Notorious Puerto Rican heroin
dealer Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is released from jail on
a technicality thanks to the manipulations of his sleazy
lawyer buddy (Sean Penn). All he wants is to keep his nose
clean and earn enough money to start a business in the
Bahamas--and maybe rekindle romance with his old flame,
played by Penelope Ann Miller. Instead he finds himself back
in trouble as a result of old-world codes of honor and
misguided loyalties. It all takes place in 1975 Manhattan,
in and around a nightclub Carlito manages, so there's plenty
of classic disco music pulsing on the soundtrack. John
Leguizamo plays one of the younger generation of hoodlums
out to prove something. Viggo Mortensen and Luis Guzmán
star as a couple of Carlito’s buddies from the old days.
Brian De Palma, who directed Pacino a decade earlier in
SCARFACE, makes this seem almost like that film’s sequel.
As expected, there's plenty of elaborate tracking shots and
suspenseful set pieces, most memorably a pulse-pounding
chase through Grand Central Station. It’s adapted from two
novels by New York Supreme Court Judge Edwin Torres based on
his childhood in East Harlem.
Drug kingpin Carlito Brigante vows to go straight when he
is released from prison. As a host of vengeful former
cronies and young thugs out to prove themselves come after
him, somehow he must find a way to hold on to his newfound
integrity.
"...Pacino brings vast entertainment value to [the
film]....[Penn gives a] strange, jarringly intense
performance..."
"...A fierce Pacino performance...and a trio of big
action sequences as exciting as anything seen on
screen..."
"...Rich with irony and keen in its attention to
detail. Handsomely made, expertly directed and colorfully
acted....Brian De Palma is in top form with CARLITO'S
WAY..."
"...A smoother piece of filmmaking than SCARFACE....It's
fun to see Sean Penn ham it up again....His energetic
performance keeps you watching..."
"...Brian De Palma in his best films is a muscular
director who relishes over-the-top behavior, and here he
paints a gallery of colorful gangsters and lowlifes..."
"...Pacino is the sexiest he's ever been as the
Puerto Rican crook, but it's Penn who really steals the
show..."
"Penn's spectacularly flashy supporting role marked
his best work in a decade."
