Carlito's Way

1993 Directed by Brian De Palma

He’s got a good future if he can live past next week.

A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him, and lead a better life outside NYC.

Al Pacino Sean Penn Penelope Ann Miller Luis Guzmán James Rebhorn Viggo Mortensen Richard Foronjy Joseph Siravo Adrian Pasdar Jorge Porcel Ingrid Rogers John Leguizamo Frank Minucci John Ortiz Ángel Salazar Al Israel Rick Aviles Jaime Sánchez Edmonte Salvato Paul Mazursky Tera Tabrizi Víctor Sierra Caesar Cordova Jon Seda Ruben Rivera Sherie Mambru Brenda Hernandez Elliot Santiago Frank Ferrara Show All…

Alternative Titles

Carlito, Atrapado por su pasado, Carlitova cesta, L'impasse, Путь Карлито, Carlito útja, Fanget af fortiden, Υπόθεση Καρλίτο, Karlito kelias, À la manière de Carlito, O Pagamento Final, Carlitov način, Carlitos Weg, Путь Карлитo

thriller crime

144 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 12

De Palma's a legend for only casting Sean Penn as the most unlikable scumbags
Review by nathaxnne ★★★★½ 12

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…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 16

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…
Review by katie ★★★★ 4

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

would do literally anything to have al pacino break down my door just to have sex with me
Review by matt lynch ★★★★

Once it was "The World is Yours", now it's "Escape to Paradise". Shit ain't what it used to be.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 5

michael mann's Scarface.
full discussion on episode 129 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.
Review by Nakul ★★★★½ 4

Carlito's Way deserves all of the fame Scarface gets, this Brian De Palma & Al Pacino reunion owns so goddamn hard. Masterful direction on display here by De Palma with some terrific set pieces and a powerhouse performance from Al Pacino.
The finale is an all-timer, featuring the greatest foot chase sequence in film history.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 3

"yeah, i had a dream. but now i'm awake... and i hate my dream."
"the dream don't come no closer by itself. we gotta run after it now."
"rough night. tired, baby... tired."
full discussion on episode 129 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 3

96/100
ESCAPE TO PARADISE
Review by Jizzmonkey ★★★★ 5

Style to behold, a nonchalant flirt with the camera, acting skills most humans cannot possess, a beautiful sheen, perfect protection against the elements, decent protection against Italian mobsters. And I'm of course talking about the star of this film, Carlito's leather coat.
Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★

When you can't see the angles anymore, you're in trouble, baby.
Review by Will Menaker ★★★★½ 4

Al Pacino plays a Puerto Rican guy. Brian De Palma loves making him do Latino-face.
My favorite Sean Penn performance ever. Dave Kleinfeld all-time scumbag.
Better train station shoot out climax than The Untouchables? Yes.
The scene at the end where the mob guys chase him on the subway and through grand central, and one of them is comically fat always kills me.

Recent reviews

Review by Carol ★★★★

Jorge Porcel en Hollywood? Holy shit it's that a motherfucking argentinian reference??
Review by v1ncent ★★★★★

I didn't rewatch this today but I remembered how much I love this movie . If you haven't seem this movie yet, please do
Review by isart ★★★★½

Me ha dejado tristísimo, creo que lo que la diferencia de Scarface y otras películas sobre el crimen y la mafia es la humanidad y empatía que confiere a su protagonista y lo bien construido que está a lo largo de toda la película.
Todo lo demás creo que ya lo han dicho mucho mejor otros, me he pasado los últimos 45 minutos de película con el corazón aceleradísimo porque solo quería que todo saliese bien a pesar de que De Palma me hubiese dicho desde el minuto uno que era imposible.
Review by samuel ★★★½

i genuinely can’t explain why i didn’t like this more. the last 30-40 minute stretch of this was great and i really liked the visuals (especially the consistent use of the colour red). however i just found myself getting a little bit bored at parts and the relationship dynamic felt like it was trying to be a homage to older films but it has no substance in itself. al pacino was fun even if this was the point in his career where he played the same character in everything. there’s also a line of dialogue in this that i realised was sampled in an early slipknot track which was pretty funny
Review by Jonathan96 ★★★★

On a un Brian De Palma au top de sa forme. Le gars enchaîne les plans astucieux, notamment au niveau des légers zooms sur les visages des personnages. Bref, la mise en scène est superbe.
Dommage que du côté scénario, je trouve que c'est un peu long et peu inspiré, par moments. Pas aussi passionnant qu'à pu l'être Scarface.
Mais très bon film, malgré tout. Avec, en plus, un protagoniste vraiment attachant.
Review by Matt Evans ★★★★½

Long before slow burn, this classic lit the fuse.
Classic movie with all the goods!!
Review by Andy Lunn ★★★★★ 2

Hey Carlito!!!
Daughter's choice for what has now become our regular Thursday night Dad and Daughter movie watch. She has now seen six De Palma movies and is pretty big fan (although I think she'll have to watch Dressed to Kill without me)
Review by whyland720 ★★★★½

"ADIOS, COUNSELOR."
Goddamn this owns so hard, right up there with BLOW OUT and BODY DOUBLE as one of De Palma's absolute best. Kinda De Palma's version of a Michael Mann film, with all that existentialism and romantic yearning for a brighter future in a hard man, but seasoned by De Palma's singular visual style and sumptuousness and his knack for Hitchcockian suspense. In other ways it feels like a sort of older, more restrained, wearier take on SCARFACE, with Carlito Brigante being the remorseful and aged other side of Tony Montana's coin. Pacino is really fantastic here, bringing all his requisite 90s Pacino-ness to the table, but at a slightly lower decibel than usual, really highlighting this exhausted longing…
Review by Martijn van der Honing ★★★★½

Zooooo goed, vanaf de title sequence tot de aftiteling. Carlito sowieso top 10 vetste characters ooit. Wat een soundtrack, zowel de score als de OST 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. Relatie met Gail erg organic. No Untouchables antics on this ride.
Review by Niels Chapuis ★★★ 6

Et c'est le moment où jme fait taper dessus.
J'accroche pas du tout au style de De Palma, definitivement. Alors oui c'est très inspiré de Hitchcock (trop peut être), donc c'est plutot bien foutu. Mais je sais pas je trouve l'ensemble artificiel, que ce soit dans les lumières ou la réalisation pure.
Meme le plan sequence du climax ne m'a rien fait, j'ai pas ressenti la tension que le film veut me transmettre.
Et comme d'habitude, je trouve que De Palma a la facheuse tendance à sortir les gros violons quand un peu plus de retenue serait benefique (cf la scène de fin).
Oui Pacino joue bien, rien de nouveau. Mais au niveau des seconds couteaux c'est festival du surjeu,…
Review by isaac_B22

God I love Brian De Palma. I mean the last few minutes of this amazing and intense picture was so electrifying. Al Pacino and Sean Penn of course delivered a great performance. Now time to watch this again.
Review by Clara ★★★½

The sexual tension created by a leather jacket wow