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.
Since “pain” is French for bread, I’m sure they meant that this this story is a staple of story-telling, basic and life-giving.
OK, maybe they thought these movies would earn them a lot of dough.
Or maybe their French Toast had just arrived.
I saw this movie when it came out at the Waverly Cinema on Sixth Avenue on NYC. Near the end of the movie, Pacino’s character runs into the Waverly Cinema. When the theatre that we were all sitting in suddenly appeared on the screen, the place went nuts. A great moviegoing moment.
haha! That’s awesome!
LOVE this movie, particularly that chase scene at the end. It’s absolutely CLASSIC.
Interesting about the “pain” quote. Now you’ve got me curious too. 🙂
P.S. Stumbled upon your journal quite randomly and got caught up enough to comment.