Although Carlito's Way in a sense represents the falling motion to Scarface's rising action, it lacks the nervous, overstuffed agitation of Scarface, replacing it with a kind of wistful, elegaic burnout, a paean to uninvolement, to not-doing, or doing other-than. Carlito's Way is more of a piece with The Untouchables, both sweeping historical epics which have the time and space to collect themselves, develop characters, build whole worlds in which to enact tensely clever set-pieces, some of the best of De Palma's career. Carlito's Way and The Untouchables also share a grand, constructed artificiality. They know they are movies, hearkening back to an older-school vibe, when movies had to span the whole of what cinema could do, to offer suspense…

96

"Adiós, counselor."

Brian De Palma sets the stage and Al Pacino just walks off, disco blaring. The two are usually only as electrifying as their material, and here, with a sharp, swooning machismo weepie, they both shine as bright as can be. De Palma's set-pieces, whether operatic (the final nightclub/train station chase) or intimate (the playful seduction between Carlito and Gail behind the apartment door) are perfect, and Pacino is given plenty of space to create. A key moment for both artists involves Carlito waiting in the bathroom and taunting the assailants outside after a drug-deal gone bad. De Palma watches from above with a high-angle as Carlito gets up the courage to leave the room, but even before…

A decade after Scarface, Brian De Palma and Al Pacino teamed up for another narrative-driven crime epic. Despite that I find Scarface to be a more satisfying experience, I can safely say that after watching both, Carlito's Way is probably better as an actual "movie". It's a crime-drama that I've always felt never got the credit it deserved, one that I'd even rank up there with Scorsese's best.

Set against the gritty backdrops of 1970s New York, Pacino plays Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican former drug-pusher who has just been released back onto the mean streets after doing time. He plans to leave all that shit behind him, but it unfortunately isn't as easy as that as many former associates…

Film #31 of Project 90

”Favor gonna kill you faster than a bullet.”

An excellent crime/gangster/noir movie from Brian De Palma who teams up with Al Pacino to create a classic hero who will remind you of the lonely and desperate men of film noirs who are trying to find redemption and happiness in a treacherous world of lies and betrayals where you can buy salvation only with blood. Carlito’s Way is without a doubt one of De Palma’s best films, here he narrates an engaging story of love, regret and misfortune without getting carried away or sentimental which makes the overall story more engaging and it becomes easy for us to have sympathy for the central character.

Al Pacino’s…

So Carlito was stupid and that was just his way, that’s why this movie is called Carlito’s Way. The story was alright, but the whole getting out of prison and “trying” to be clean thing wasn’t new or anything. Al Pacino and Sean Penn were a major no for me, I just don’t like either of them. Sean is a horrible person, but Al I just don’t like his acting here. If Carlito just listened to Gail then everything would be fine, but no men gotta be stupid as hell. Gotta love Brian De Palma’s directing, but not even he could make this movie work well because of the tired story and the very unlikeable lead actors and their for…