Night and the City (1992)

The Worst Film Ever

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a fullblown Robert de Niro flick, who as a character is running on empty: no money from the ATM, no money from work. What to do? He creates a pipedream and is gonna organize a boxingmatch with no knowledge of it and with no money to back it. That spells trouble. Night and the City has it's other star in the name of Jessica Lange. Both Lange and de Niro make "Night and the City" a joy to watch. It is a light drama although the feelgood factor is at such a high that you could also call it a feelgood drama.You just gotta love the character de Niro plays, he fails at everything but gets away with it and has another even bigger project destined to fail lined up right after the earlier misfortunes. He is truly the great pretender, but feelin' good at it!If you like de Niro's work you should definitely see this lighter drama, because he dances a tightrope between a comedy and a drama and does so very convincing. The dialogues are funky and full of wit. The story is simple but connivingly great and has a great dynamic. It has a nice throwaway feel to it, but however lighthearted it is, the story deals with heinous deceit. "Night and the City" has become so dear to me over the years, because the characters are so sympathetic: while failing at everything they still hold on to their dreams and on to eachother's love. De Niro and Lange are just to die for in this New York Tale of love and deceit.

Everything has a reason: my dad has this poor - cheap quality package DVD while this movie has 2 Hollywood icons. So from now you know that is the proof of a really bad movie! Indeed if the producers are ready to sell it at so low cost, it's because a few bucks means they can gain a few bucks: as french Guignols tell us about the World Company, the poor have not nothing but have little and so the cupid firms are interested in taking this little! Here the movie is totally absurd: I didn't catch why Bob as a disastrous lawyer wants suddenly to become a disastrous promoter of boxing games! His reference is an old boxer (well played) who happens to be a brother of a sort of Don… There is a sort of revenge between Bob and this Don but I can't fathom why! There is another Don who lends money played atrociously by poor Wallach! Jessica Lange has a totally transparent and inept part! Her vengeful boyfriend and bartender is as stupid as all others! The movie is so bad that I even felt asleep watching it! So I was happy to be back at Manhattan since maybe The Drop but I quickly become very disappointed!

Irwin Winkler's "Night And The City" is a light-hearted story about a shyster lawyer who gets into trouble when he decides to become a boxing promoter. Early on in this movie, Murphy's Law is mentioned and sure enough, when this guy tries to achieve his ambitions, it seems that anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The plot is based on the Jules Dassin 1950 classic of the same name and features plenty of humour, sharp dialogue and interesting characters.Harry Fabian (Robert DeNiro) is an unscrupulous and fast-talking scam artist. He's strictly small time but is ambitious to become "somebody" and the way that he intends to do this is by promoting a programme of boxing matches featuring young fighters from his own locality in New York. His main problems, however, are that he doesn't have sufficient funds of his own and also that established boxing promoter and gangster Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman (Alan King) doesn't appreciate someone else competing against him and threatening his profits.Harry regularly frequents a bar run by Phil Nasseros (Cliff Gorman) and is having an affair with Phil's wife Helen (Jessica Lange). She wants to get out of her marriage and plans to set up a bar and restaurant of her own. Harry promises to get her the liquor licence that she needs to do this.In order to head off any potential problems, Harry recruits Boom Boom's older brother Al (Jack Warden) who's an ex-prize-fighter who detests his brother. Boom Boom warns Harry of dire consequences if anything untoward should happen to Al. Harry arranges to finance his new enterprise by borrowing money from Phil and a notoriously ruthless loan shark called Peck (Eli Wallach) and predictably, trouble follows when nothing goes according to plan.Robert DeNiro delivers a high energy performance as the hyperactive hustler with a penchant for quick-fire monologues that simultaneously entertain and disgust whoever's listening. His recklessness, appalling lack of good judgement and capacity for betrayal make him a self-destructive character whose actions inevitably get him into hot water.Cliff Gorman, Eli Wallach, Alan King and Jack Warden are excellent in their supporting roles as they're all convincing and add considerable substance and colour to the whole movie. Jessica Lange is also good in a part that doesn't require her to display the full range of her talents.Judged purely on its own merits, "Night And Tha City" (1992) is a thoroughly enjoyable and fast-paced piece of entertainment. However, for those who've previously seen the 1950 version, it will inevitably be seen as a rather anaemic remake of a classic movie that had incredible intensity, power and poignancy

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!)