Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3423 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 145 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Al Pacino cuts a noble figure in this very enjoyable drama by director Brian De Palma (Scarface), based on a pair of books by Edwin Torres. Pacino plays a Puerto Rican ex-con trying hard to go straight, but his loyalty to his lowlife attorney (a virtually unrecognizable Sean Penn) and enemies on the street make that choice difficult. Penelope Ann Miller plays, somewhat unlikely, a stripper who has a romance with Pacino's character. The film finds De Palma tempering his more outlandish moves (think of Body Double or Snake Eyes) just as he did with the popular Untouchables and Mission: Impossible. But while Carlito's Way was not commercially successful and never rises to the level of greatness, it is a genuinely compelling movie graced with a fine performance by Pacino and a surprising one from Penn. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.com
Al Pacino cuts a noble figure in this very enjoyable drama by director Brian De Palma (Scarface), based on a pair of books by Edwin Torres. Pacino plays a Puerto Rican ex-con trying hard to go straight, but his loyalty to his lowlife attorney (a virtually unrecognizable Sean Penn) and enemies on the street make that choice difficult. Penelope Ann Miller plays, somewhat unlikely, a stripper who has a romance with Pacino's character. The film finds De Palma tempering his more outlandish moves (think of Body Double or Snake Eyes) just as he did with the popular Untouchables and Mission: Impossible. But while Carlito's Way was not commercially successful and never rises to the level of greatness, it is a genuinely compelling movie graced with a fine performance by Pacino and a surprising one from Penn. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
The story that Brian De Palma tells in his new gangster movie is the simple and familiar one about a crook who wants to go straight but can't. The hero, Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino), is a romantic, honorable hoodlum, who seems to have stepped right out of a Warners crime drama from the thirties: he's a man's man in a world of weasels. The picture is fascinating to watch, because the director's technique is far too sophisticated for the schematic, entirely predictable script (by David Koepp, from two novels by Edwin Torres). The great passages here-a tense shoot-out in an East Harlem social club and a long, daring, and beautifully sustained chase sequence at the end-are like dreams of another, better movie. They're heartening evidence that De Palma, a chronic offender against filmmaking convention, couldn't go completely straight if he tried. Also with Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo, and Luis Guzman. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A brilliant gangster movie.
Fun, fast paced, kinda gory.
A really fun ride, and I don't think showing the ending at the start of the movie ruins it at all. If anything it just makes the whole thing more tragic.
Brilliant direction, superb acting, a riveting script.
Nothing bad to say about this movie.
Not for kids, parents use your discretion.
Highly recommended.

DePalma & Pacino go Cubano again!!
I've already ordered this minor classic from an outfit in Canada which is closing out their HD DVD selections and reducing their prices as low as $5.99!! Compared to the duo's "Scarface", this little film noir gem hits practically all the right notes- Pacino's authenic Cuban accent, the great supporting cast including a disguised Sean Penn as a corruptible lawyer to a very young John Leguziamo as a young and up coming hood and Viggo Mortenson as a wheel-chaired bound turncoat. The plot may be old hat---a mobster just released from prison tries to go straight but is prevented from having that life from unseen forces around him--but the execution is grade A!! For once Pacino plays a sympathetic character and the story is poignant and heartbreaking when he is unable to break free from the criminal life in order to marry his girlfriend (Penelope Anne Miller). I've heard that this film is excellent in HD DVD and for now it is only available in that Hi-def format but when it'll be released in Blu-ray--who knows? But at the bargain price of $7.99 versus the higher price that will be going in Blu-ray, why wait. Grab this one before it goes out of print in HD and you won't regret it!!

Another classic
Timeless cult movie brilliantly restored and preserved in highest quality possible today - 5.1 audio and Full HD video. What more can You want?