On Monday afternoon Marcia and I continued our “Al Pacino Fest” by watching “Carlito’s Way”, starring Sean Penn and Penelope Ann Miller as well.
Here is a quick rundown on the plot, thanks to IMDB and Keith Loh:
A Puerto Rican ex-con pledges to stay away from his former drug dealing ways but finds himself being dragged back by his past connections and the naive machinations of his lawyer and best friend (Penn). Hoping to raise enough money to get away from New York, Carlito Brigante takes on the job of running a nightclub, renews an affair with a dancer (Miller) but old associates and old instincts suck him back into a world of violence and mistrust.
This turned out to be a much better movie then I expected. And that’s saying something, because I knew it was supposed to be good. I had caught bits and pieces of it over the years on cable, but never saw it all the way through. Glad we did.
Pacino did this right after “Scent of a Woman”, and it’s nice to see that he went into a very different character, at least for him. Carlito is much, MUCH tamer then Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade. He’s much more subtle. He’s calm and cool. The only issue is that he doesn’t look or truly sound like he’s Puerto Rican. Though he got a bit of the accent down. You can hear him trying, and when he kept his voice down, you could hear it better. Still, I thought it was a very good performance by Pacino.
Sean Penn also should be highly complimented for his role in this movie. Like it’s pointed out on the Amazon.Com description of the movie, he is virtually unrecognizable. It’s hard to believe it’s Sean Penn, though the 1975 fro helps his cause. I have read since then, and not sure how true it is, but apparently Penn took this role only for the money, so it would help fund an independent film he was making. Glad to see that he didn’t “phone it in” here.
Now, as for Miller being Pacino’s love interest, well…
She is 24 years younger then him. Also, her part is basically one of a stripper, trying to pay the bills since the true professional dancer/ballet career isn’t taking off. It’s hard to buy. Miller usually plays strong women. And she impresses that again here. Sure, she has the looks. But the part seemed better to be played by someone else.
As for the movie as a whole, again, I thought it was great. I really enjoyed the story. It wasn’t so complex that it made it hard to figure out why some were stabbing backs of others. And given the nature of Carlito, you find yourself cheering for him, and sympathizing with his situation.
Again, glad we watched it. It’s one to remember.
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