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Carlito's Way (1993)

tomatometer

50

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

88

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 114,099

My Rating

Movie Info

Carlito's Way is a tale of a former hood trying to escape his former life. Al Pacino is Carlito Brigante, a high-level Puerto Rican drug dealer sprung from a three-decade jail sentence after only five years, thanks to a technicality and his sleazy, cocaine-addled lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). Carlito renounces his previous ways and takes a job as the manager of a club that Kleinfeld has invested in, planning to save enough money so that he can eventually move to the Caribbean. But no

R,

Drama

David Koepp

May 26, 1998

MCA Universal Home Video

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Cast

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All Critics (42) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (9) | DVD (26)

Pacino looks every inch a movie star, and De Palma provides a timely reminder of just how impoverished the Hollywood lexicon has become since the glory days of the '70s.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Carlito's Way" is best watched as lively, colorful posturing and as a fine demonstration of this director's bravura visual style.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
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"Carlito's Way," like "Scarface," is first and last a character study, a portrait of a man who wants to be better than he is.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
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About halfway through, the overwhelming fact that the movie is a complete nothing becomes too much to ignore.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
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Pacino has his moments but for the most part he's surprisingly underwhelming. He's a great actor but even I can do a better Puerto Rican accent.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comments (2)
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A competent and solidly unsurprising urban-underworld thriller: De Palma's imitation of a middle-drawer Sidney Lumet movie.

January 1, 1993 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Perhaps the last great DePalma film, using his trademarks well but not overusing them.

July 30, 2012 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures
7M Pictures

A lengthy cat-and-mouse chase scene at the film's climax practically surpasses Hitchcock and even gives Scorsese's GoodFellas a run for its money.

September 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comments (7)
Combustible Celluloid

As with so many De Palma films, Carlito's Way soon manifests as an essay on its own forms.

September 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

A great story told by a master filmmaker; sterling actors playing some truly fascinating characters; and a bunch of cinematic set-pieces that are worthy of repeat viewings.

October 5, 2005 Full Review Source: DVD Clinic
DVD Clinic

Stronger in its suspense and action elements than in its dramatic moments.

September 21, 2005
Fantastica Daily

The film is a redundancy and only those who have played Brian De Palma's other movies so much they've memorized the dialogue are going to be interested. Al Pacino portrays a reformed gangster trying to break away from his earlier lifestyle. Needless to sa

October 14, 2004 | Comments (3)

De Palma and Pacino tread some very familiar ground . . . But while it all feels a bit recycled at times, it still works

May 8, 2004 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

Not one of Pacino's best.

December 19, 2003 | Comments (2)
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

Charts the efforts of a Puerto Rican drug-dealer just released from prison to put the life of crime behind him

July 19, 2003 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Spirituality and Practice

a tragic, boozy lament

May 26, 2003 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com
Filmcritic.com

Audience Reviews for Carlito's Way

A decade after they lit the place up with Scarface, Brian De Palma and Al Pacino reteam for another compelling crime drama involving the drug trade- a gripping film that shows the consequences of a life of crime from a much more real and gritty perspective point of view than Scarface. Not that Scarface is a bad movie, it's a great film, but this one is just more human.

Carlito "Charlie" Brigante has just been released from prison after serving 5 years of a 30 year sentence thanks to the work of his scheming and smarmy lawyer Dave Kleinfeld. Now that he's out, Carlito decides to go the straight and narrow, and cut ties with his old life. He's got big dreams ahead of him, and, noble as they may be, he finds it hard to completely let go of the past.

As I said above, it's a very human film, and it goes for the heart as much as it does for the throat. Yeah, the film has shades of familiarity (what film doesn't?) but it's very well played. De Palma tones down some of the manic camera work, and there's no split screen, but we do get some good long takes and tracking shots, and that typical feeling of being inside the event of the film that he's known for doing. It's a gorgeous picture, and you truly get immersed in Carlito's world.

It's set in the 70s (I believe, as the film doesn't make it too obvious, but it feels like that's what they're trying for), and the details, though subtle, are nice. This could have been more overt, but they went for restraint, and that makes the picture a lot stronger I think.

It's also got some terrific performances. Pacino once again stuns as Carlito, and I dig the beard he brings with his accent. Sean Penn is tremendous as Kleinfeld, and he's the kind of coked-out worm you love to hate. Luis Guizman and John Leguizamo provide some decent supporting performances, and Penelope Ann Miller is fine as Carlito's old/rekindled flame Gale, but the real treat acting wise is the brief cameo from a young and barely recognizable Viggo Mortensen as an old wheelchair-bound associate of Carlito's. It's a truly remarkable appearance.

All in all, this is a wonderful film. It's long, but it doesn't fell like a chore. You get to know the characters and world, and you really try to root for them and hope that a more mature perspective on the world will yield better results. Definitely give this one a shot. Truly one of De Palma's finest.
July 30, 2006
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

Carlito: I don't invite this shit, it just comes to me. I run, it runs after me. Gotta be somewhere to hide. 

"He wanted out. He'd do anything to get there."

On one hand I love Carlito's Way for the performances from Pacino and Penn, for De Palma's signature touch of violence, and for how the story progresses on the back of its characters. Still, I can't help feeling like this isn't as good as it should be. It's good, but far from being an amazing film. With the talent in front of and behind the camera, I just always expect more. But still as it is, it is still a pretty fantastic piece of the Crime Drama genre. It doesn't reach the point of De Palma and Pacino's Scarface, but it is better than 90% of the other movies that try to do a story like this.

Carlito has just been released from prison where he was serving a thirty year sentence. Instead, he is released after just five because his lawyer, Kleinfeld was able to get him off on a technicality. Carlito expresses right from the out set that he wants to be done with the gangster scene. All he wants to do is make some money so that he can move down to the Bahama's with his girlfriend Gail. Things don't go that perfectly though as his friends are constantly bringing him back into the gangster scene. The film is very character driven, but as the plot progresses, it leads to an extremely suspenseful final twenty minutes. De Palma just knows how to shoot amazing scenes on stairs in train stations. The one here resembles the one in The Untouchables to a high degree. 

The movie is weakest when the narration is going on. The dialogue for it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the movie. It just feels very awkward and even silly. Whenever I hear the voice over come on, I just wish that it wasn't in the film, or at least cut down a little.

Carlito's Way does have some amazing scenes as you would expect from De Palma. I already mentioned the scene in the train station. But the best scene in the movie is the first time we see Carlito pulled down into crime. He goes on a drug pickup with his cousin. The pickup doesn't go very well and a lot of shooting ensues. It all is capped off by one of the coolest little speeches ever.

While this isn't a masterpiece, it is still a worthwhile film for sure. De Palma has made better movies than this, but it still shows a lot of what makes him great. It is hard to watch this and not compare it to Scarface, but you should probably try your hardest not to.

Carlito: I'm reloaded! Okay? Come on in here, you motherfuckers! Come on, I'm waitin' for ya! What, you ain't comin' in? Okay, I'm comin' out! Oh, you up against me now, motherfuckers! I'm gonna blow your fuckin' brains out! You think you're big time? You gonna fuckin' die big time! You ready? HERE COMES THE PAIN! 
April 2, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

    1. Carlito Brigante: That's Sasso... Used to be Ron.
    – Submitted by Madeleine M (7 months ago)
    1. Carlito Brigante: Okay, I reloaded!
    – Submitted by Jeremy L (8 months ago)
    1. David Kleinfeld: Loyalty to your friends is going to get you killed one day.
    – Submitted by Lars P (19 months ago)
    1. David Kleinfeld: Fuck you and your self-righteous code of the goddamn streets. Did it pull you out of a 30 year stint in only 5 years? No, it didn't, I did. Did it get you acquitted 4 fucking times? No, it didn't, I did, so fuck you, fuck the streets, your whole goddamn world is this big, and there's only one rule, you save your own ass.
    – Submitted by Gavin S (21 months ago)
    1. Gail: [crying] That's the last time I wipe up your blood!
    – Submitted by Andrew B (22 months ago)
    1. Carlito Brigante: You think you're big time? You gonna fuckin' die big time.
    – Submitted by Mohammad A (23 months ago)

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