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Carlito's Way Details

1993 Certificate 18
  • Rated:
  • 80
  • from 20,205 members

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 .. Read more

Starring Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Viggo Mortensen
Director Brian De Palma
Genres Action/Adventure, Drama

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Carlito's Way

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 honour 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 Guzman 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.

Starring Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Viggo Mortensen, Adrian Pasdar, James Rebhorn, Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Joseph Siravo, Jorge Porcel, Richard Foronjy, Ingrid Rogers, Frank Minucci, Jorge Porce
Director Brian De Palma
Studio UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 18 mins
HD DVD: 2 hrs 18 mins
Certificate Certificate 18
Genres Action/Adventure, Drama
Language DVD: English
HD DVD: English
Dubbed French, Spanish
Subtitles DVD: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish
Released DVD: 24 Jul 2000
HD DVD: 10 Dec 2007
Production year: 1993
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (6) of Carlito's Way

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Ten years after Scarface, Al Pacino and director Brian De Palma reunited for another crime-doesn't-pay drama. Pacino plays Puerto Rican hoodlum Carlito Brigante, who's sprung from jail by his lawyer Sean Penn and is determined to go straight. But Penn, who fancies himself as a gangster, scoffs at the idea, and when Pacino meets up with his old acquaintances, he's soon back in trouble. Combined with regular scriptwriter David Koepp's smart and funny script, De Palma's visual flair comes into its own in the seedy clubs and backstreet dives of New York. The set pieces — a pool-room fight, a 15-minute subway chase and shenanigans on a train-station escalator — are among the most thrilling De Palma has ever filmed, while Pacino's restrained performance as the leather-clad, gently lisping Carlito allows plenty of scope for the supporting cast to chew the scenery.

    • Radio Times
  • "...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..."

    • Variety
  • Most helpful member's review of Carlito's Way

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  • 20 out of 32 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Liked Scarface you should enjoy this!

    Brian De palma and Al Pacino combine in a great production that is perhaps a more rounded, complete work than the much earlier and more reknowned Scarface.

  • Most recent members' review of Carlito's Way

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  • 9 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Simply the best

    Brian de Palma's awesome gangster flick is, in my opinion, one of the greatest films ever made. Slick, stylish and full of raw emotion.

    Al Pacino excels as a drug dealer trying to go straight. Fab. If you haven't seen this film, shame on you.

      • Jorja from Herts
  • News and features

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    The Black Dahlia

    Brian De Palma to make Iraq documentary

    • 08 Jan 2007

    Brian De Palma is to use news footage, video blogs and court coverage to construct a documentary entitled Redacted. The film will tell the story of five US soldiers stationed in Iraq who were accused of various crimes against an Iraqi family, Production Weekly reports. Using a blend of real-life footage and documentary techniques, De Palma's project could share some aspects with his 1989 fictional film Casualties of War, which starred Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox as US soldiers serving in... Read more

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Rating breakdown

20,205 Member ratings
  • 100
2,969
  • 90
2,755
  • 80
5,477
  • 70
3,797
  • 60
2,748
  • 50
1,241
  • 40
568
  • 30
314
  • 20
237
  • 10
99

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    • Carlito's Way - HD DVD Version
      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 ...

    • Carlito's Way
      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 ...