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| Images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Back in 1983, Al Pacino and Brian De Palma set out to remake
one of the quintessential gangster epics of the 1930s transposed to modern day Miami,
Florida’s then-1980s cocaine capital with Scarface. A film that dove deep into the unhappy unrewarding
excesses of one Cuban gangster in a tale of distinctly American overindulgence,
the polarizing modern classic continues to divide and enthrall viewers from the
world over and arguably represents writer-director Brian De Palma at his
crassest. Infamous for Al Pacino’s
operatically over the top performance that turns scenery chewing into a fine
art, its extreme violence, its intensely crude language, Giorgio Moroder’s
seedy synth score and Ferdinando Scarfiotti’s opulent production design, it’s a
film people will never completely see eye to eye on and some wondered whether
or not it added to the problem instead of calling for a solution.
In any event, what if Al Pacino’s demonic Cuban gangster
Tony Montana, after years of hard prison time instead of his grand guignol
outro, decided he was sick of a life of crime and wanted to somehow or another
go straight? Such is the question posed
by Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Judge Edwin Torres’ two novels Carlito’s
Way and After Hours (not to be confused with the Martin Scorsese
film), comprised into the film Carlito’s Way. Mostly working from the sequel novel After
Hours, the film made exactly ten years after Scarface once again posited
Pacino as a Nuyorican (slang for Spanish New Yorker) gangster named Carlito Brigante
who vows after his thirty-year prison sentence to clean up his act. Aided by scummy attorney Dave Kleinfield (a
bald-crane permed out Sean Penn) who lessens his sentence, Carlito is free but
almost immediately is besieged by crime job offers and numerous murder
attempts, forcibly dragging Carlito back into a tragic neo-noir infused Hell
that threatens his life and that of a strip club dancer named Gail (Penelope
Ann Miller).
Co-starring
John Leguizamo, Luis Guzmán, Ángel Salazar (Chi Chi from Scarface) and a
then-unknown Viggo Mortensen, Carlito’s Way from a script by David Koepp
(Jurassic Park; Stir of Echoes) shot by The Untouchables cinematographer
Stephen H. Burum and a more traditionally orchestral score by Patrick Doyle, Carlito’s
Way drops us back into a very familiar world glimpsed in De Palma’s Scarface
but in terms of tone and attitude the works couldn’t be more
different. Whereas Scarface was a
parable about distinctly American excesses and decadence, something which Carlito’s
Way touches on, primarily the ten-years-later reunion of De Palma and Pacino
rather represents a genre thriller wrapped up inside a film noir wearing some
of the skins of Scarface but with an altogether different purpose. Also where Scarface touched on crooked
criminal lawyers, the concept takes center stage in Carlito’s Way particularly
with Sean Penn’s outlandishly psychotic performance.
Though De Palma initially expressed trepidation about the
project and John Leguizamo later remarked he found Pacino’s casting as a Spanish
gangster to be odd, Carlito’s Way avoids the use of brownface that was omnipresent
among all the white actors playing Spanish characters and is less about
gangster excesses than it is about trying to escape the inescapable. For every corner Carlito is backed into that
he must fight and outwit his way out of, the situation and prospects for the
film’s beleaguered antihero don’t look good.
One key factor here differentiating the film from its obvious antecedent
is how De Palma stages many thrilling chase sequences reminiscent of the finale
to The Untouchables, finding a way to marry the netherworld of Scarface
into that of an exciting and nerve wracking hide and go seek kind of
thriller.
Initially a weak box office performer that eventually found
a strong following on video sales in a post-Scarface gangster film landscape
as well as dedicated De Palma fans, Carlito’s Way went on to spawn a straight
to video prequel in 2005 (sans Pacino) called Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power. While paling somewhat in comparison to what
came before despite being completely unrelated stories, this quasi-spiritual “sequel”
of sorts and companion piece to Scarface sets out to atone for the sins
committed by that film while reinforcing the notion that crime not only doesn’t
necessarily pay, there’s no way out once you’re in it. While Universal Pictures did put out their
own 4K UHD of the film on disc, the folks at Arrow Video have decided to one-up
that release with a deluxe limited 4K set featuring four new audio
commentaries, a new interview with Judge Edwin Torres and archival interviews
with Brian De Palma as well as making of extras.
While Carlito’s Way will not redeem Scarface
in the eyes of some, as a crime drama with notes of tragedy and neo-noir it
represents a solid secondary collaboration between director De Palma and actor
Pacino. Most notable for Sean Penn’s
completely unhinged criminal defense attorney, the film’s brushes with carnal
drug laden decadences, Pacino’s 180 reversal spin on the Spanish gangster and a
chase sequence that harkens back to De Palma’s Dressed to Kill days, Carlito’s
Way while in my opinion not nearly as strong as the still radioactive 1983
film does offer the caricature created by Pacino something of a possible
redemption arc. Yes at times the
actor-director team retreads tried and true ground, but overall its a good new
riff on the neo-noir as a glitzy yet dark and thrilling gangster epic.
--Andrew Kotwicki
