Carlito's Way

Of the much-heralded crop of ‘70s directors – Scorsese, Spielberg, and Coppola among them – to emerge from the ruins of the studio system, Brian De Palma seems the least significant by critical comparison.  Perhaps because he was labeled more of an “imitator” than an “innovator”; lifting the themes, characters, music and wholesale camera movements of Alfred Hitchcock to elevate his career.  But even the harshest critic would begrudgingly admit  that De Palma’s films are technically wondrous to behold.  It’s just that the material on the page couldn’t compete with what he was doing with the camera.  1993’s Carlito’s Way, which reunited the director with Al Pacino after their successful Scarface collaboration, finally achieves that perfect balance.

Released from prison and vowing to go straight, Carlito (Pacino) reconnects with an old flame, Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), and attempts to rewrite the second half of his life.  But the streets just won’t let him forget his reputation.  After performing a favor for his coked-up lawyer (Sean Penn), Carlito winds up right back in the crosshairs of the cops and angry mobsters.

 

Although it’s set in New York during the height of the disco era, there’s a bit of the Old West in Carlito’s story, reminiscent of a gunslinger desperate to hang up his irons. De Palma begins the film at the end, so the audience already knows it’s headed for a tragedy.  And Pacino’s internal dialogue keeps track of every snub, every mistake, every bad choice that leads to his demise.  It’s a brilliant adaptation by David Koepp of Edwin Torres’ original novel, populated by perfectly realized characters.

 

But it’s De Palma’s elaborate staging that puts it over the top.  His staircase sequence from The Untouchables is rightly heralded as a masterpiece of mis en scène.  But the finale of Carlito’s Way, as a dozen characters scramble through the maze of Grand Central Station playing hide-and-seek between escalators and train tunnels, is an even more impressive accomplishment.  His technical skills finally found an emotional outlet worthy of his talent. 

 

In the 2015 documentary De Palma, the director himself lamented the film’s failure to connect with audiences: “I couldn’t do any better.”  He was right…the audience was wrong.  But popular opinion has finally caught up to this filmmaker whose love of cinema shows gleefully in every frame.  Get on board.  The train’s leaving the station.

 

Arrow Video has packaged up Carlito’s Way in a 4K UHD + Blu-ray 2-disc limited edition that takes advantage of HDR processing while boosting the old extras.  There are two new audio commentary tracks, interviews with Torres, editors Bill Panko and Kristina Boden, an appreciation by David Edelstein along with all the archival stuff from the previous release.  For us superfans, there’s also new artwork, lobby cards, a collector’s booklet and fold-out poster.