Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3764 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-29
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Al Pacino cuts a noble figure in this very enjoyable drama by director Brian De Palma (Scarface), based on a pair of books by Edwin Torres. Pacino plays a Puerto Rican ex-con trying hard to go straight, but his loyalty to his lowlife attorney (a virtually unrecognisable Sean Penn) and enemies on the street make that choice difficult. Penelope Ann Miller plays, somewhat unlikely, a stripper who has a romance with Pacino's character. The film finds De Palma tempering his more outlandish moves (think of Body Double or Snake Eyes) just as he did with the popular Untouchables and Mission: Impossible. But while Carlito's Way was not as commercially successful as those two movies, it is a genuinely compelling work graced with a fine performance by Pacino and a surprising one from Penn. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review
Al Pacino cuts a noble figure in Carlito's Way, an enjoyable drama by director Brian De Palma (Scarface), based on a pair of books by Edwin Torres. Pacino plays a Puerto Rican ex-con trying hard to go straight, but his loyalty to his lowlife attorney (a virtually unrecognisable Sean Penn) and enemies on the street make that choice difficult. In a somewhat unlikely role, Penelope Ann Miller plays a stripper who has a romance with Pacino's character. The film finds De Palma tempering his more outlandish moves (think of Body Double or Snake Eyes) just as he did with the popular The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible. But while Carlito's Way was not commercially successful and never rises to the level of greatness, it is a genuinely compelling movie graced with a fine performance by Pacino and a surprising one from Penn. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Notorious Puerto Rican heroin dealer Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is released from jail on a technicality thanks to the manipulations of his sleazy lawyer buddy (Sean Penn). All he wants is to keep his nose clean and earn enough money to start a business in the Bahamas--and maybe rekindle romance with his old flame, played by Penelope Ann Miller. Instead he finds himself back in trouble as a result of old-world codes of honour and misguided loyalties. It all takes place in 1975 Manhattan, in and around a nightclub Carlito manages, so there's plenty of classic disco music pulsing on the soundtrack. John Leguizamo plays one of the younger generation of hoodlums out to prove something. Viggo Mortensen and Luis Guzman star as a couple of Carlito's buddies from the old days. Brian De Palma, who directed Pacino a decade earlier in SCARFACE, makes this seem almost like that film's sequel. As expected, there's plenty of elaborate tracking shots and suspenseful set pieces, most memorably a pulse-pounding chase through Grand Central Station. It's adapted from two novels by New York Supreme Court Judge Edwin Torres based on his childhood in East Harlem.

Customer Reviews

Another Brian De Palma masterpiece...
The very fact that Brian De Palma directed this film is a signal that this film is of a very high standard. Before Carlito's way he'd already directed Scarface, Carrie, The Untouchables, Casualties of War, and many many more, but this film with the possible exception of Scarface is, in my opinion, his best work.

The film depicts the life of a former Puerto Rican drug lord Carlito Berganzi (Al Pacino) from the moment his appeal is succesful and he is released from a 30 year prison sentence after serving only 5 years. Carlito pledges to keep his hands clean of any criminal activities...but Carlito sitting at home watching Trisha and drinking tea simply didn't cut it with the filming commission so instead he gets dragged down into the underworld yet again, mostly by his cocaine-addicted lawyer David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), whilst the opposing force in Carlito's life, Gail (Penelope Ann Miller) tries desperately to pull him back to a normal, crime-free life.

The film is beautifully shot and there is no moment in the film, ever, when you think "oo I'll just pause it so I can go and make myself a coffee"...I have the attention span of a goldfish, and can rarely watch a 2hr 24mins movie without having a break in the middle for coffee, but this movie was non-stop and kept me completly engaged, 100%, from start to finish.

I don't need to tell you that Al Pacino does an awesome job...you already knew that, but Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller compliment Pacino's incredble acting skills perfectly.

If you are a fan of gangster/mob films (Scarface, Casino, Goodfella's, The Godfather Trilogy, etc) then you absoultely must see this film, NO gangster film collection can ever be complete without this momentous film.

This film is fully deserving of each and every one of the five stars I've given it!

One of the best sublimely self-conscious crime pictures
This film is often seen as the follow up to Brian De Palma's `Scarface (Widescreen Anniversary Edition), and while the films share a logical line of progression and the same director and star, they're not related really. The recent viewing of this movie for the first time since it was released in the mid 90s confirmed my long held beliefs: this is some of Mr. Pacino's best work on film along with great performances from Penelope Ann Miller (his love interest) and Sean Penn (Carlito's lawyer).

Brian De Palma makes one of his best (and under-rated) films by letting the viewer be as self-aware of the on-coming clichés and pit-falls of the drama the story intones, just by the narration. The aged, contemplative voice of Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) that chimes in more often than not, is as essential to the way the story unfolds as Henry Hill's was to `GoodFellas'- this guys been on the inside, he knows the ropes, he knows the stakes, he knows the nature of the beast that goes with the people he associates with, and now that he's out of prison, he doesn't want it anymore. Un-like a lesser film, we start to believe his intentions and reasoning's.

Carlito's just been released, thanks in part to his counselor David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), five years gone in a thirty year sentence, and when he returns to the street many look at him as if he's changed hearing that he's retired. Carlito just wants to get some money together, open a car dealership of sorts with a friend in the Bahamas, and works in a nightclub right smack dab in the heart of the coked up late 70's. As Carlito's tale unfolds, so does Kleinfeld's, as an inmate who's a client of his makes a demand that he can't turn down, which in turn brings a perpetually reluctant Carlito along with him. Carlito proves to be a complex character with a solid understanding of what's right and wrong, as well as very strong ambitions. These two traits are quite often opposed with one another, and it is in this conflict that De Palma brings out the best of Pacino. Somewhere along the way Carlito has won you to his cause, and despite the character flaws and set backs, you want to see him achieve his dream. But as the story unfolds, the stakes and risks are greater and his success seems less likely.

What I especially enjoyed in this movie was the narration Pacino had of Carlito in many crucial or pivotal parts of the script. Unlike many of his more well known and recognized roles, where Pacino had long brooding scenes, it was left to our imagination to often times wonder what the character was thinking. In Carlito's Way we are offered a glimpse into that thought process, and it is quite rewarding in fact. magnificent set-pieces that confirm De Palma's worth as a director of thrillers as well as dramas, this is an example of Hollywood movie-making that is waiting to be discovered over and over again, as proof of the value that can come in re-fashioning a genre piece.

"You ready?!! Here come da pain!!!"...
One of my all-time favorite movies, Al Pacino stars as Carlito Brigande, a Puerto Rican ex drug-lord trying to go straight after his release from prison 5 years into a 30 year stint. Sean Penn plays Carlito's lawyer, Kleinfeld; A brash, naive un-streetwise councellor, he is excellent in this role. Good support from Pennelope Ann Miller, as always, here playing the love interest. Great supporting roles and cameos from Luis Guzman as Pachanga, John Leguizamo as Benny Blanco from da Bronx! and hilarious stuff from Jorge Porcel as Saso (or RON! hehe) and Viggo Mortensen as Lalin. A Compelling story, brilliantly played, criminally underatted. Al Pacino at his best, a must-own movie.