Review of Carlito's Way (1993) by Nikhil P — 22 Mar 2010

"I'm Benny Blanco from THE BRONX!!!!!".

BENNY BLANCO OPENS-FIRE with a SAWED-OFF 1TWELVE-GAUGE SHOTGUN pumping CARLITO BRIGANTI'S chest full of lead;.

Noooooo; I DID NOT "GIVE-AWAY" "THE ENDING"!!!! (I just told you the opening scene). "BENNY BLANCO FROM THE BRONX" ( wonderfully played by John Leguizamo) is a "nobody-tough-guy" who tries to make his Name by BLOWING-AWAY "The Legendary CARLITO BRIGANTI (Al Pacino).

I was in THE BRONX today while heading-up to AALIYAH'S tomb in the Mausoleum in HARTSDALE, NY and was immediately reminded of "BENNY BLANCO FROM THE BRONX" in CARLITO'S WAY.

CARLITO'S WAY is actually based on the second novel about featuring CARLITO BRIGANTI entitled AFTER HOURS by HON. EDWIN TORRES;.

The edition I have has CARLITO'S WAY and AFTER HOURS back-to-back in one volume and whenever I read CARLITO'S WAY, I get "stuck" a quarter of the way through AFTER HOURS;.

CARLITO'S WAY is written in first person and is HILAROUSLY OVER THE TOP!!!!! CARLITO is soooo funny the way he talks about stuff going-on in the barrio.

AFTER HOURS, on the other hand, switches back and forth between CARLITO'S FIRST-PERSON NARRATION and an OMNISCIENT NARRATOR describing the "web" being drawn-around an unsuspecting CARLITO BRIGANTI by DAVID KLIENFELD and associates. THUS, the drama in AFTER HOURS is A LOT better being seen being played-out in BRIAN DEPALMA'S CARLITO'S WAY than my actually reading AFTER HOURS.

I'd give CARLITO'S WAY a 90% if it weren't a quasi-sequel to SCARFACE;.

(after completing SCARFACE, Al Pacino and Brian Depalma said they'd made a deal to get back together again in ten years to do another gangster picture.).

CARLITO'S WAY would be a 90% because there's something totally CONTRIVED during the moment where KLIENFIELD (spoiler deleted).

To me, it seemed plausible-enough indeed and indicative of KLIENFIELD'S frame of mind when KLIENFIELD actually (spoiler deleted).

I suppose if KLIENFIELD (spoiler deleted), CARLITO'S WAY would earn its A+ on its own merit (without the precursory existence of SCARFACE). Its just "TOO CONVENIENT" having KLIENFIELD (spoiler deleted).

Prior to the film's opening, CARLITO was a big-time hood: a "first-generation" Puerto Rican gangster, and, after spending close to 15 years in prision, a slower, more mellow and redemptive "rendetion" of CARLITO is "sprung" from prison to be "used" by KLIENFIELD.

While in prison stories of CARLITO'S meaner-tougher days as a fuill-fledged gangster gave CARLITO a kind of mythic status and a "nobody" "wanna-be" gangster BENNY BLANCO FROM THE BRONX wants CARLITO to teach him to become a tough gangster. CARLITO slaps BENNY BLANCO upside the head, telling BLANCO that there's "NO FUTURE in being a ganster" and throws BENNY BLANCO down a flight of stairs giving BLANCO a broken-arm.

And of course BENNY BLANCO will have to show the entire barrio how much of a punk CARLITO IS at CARLITO'S WAY'S elliptical final and beginning moments.

ASIDE from a TOTALLY CONTRIVED plot-mechanization three-quarters of the way through the film, CARLITO'S WAY is a 100% . . . just like its "Bigger Brother" SCARFACE (the 1983 remake) is.

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I apologize for the length of these reviews; I just like to get my thoughts down "on paper".

(with over 33 THOUSAND visitors "touring" my profile-page, I feel I have a wider audience than just the few JIVE-ASSES who immediately "turn-off" from a review that's over two sentences in length.

(THOUGHTS are IMPORTANT; I mean, one day I could get ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (like a few other people in my family) and not be able to "think" at all after a while;.

So, at least these little reviews and slides will serve to "jog my memory" in the years to come.

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Everybody is going to "Get Old" I hope you know; so, its good to write-down the stuff that's on your mind while you still have a mind at you disposal.