is wanting a piece of Carlito, including a young punk on his way up, "Benny Blanco from the Bronx", who crosses Carlito in his club and Carlito makes the mistake of not killing him....

To give anymore away would spoil a lost gem of a film made by people at the top of their games - Pacinos world-weary performance anchors the film and along with Brian De Palmas excellent and stylish direction, Sean Penns amazing performance and a brilliant and involving storyline this makes for an instant and underrated classic of the genre. 

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