Night Falls on Manhattan

If you enjoy straight-up, old-style dirty cop/courtroom stories, this may be the last of the great ones, filmed in 1997. Sidney Lumet directs. There are some really fine, passionate scenes that make you care about the characters. Three-fourths of the plot is roughly predictable, but this movie has the glow of being a fine, original, boiler plate version for many cop stories to come. Moody jazz trumpet score, including songs by Wynton Marsalis. And wow, what a cast: Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, Lena Olin, Richard Dreyfuss, James Gandolfini, Dominic Chianese. What more can I say?

This movie introduces you to the complexities of the judicial system. It starts with the idealistic view. It leaves you to make the choice of what is right and what is wrong. You'll have to decide for yourself what is or would be justice. From the politics, the backroom deals and the downright corruption it's all there. It certainly isn't pretty because nobody's perfect. The acting is great but I've always felt Andy Garcia is a fine actor. The entire cast was well chosen and you feel their emotions and believe them as their character. The story moves along well and there are enough twists to keep you interested. This isn't a movie that leaves you cheering for more. It does however make you think about the complexities of justice. When your outside looking in things always look different than when you are inside looking out.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Here's yet another film with a too low IMDb average. Really 6.6. I'm so glad I came to view this film, a few years back. I just came to view it again, where I enjoyed it as much as last time. I love Sidney Lumet films. He makes good ones, rarely a bad one. I mean, he gave us Network, Equus, Family Business, and the lesser known, Guilty As Sin. This is just another one that holds up to the others, and another one on Lumet's notch of good films. This one has been constructed gingerly, attentively, as far as plot and story goes. One would even say judiciously, with great performances to boot, Dreyfuss, and Ron Leibman, a scene stealer, and terribly underused actor, most of his stuff t.v. related. Corruption runs high in a few cop beats, where Garcia's cop father (Holm, really good) is shot badly by a burst of machine gun fire, when a drug bust goes bad. Three beats were called in, where there should of only been one, which leads us to consider a few bad apples were involved. Even Garcia's father could be bad too like his partner and childhood mate, Joey (the late great Gandofini) a modest performance. Garcia, an ex cop, now a promising lawyer, is assigned to this criminal case, by Leibman who runs a law firm, to the disgust and anger of a slick lawyer adversary, Colm Feore (just another top form performance here), where the big black drug dealer, a nasty piece of work in a quite threatening performance, by Shiek Mahmud- Bey is caught, so it's really gonna get heated in that courtroom, where you don't want this black dude mad. Garcia's amusing remark, a moment I loved, sealed that deal. The turning point or second story, let's call it, takes off when a black book is recovered from one of the dead cops in that failed bust, a number of cops names including Holm's, all supposedly on the take are in there, and things get really juicy, plot wise, which sees Garcia back in the court room. This film has really been constructed thriller wise, as many characters, mostly the ones in question, aren't telling us everything. Dreyfuss's admittance about his teenage daughter to Garcia in those spa room scenes was something unexpected too. The film is very well written, all of it, it's treatment, etc, all shaped to perfection, solely by Lumet, the first scene in the lecture room, with budding lawyers, grabbing us straight away, with in your face frankness. The film has a very well researched feel, Garcia's performance though, not as good as the others. The character's choices and their situations, make sense, and we very well understand. If you're a cop and you go crooked, well the ball's in your caught, baby. Highly underrated and very much recommended cop/courtroom drama, Dreyfuss's performance as the black guy's defendant, the one you'll remember. He's brilliant.

I really have no idea what motivates Sidney Lumet's choice of movies to do, even though I've read his book "Making Movies," which sheds a lot of light on his decision making process.

If I had to take a guess, I might say that perhaps he wants a variety, and doesn't calculate the risk involved with certain works that have obviously turned out to be major flops. Or maybe he does know the risk and he just doesn't care. Now remember, though I'm sure even the "master" critics have jumped on and trashed some of his better work, if you place something like "Prince of the City" or "Equus" next to "The Wiz," "Running on Empty" and "Serpico" next to "Critical Care," wow! I mean you are just asking for trouble.

Regardless, this guy is a filmmaker.

As with anything, there are people who will dog this and say it was slow and Lapaglia was over the top or whatever the multitude of criticisms may be, "the lighting created an unwanted mood" (by whose standards), "the script had flaws" (oh did it? What were they?) and the list goes on. However without getting into every nook and cranny available, I will just say if you enjoy a good drama, you may enjoy this.

For the decent side of Lumet's work, this is a pretty fair example and on every front, I think it works out okay. Do I have any criticisms? None worth more than "I liked it or didn't." I did in fact like it by the way. It might be considered standard fare or even dated a bit by some and as a result, not as powerful as it might be otherwise, but it is a good example of Sidney Lumet's better filmmaking and not a bad story to boot.

Dig Colm Feore's role here. I like this guy and though he's probably found in the shadows more than in the spotlight, he is one vastly talented actor. I caught him last year in the lead for "My Fair Lady" at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada and though he really probably is an acquired taste, he is a talent to be reckoned with for sure. It would be nice to see him garner larger roles since talent like this sure seems wasted on bit parts.

The plot was predictable; what was VERY good is the realistic sour compromises that atty's make. that alone warrants this movie as MUST SEE for students. I went to St.Johns University (undergraduate legal education), as did Sean Casey (AndyGarcia) No punches were pulled there, and that was reflected in the protagonist effort to make ethical decisions. There was one line that summarizes so much: "...if you want clean hands, become a priest. The degree to which police, criminal attys, DA's and all parties with knowledge about a criminal action get ugly is very true. This hopefully will take the hot air out of many law students, puffed up with him or herself. Well done and accurate, even if predictable. The DEVIL is in the movie detail.

In "Night Falls on Manhattan", Garcia plays a rookie NYC District Attorney who finds himself struggling to cope with moral dilemmas and compromised principles in the "real world" of lawyering. Offering a solid cast with good performances, this Hollywood tinged film builds quickly and maintains momentum while digging into fundamental issues which bedevil characters from cops to judges in their personal and professional lives. Worth a look for anyone into dramas, especially those dealing with questions of ethics. (B)