Carlito's Way (1993)

People are voting emotionally.

Am I Missing Something?

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

More than simply a gangster movie, a great drama. Good plot, superb acting by Al Pacino and Sean Penn. And Brian De Palma's direction was excellent, for once more than a B-grade version of Martin Scorsese. (Scarface was another exception).

Carlitos way is about inner city people trying to make it in a cruel a ruthless competition for money and power. Following both a street thug and a morally bankrupt star lawyer the movie portrays human beings from different social classes each trying their best to make against the backdrop of the coke and crime ridden urban environment of the 70's USA. Al Pacino gives Carlitos warmth. He stands out as a sympathetic guy trapped in a game of honor codes and eye-for-eye mentality, while Sean Penn shines as a the highly educated and cynical chess player, while also coming off as being ridiculous and pathetic. Sean Penns dance moves are hilarious. This movie is remembered for the tension between the sympathetic yet slightly grotesque portrayal of 70/80 coke parties and crime fests, like movies from Scorcese. Everyone seems locked in to their destiny and despite trying to skew it ends up on their chosen path. Just like the movies title alludes to.Like Scarface the movie features some of the best and most ridiculous cocaine party scenes, complete with old business men dancing and prancing with sweaty foreheads and near heart attack looking moves.

I never even knew this film existed until recently. This film is vastly underrated and is on par, if not better than Scarface. The two films blend so well together, but yet offer a unique viewing experience for each film. It was nice seeing familiar faces in Carlito's Way coming from Scarface. The standout of this film however, has to be Sean Penn. His acting was so brilliant that without him, the film would've suffered quite a bit. In fact, his acting was so well done that the Grand Theft Auto series made a character based off of him (Ken Rosenberg). Just go out and watch it if you enjoy movies like Scarface, you won't be disappointed.

There's no rising above your station in life or destiny when you've been trained since adolescence. Pacino goes from Cuban mobster in Florida to Puerto Rican drug lord in the barrio. Not much has changed in my neighborhood as far as locations are concerned with the Metro North running above Park Avenue. The only difference is the clean-up it has undergone with police presence. But once upon a time, there was little safety walking down the streets of East Harlem, and this documents those ugly violent times where gang members didn't break into sing and dance a la "West Side Story".Practically every well known tough looking Hispanic actor makes an appearance in this, including several comics who show off their dramatic chops. While John Leguizamo went onto great fame in comedy standup, Rick Aviles (in a bit role as a brutal thug who gets a violent demise) is best known for the murdered in "Ghost", yet had a promising career in comedy before his early death. Among the other Hispanic actors, Luis Guzman stands out as Pacino's best friend who stands by him until a shocking end. Individual moments with these characters make you want them to escape, just as other moments want to make you see them fry.So while the cast is uniformally great (including a much disguised Sean Penn as an equally messed up defense attorney), the lives their characters lead are not so respectable. Through Pacino's voice over's, you get to hear his inner voice longing for a way out, but like Moses being lead to the burning bush, it's his destiny. He loves a beautiful white dancer (Penelope Ann Miller), but escaping his life is out of the question thanks to his past always sneaking up behind him. There are enemies who openly hate him (Leguizamo), those he trusts who betray him (Penn and Guzman) and the woman who loves him (Miller) and openly fears seeing him dying slowly in the middle of the night. While the film runs a lengthy 2 1/2 hours, the horrors of the every day fears will keep you mesmerized. Throats are slit, heads are bashed in, and flying bullets strike their victims in the most shocking of places. Many of the characters are pretty much perverts or beyond reproach, although there's a subtle hint of the gentleman in the often philosophical Carlito, as far away from "Scarface's" Tony Montana that Pacino and director Brian DePalma could make him. But it's obvious that this is a life where there are no winners. Like Faye Dunaway reveals as Bonnie Parker sadly, the only way out is death.