Carlito's Way (1993)
★★★★★ — Carlito's Way (1993)
Carlito's Way arrived in the autumn of 1993, reuniting director Brian De Palma with Al Pacino four years after the pair had worked together on Scarface, and the comparison was inevitable from the moment the project was announced. De Palma adapted the screenplay (with Edwin Torres, who wrote the source novels, Carlito's Way and After Hours, on which the film is based) from material that had already lived in New York literary circles for over a decade. Coming off the mixed reception to Bonfire of the Vanities in 1990, this was very much a back-to-form production for De Palma, shot largely on location in New York City. Sean Penn, playing the slippery lawyer Kleinfeld, was relatively early in what would become a career reinvention, having spent much of the late 1980s in box office disappointments.
The greatest finale in cinema history. Carlito's way is Brian De Palma's best film. It's a criminally underrated movie. Sean Penn had the performance of his career as the lawyer here which is 100% the inspiration for Rosenberg in GTA Vice City. Al Pacino is as usual... absolutely flawless. This is the first Viggo Mortensen movie I saw after LOTR too so it was amazing seeing him play a different character. The pacing of the movie is beautiful and the love interest Gail is handled with such sincerity. Everyone should see this film.
Rating: ★★★★★ | Year: 1993 | Watched: 2025-04-07
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Brian De Palma: The Untouchables (1987) · Carrie (1976) · Scarface (1983)
More with Al Pacino: Scent of a Woman (1992) · Cruising (1980) · Insomnia (2002) · Scarecrow (1973)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
