La notte e la città

Night and the City (1992)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Remake of the 1950 Richard Widmark noir has Robert DeNiro playing Harry Fabian, a real loser who works as an attorney chasing ambulances and various other lowlifes. He finally grows tired of being one of the small guys so he tries raising enough money to start a boxing match but soon he's butting heads with mobsters. If you're looking for a direct remake then you can pretty much forget about it as this Richard Price scripted film is more comedy than anything else. Well, I can't say it's a comedy because I'm not quite certain what it is. Apparently Martin Scorsese was going to direct this but ended up backing out only six years later the picture got started up again by Winkler, who by this time decided to direct the thing himself. Big problem. Winkler's direction is all over the place and it really hurts the film as there's never any real indication that the man behind the camera knows what he's trying to do. Sometimes the overall mood is comical but at other times it turns rather dark (only to be watered down). I'm really not sure what they were going for but you certainly shouldn't expect any of the darkness of the original movie. This baby is pretty much it's own thing and even though the direction is bad there's still enough going on here to make it worth viewing. It seems DeNiro is either love or hate here but I found his performance to be rather refreshing and I found him to be very entertaining in the role. Again, he isn't as dark or as menacing of Widmark as he plays the character more happy-go-lucky and there's constantly a smile on his face as he goes from one bad situation to the next. I found these happy approach to be rather fun to see as we don't often get to see DeNiro in this type of role. It's not a complete masterpiece but if you're a fan I think you'll enjoy seeing it. Jessica Lange plays his love interest and manages to turn in a fine performance even though the screenplay doesn't offer her too much. I thought her and DeNiro, their third film together, did a nice job and I wish their scenes had been written a little better. We do get a nice supporting cast including Jack Warden as a former boxer with a bad heart who is constantly cussing or wanting to fight. He adds a lot of charm to the film each time he's in a scene. Eli Wallach has a brief role and it's always nice to see him. Cliff Gorman nearly steals the film as Lange's husband who doesn't know everything that's going on. We even get a cameo by Regis Philbin who plays himself in a scene that will remind many of the one in THE KING OF COMEDY when DeNiro busts in on Jerry Lewis. Needless to say, it's the performances that make this film worth viewing and we also get a pretty good music score as well as some nice covers of some classic tunes. If a remake should try and be completely different from the original then this movie does just that. This isn't a classic like the original film but there are enough interesting things to make it worth viewing but I'm sure most will agree when it's over that the thing should have been much, much better.

There is some good acting in Night and the City, but the movie overall is unremarkable.

I picked this movie up at the video store last week, only because Robert De Niro is in it. I have to admit, even though I see a lot of movies, I don't think I had heard of this movie until I picked it up that evening, even though I had probably skimmed across the cover on the box while browsing at the video store.

I found this movie pretty hard to watch, mainly because De Niro's character Harry Fabian is not very likeable and I tried very hard to like or respect this character, but I only felt sorry for the guy and I found this depressing. However, De Niro and some of the supporting actors are quite good from an acting perspective in some scenes.

I gave this movie a 6 out of 10. I'd only recommend this movie to De Niro fans.

An ambulance chasing lawyer decides to become a boxing promoter in NYC. However he comes into conflict with money lenders and the local mob. He finds that his talk and promises are meaningless unless he can back them up and he digs himself into deeper trouble with every word.

This is a very low key NY drama in De Niro's career - more typical of the bottom feeders he played in the 70's than the powerful mob figures he has played more recently. This has a depressing feel of inevitability about it - you can see the problems in Fabian's plans long before they happen, giving the film a feel of small time from the very start. This isn't a story about small time making it big, rather a story of a hustler who talks himself into a corner. The story is therefore quite compelling, despite it being very low key, the only weakness being the romance subplot and the fact that it is quite depressing.

De Niro is good as Fabian, his best scenes are when he's talking, trying to create something that isn't. However his character isn't totally believable and when it all comes falling down it isn't that well done. Jessica Lange is good but doesn't have that much to do and again her character isn't convincing when the bad times come. Support is good from the likes of Eli Wallach, Jack Warner, Alan King and others.

Overall this is a good film with an overall air of realism. Not one of De Niro's best and indeed it has it's weaknesses but it's quite good.

NIGHT AND THE CITY (1992) *** Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Alan King, Cliff Gorman, Jack Warden, Barry Primus. Slice-of-low-life portrait remake of 1940 Richard Widmark flick casts De Niro as ambulance chasing attorney Harry Fabian trying to score big-time as a boxing promoter with the help of his lady love (Lange in an uncharacteristically unglamourous role) and the ex-fighter brother (Warden) of his chief nemesis (King in a humdinger of chilly malevolence as the corrupt boxing mogul). Feisty and surprisingly funny script courtesy of Richard Price (in a bit role as a doctor) has its moments of ugliness and sudden downshift into tragedy. De Niro, at times over-the-top, is the life-force to this otherwise entertaining melodrama.

This is a remake of Night and the City (1950) directed by Jules Dissan, who was blacklisted by Hollywood because of actions by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and for that reason is dedicated to Dissan who had to continue his career in Europe. The original film starred Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Francis L. Sullivan and Herbert Lom. I haven't seen that film, but I understand that it is very good.

This film from 1992 is not bad; however for some reason its reputation isn't much. The voters at IMDb give it a rather tepid 5.7 stars out of 10 while giving the original 8 out of 10. I'm not sure why, but I think it has to do with: (1) Robert De Niro playing a non-heroic character. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with his acting. He is outstanding as Harry Fabian, flimflam low life lawyer and cheap BS artist who tries desperately to make a big splash as a fight promoter. I think most De Niro fans would prefer to see him in a more two-fisted role. At any rate, those who didn't like the movie almost certainly didn't care for De Niro's performance since his character dominates the action.

(2) The ending, which some might see as unfinished and others as disagreeable since, regardless of what transpires, Fabian is still a loser, perhaps bigger than ever.

(3) Some rather cheesy plot play. Near the end Fabian and Helen (Jessica Lange looking as fetching as ever) hide in a dead end alley among dumpsters and trash cans. Well, they should have continued running since the guys after them were only walking. Also when Fabian and Helen run out the side door of the restaurant they go the wrong way so that the heavies can see them running across the street. Had they turned left instead of right (as anybody in their situation would have done) they would not even have been seen. Furthermore, Fabian in a flamboyant gesture throws $12,000 into the air that flutters to the ground in the dead end alley. Nobody bothers to pick it up. That could happen.

What cannot be faulted is the authentic New York atmosphere created by director Irvin Winkler, who is better know as a producer, most notably of the Sylvester Stallone "Rocky" films, and the fine work by the rest of the cast, especially Alan King (Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman), Eli Wallach (Peck), Cliff Gorman (Phil Nasseros), and Jack Warden (Al Grossman). The story itself, from a novel by Gerald Kersh (script by Richard Price), is a variation on the "lovable, colorful loser makes good" theme, only in this case, like an inept noir anti-hero, he falls on his face--more than once, by the way.

No real De Niro fan should miss this. Personally I thought it was one of his best performances. The rapid fire dialogue, the fawning, pathetic, yet somehow uplifting personality were not something most actors could pull off, at least not nearly as well. De Niro became the character he portrayed.

Bottom line: definitely worth seeing. You will not be bored.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)