Prove apparenti

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.

An interesting, complex and balanced film with good acting performances.

The film evokes complex life stories, characters who are not perfect, but still try to do something good.

Andy Garcia plays Sean Casey, a prosecutor who tries to put a dangerous criminal in jail who may be involved in a much bigger scandal.

The story is perfectly balanced, and the film itself does not choose the political side, but presents us with a complex world full of difficult choices.

Films like this are rare, precisely because they don't choose sides, and therefore are interesting and deal with universal things that interest everyone.

A film like this does not alienate the viewer, but draws him into an interesting world and tries to portray the struggle for the principles that make us who we are.

The cast is good, the actors made an effort to bring these interesting characters to life and show their emotions. The film is well directed and the cinematography is excellent.

An interesting film with complex characters and an excellent cast.

This film is definitely based on the Larry Davis incident that took place in the late 80's where corrupt cops tried to shake down a drug dealer who wanted out of their "system"(dealers who payed off cops to rob other dealers). When he got out due to the death of his infant daughter, they invaded his home, he fought back by killing and wounding some officers and escaped leading to a dangerous manhunt in NYC. When they finally caught him (an old family relative snicthced on him), false accusations were brought up by the police and the media to portray him as a ruthless thug who ran away after killing the cops when all he wanted to do was leave the organization involving crooked cops and drug dealers. He is still serving time in Rikers Island fighting for a new trial.

Check out the documentary called THE LARRY DAVIS STORY which won an award for Best Documentary in the Urbanworld Film Festival in 2003.

However, it serves well on film and Sidney Lumet is great act capturing the look and feel of NYC in the early 90's. It has a "Prince of the City" feel to it.

A newly elected district attorney (Andy Garcia) finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father (Ian Holm) and his partner.

This was a pretty good film. At first, I thought it was going to be about tracking down and then convicting the cop killer. But we find out that the killing, tracking and convicting are all accomplished relatively quickly, and only serve as a premise to open up the idea that certain police officers were working with the drug dealers.

This is very well scripted, very well acted. And knowing a little bit about police corruption, the story does not even seem far fetched. Though it does have its darkly comical moments, such as having the killer strip naked for reporters.

NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN (1997) *** Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Ian Holm, Lena Olin, James Gandolfini, Ron Leibman, Shiek Mahmud-Bey. Excellent, gritty and absorbing crime drama dealing with Garcia as an assistant DA who becomes an overnight sensation after tackling a disturbing case of a drug dealer killing three cops on a raid gone awry that leads to a sticky web of corruption, lies, deceit and ultimately personal integrity. Garcia and Holm as his cop father, give superb performances as does Leibman as his teeth gnashing mentor (a delightful to watch turn) and Gandolfini as Holm's partner with some skeletons in his closet. Based on Robert Daley's book `Tainted Evidence' and adapted by the film's director Sidney Lumet with colorful panache of a true helmsman. – Letterman stooge Leonard Tepper is an extra in the jury (!)