Editor’s Note: Our resident cinephile and move critic Mike Fried, author of the Mike At the Movies column, looks back at some of the movies made by legendary director Brian de Palma? Do Brians often Hitchcockian movies hold up? Read on?
By MIKE FRIED
CARLITO’S WAY
****
Former drug dealer Carlito Brigante gets out of prison after 5 years of a 30 year sentence because of illegal wiretaps. He promises the judge he is going straight — and he means it. He intends to make $75,000 and go to the Bahamas so he can buy into a car rental business.
First he gets into the nightclub business so he can raise that money. Unfortunately, Carlito’s compatriots and acquaintances make it difficult for him to go straight. First off, his criminal defense lawyer, David Kleinfeld, is a coked up mess who has stolen a million dollars from the mob and a client of his. He is being challenged by an up and comer, Benny Blanco from the Bronx, who sees himself as Brigante 20 years ago. But a man can’t escape his past. “It’s who I am … it’s what I am. Right or wrong, I can’t change that.”
Brian de Palma has painted a portrait on a large canvas. While many have compared it to the previous de Palma-Pacino outing, Scarface, I think it’s more The Godfather Part 3. It’s a “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” kind of movie.
Today, Pacino would never be cast because he is not Hispanic. But in 1993, he was the right actor for the right job. As mobster Pete Amadesso says, “First time I met this guy, I thought he was Italian — look at him.” I don’t know if that’s from Edwin Torres’ novel, but if it was, it was so prescient.
Pacino plays a tough guy but one who is conflicted. He doesn’t want to be in his shoes.
But he is. He just wants out. But things have changed. He laments “My neighborhood doesn’t exist anymore.” Neither do the old rules. Pacino’s performance is more sedate, thoughtful and less over the top than his Tony Montana. It’s one of his best performances and made that much better by a great director.
I’m not a big fan of Sean Penn but his apparently Alan Dershowitz-inspired mob lawyer David Kleinfeld is a great role, deserving of his Golden Globe nomination. He starts out as a sleazy defense lawyer and he just devolves from there, going full gangster. As Carlito bemoans, “There’s a line you cross that you never come back from point of no return — Dave crossed it”. Unfortunately, he has dragged Carlito down with him.
Penelope Ann Miller is excellent as Gail, Carlito’s former and current girlfriend. She always wanted to be a dancer and she is — but an exotic one! She doesn’t want Carlito because of his business; but he vows to take her to the Bahamas. She falls in love with him all over again. Miller earned a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for her role.
John Leguizamo as Benny Blanco and the ever steady Luis Guzman as Pachanga, Carlito’s bodyguard, are both excellent.
But with all the talent in this movie, I think it would have been a lesser picture with a different director. Besides de Palma’s great tracking shots, his command of what the camera sees is tremendous.
The finale of the film is a veritable ballet, choreographed by a master. And the tension goes to 11. The subway chase and the escalator scene are pure genius.
I’ve appreciated DePalma more now than before and as a result I like this film more than I previously did.
You will too. It’s probably a bit longer than it has to be — but stay with it.
WATCH IT!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
*****
The Impossible Mission Force does a job in Prague where everybody but Ethan Hunt is assassinated. The CIA now suspects that Ethan is the mole who tried to steal the nonofficial cover (NOC) list and who had the entire team killed. Ethan recruits a group of disavowed agents in order to get the the NOC list from CIA headquarters, sell them to a arms dealer and expose the real traitor.
While the rest of the Mission Impossible films are a genuine pleasure to watch, this movie is the real deal. Stylistic and with trademark Brian de Palma flourishes and humor, this movie delivers all of the action one needs.
In addition, David Koepp’s script is quite literate and enjoyable. I have heard criticisms that the movie is confusing and I just don’t see it. Sure there are crosses and double crosses, but that’s precisely the point of the movie. Who is to be trusted?
In this regard , the movie is as straightforward as the television show was, down to the rubber masks, albeit with updated technology.
Tom Cruise, who produced, is earnest in his portrayal of Ethan and his performance drives the film. The rest of the cast (including Ving Rhames, Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave, Henry Czerny and crazy Jon Voight) add a lot of flavor and enjoyment to this movie.
The action scenes are outstanding and the scene in the vault of the CIA (which was lifted directly from the heist scene in Jules Dassin’s heist film Topkapi) is a brilliant and funny near-silent adventure invention. The final action scene, as wildly preposterous as it is, is pulse pounding and pure de Palma.
There is plenty of humor, plenty of fun and plenty of action to satisfy everybody. This one is the gold standard for the franchise.
And it belongs to de Palma who had the vision to set the whole thing in motion. This is not only a reboot of the Mission Impossible TV show, bringing it into the future, it is truly a Brian de Palma film. All that’s missing are the split screens that are his trademark.
WATCH IT!
WISE GUYS
****
Forget all the other mob comedies. This is the one that Siskel and Ebert gave two very enthusiastic thumbs up to!
Danny Devito and Joe Piscopo are two low level gangsters in a mob family run by Dan Hedaya,whose main enforcer is played by Captain Lou Albano.
Hedaya asks these two moaks to visit the Meadowlands and place a $10,000 bet on a horse that Devito knows is not gonna win, so they bet it on Devito’s horse; and, of course, the horse that their boss bet on wins.
The mob boss doesn’t kill them but orders them to kill each other separately.
From there it is manic fun. Even though it is a fairly predictable film, it benefits from an excellent cast with the aforementioned Devito, Piscopo, Hedaya and Albano as well as nice performances from Harvey Keitel as the Atlantic City casino manager and Mimi Chechini as Devito’s grandmother.
There’s one particularly hysterical sequence where Hedaya asks Devito to start his car and everyone flees. de Palma proves he can handle comedy.
It’s a thoroughly entertaining film.
Don’t ask me – ask Gene and Roger At The Movies!
WATCH IT!
BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
** 1/2
The first 70 minutes of the film are not bad at all, despite lacking many of the subplots of the book; but once Sherman goes to jail the movie goes off the cliff.
The opening gargoyle shot, the second scene’s 5 minute tracking shot and the fact that Kirsten Dunst plays Hanks’ daughter are great. Even the scene in the opera after Sherman knows that he is going to be arrested uses Don Giovanni — and for the hell of it, uses a jail cell.
But once you get to the arraignment, first off I have never been in a courtroom where each of the individual members in the gallery have their individual chairs — that’s just takes me out of the picture. But also, if an assistant district attorney spoke to a judge the way Kramer did, then that ADA would be subject to sever sanctions.
And come on, Hanks with the shotgun in the apartment. Give me a break.
And I know de Palma likes his split diopter but in the first 75 minutes, he uses it no less than 7 times. That’s when you know there’s a problem.
Look, Wolfe’s novel gives a cynical view of NYC to be sure.
But Michael Cristofer’s script just goes so over the top and glosses over so much of the book’s material that despite the fact that the story is serviceable, something is absolutely missing.
And unfortunately what is missing from the final third of the film is quality.
SKIP IT!
THE UNTOUCHABLES
*****
“1930. Prohibition has transformed Chicago into a City at War. Rival gangs compete for control of the city’s billion dollar empire of illegal alcohol, enforcing their will with the hand grenade and Tommy gun. It is the time of the Ganglords. It is the time of Al Capone.”
So begins The Untouchables, one of Brian de Palma’s best movies. Eliot Ness, a self-righteous and forthright agent of the Treasury Department, is assigned to Chicago with the sole purpose of bringing down Al Capone during Prohibition — which, he proudly proclaims to the cops assigned to support him, “is the law of the land” as he admonishes them not to drink.
In his first attempt to take out a Capone shipment, he is foiled due to a tip off from a crooked cop to Capone (similar to Midnight Run, the Chicago Police Department is not viewed positively in this movie). A despondent Ness has a chance encounter with a beat cop, Jimmy Malone, whom he recruits to aid him in his quest. Malone is an aging officer who has never surpassed being a beat cop and, therefore, must be honest. Malone helps Ness recruit George Stone (original name: Giuseppe Petri) as part of the team and Washington sends an accountant named Oscar Wallace who, rather than wanting to carry a gun, is eager to delve in to Capone’s books to see if an income tax rap can be placed on them. Malone has other ideas.
They are beyond corruptible. When an alderman visits Ness and attempts to bribe him, Ness calls his crew back into the office to witness the rebuke of the bribe. The alderman replies “So that’s it — you’re untouchable” and hence the name is borne. As a result, the four find themselves up against the Capone machine and, in particular, Capone’s chief enforcer, Frank Nitti, in their attempts to get Capone’s bookkeeper who can decipher the ledger they have received.
This may not be on AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Movies list, but it’s on mine. Brian de Palma has crafted an exquisitely sumptuous crime film. Chicago of the late 1980s is tremendously transformed into Chicago of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The production design is perfectly done and you feel transformed; the set design is only outdone by a riveting and rousing should-have-won-an-Oscar score by Ennio Morricone.
Add into the mix the costumes designed by Giorgio Armani, and you have a great looking picture. The film is just an exercise in style.
But the picture is much more than its looks.
de Palma’s direction is masterful and it especially shows in the performances. While I thought Kevin Costner’s Ness was a bit wooden, Costner did get the holier-than-thou part down and his dealings with Frank Nitti enabled him to flex his chops a bit. Robert De Niro, looking like he pulled off another Jake LaMotta (but he did not, opting for padding instead) has some scenes where he gets to chew the scenery. His rage at Ness is particularly good, but the strongest Capone moment comes when he discusses his love of baseball – one of the more memorable scenes in the film.
But this is a movie that belongs to Connery. Winning a much deserved Academy Award for best supporting actor, Connery delivers one of his best performances as a wizened cop trying to make Ness understand what “the Chicago Way” is. When he does, he tells Ness he’s made a blood oath. And he is right. But Connery is also great because he throws off some memorable one-liners. When Ness and Malone are interviewing young unspoiled candidates for the team, one of the marksmen chosen is so inarticulate that he is dismissed and Malone quips “There goes the next chief of police.” It’s a laughable moment and rightly so. Malone is a serious guy but he also has his wiseguy side.
But Malone wouldn’t have been half as good without the hugely literate script by David Mamet – it’s not that it is just a great script (it is!) but it is clear that Mamet did his research into 1920s Chicago lingo (OK, pal, why the mahaska? Why are you carrying the gun? ) and it makes the film that much more genuine. This movie has the best tough guy dialogue in it than any other movie in the last 35 years. And it’s all due to Mamet.
I don’t want to gloss over the performances by Charles Martin Smith and a very young Andy Garcia, in his first major role. Smith’s Oscar Wallace is a numbers guy – he absolutely gets gleeful when he discovers a trail of numbers that don’t make sense. He is the same geek that he played in American Graffiti, only older. But he is good with a shotgun as well. And Garcia, in his career making role, is excellent as the guy who will not back down, not from Malone and not from Ness. He has a steely determination in his eyes which is best shown than in the shootout at the train station. And I would be faulted if I did not mention Billy Drago who plays Frank Nitti with undeniable menace. Bot his squint and his voice proclaim trouble and he is downright scary.
And this brings us back to de Palma, who owns this movie.
The shootout at the train station, which DePalma rips off the famous Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin, is nevertheless a sight to behold. Tense, filmed in slow motion with Morricone’s score overwhelming one’s senses, it is a much-watched scene. Capone’s baseball speech is filmed with close-ups, long shots and a crucial overhead shot – it is staged impeccably. And Malone’s pivotal scene in a railroad apartment is filmed with dizzying camera work. de Palma is at the top of his game.
Here endeth the Lesson.
WATCH IT!
Have an essay or think piece on movies, the history of cinema, profiles of film directors or actors, or exploration of a popular movie genre? Contact the Movie Talk column today at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@yahoo.com and mike.fried@yahoo.com.
