Carlito’s Way
“Here comes the pain,” says somebody to somebody toward the beginning. The line would turn up again later as a key moment in Snake Eyes. Wonder what it means to De Palma, or David Koepp (who wrote both scripts) or if it’s just another unconscious quote.
Pacino as restrained and understated here as he is enormous and overblown in Scarface. Overall I think I prefer Scarface, and who would not. But the two movies aren’t very similar, director, star and genre notwithstanding. Maybe if Tony Montana had somehow survived the shootout at the end of Scarface and had a crooked lawyer, he might end up like Carlito, older and wiser and the type to run around ducking assassins instead of blowing people away with a grenade launcher.
Sean Penn, John Leguizamo and Paul Mazursky cover themselves in glory.
The final subway train-chase, cat-and-mouse in Grand Central and escalator shootout the big De Palma setpiece we’ve been waiting for.
