Widescre

Starring:Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Lena Olin, Shiek Mahmud-Bey, Colm Feore, Ron Leibman, Richard Dreyfuss, Dominic Chianese, Paul Guilfoyle (II), Bonnie Rose, Norman Matlock, Sidney Armus, James Murtaugh, Melba Martinez, Santo Fazio, Anthony Alessandro, David Wolos-Fonteno, John Seitz, Stephen Beach
Director: Sidney Lumet
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The dominant themes of director Sidney Lumet's distinguished career are in full force in this moral melodrama involving a young district attorney (Andy Garcia) who takes on a career-making case only to uncover his father's possible involvement in pervasive police corruption. Balancing personal ethics and political compromise in a high-wire act of power and its abuse, Lumet relies on dialogue and superb performances (including those by Ron Leibman, Richard Dreyfuss, and Lena Olin) to achieve a devastating impact. The script (based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley) is too smart and Lumet's direction too sure-footed to fall back on the black-and-white exploits of conventional criminals and their crimes. The movie's moral framework (like that of Lumet's earlier film Q&A) is more realistic, dealing in the gray areas between right and wrong where misdeeds can arise from the best intentions. At the center of Garcia's dilemma is his father, a seasoned New York cop played so convincingly by Ian Holm that you'd never guess the actor was British. Although it received mixed reviews when released in 1997, Night Falls on Manhattan ranks among Lumet's finest films. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

The Letter vs. the Spirit of the Law.......2007-01-08

This is an overall enjoyable film worthy of 4 1/4 stars, but not 5. Never for a moment do I believe that an inexperienced prosecutor (Andy Garcia) can be elected to become the District Attorney of the entire New York City area! I might have a better chance of humiliating Shaq O'Neal on the basketball court. Nonetheless, this story more than adequately confronts the age old questions: where is the line to be drawn between adherence to the letter vs. the spirit of the law? How much slack can officials representing the state cut those who do not perfectly obey the law? Should we allow a relatively minor infraction to destroy a long and honorable career? Should someone be handed the responsibility to prosecute a suspect accused of shooting their own father? How much justice does an obviously guilty individual deserve? Utopia is admittedly not possible on this side of the vale of tears. What is the minimum, however, that is nonnegotiable? This film has some weaknesses. And yet, it will make you think.

David Thomson
Flares into Darkness

Decent Noo Yawk Corruption Melodrama, But...........2005-02-23

.....is Ron Lieberman the prototypical overacting DA in all of these crime and punishment dramas and who told Dreyfuss that he could channel Allan Dershowitz?

The Story: Two cops are staking out the most wanted drug dealer in Harlem--one ready for retirement, the other street wise and youthful. They are itching to get this scum off the streets and into the pen, so when their snitch tells them that the dealer is in the house they decide to make their move, search warrant in hand, guns raised. The younger cop radios in for back-up before the duo goes up. The dope dealer is however ready for them. He blasts through the door with a semi-automatic which riddles the old cop with bullets and finds an escape by killing two policemen with a silencer and stealing an unattended police cruiser...by the time the dealer escapes 3 districts of cops are on the scene.

The district attorney assigns neophyte assistant under-District attorney Andy Garcia the case to get this guy, because the DA figures it's nothing but good publicity if the son of the cop who got riddled with bullets try the case to get the dealer off the streets...good publicity could mean re-election (even campaigning for the mayor's seat) to the DA. The under DA does a great job of prosecuting the drug dealing and bests the Defense's Dershowitzian attorney, which makes him the 'it Boy' in the city. Because the DA gets sick, Garcia runs for the DA's position and he wins....that's when the stuff starts hitting the fan.

I know this is a story whose plot has often been trod, but it makes for an entertaining view time anyway; you DO get the feel that the makers really didn't know what to do with some of the co-stars. Lena Olin, who seems too mature to play the smitten lover role here, (but is still babelicious, dig?) initially comes off as someone who is gonna turn in the Garcia's dad because of that forged Search warrant, but she melts: Gandolfini seems like he's about to rat on his partner for taking some kick backs, but he ends up shooting himself in the head instead....their facial expressions didn't match what they were gonna do. They must've been writing script and dialog along the way...anyway you can get a load of Junior Soprano Chianese playing a judge (of all things) and a youngish Gandolfini playing street cop.

Awesome legal battle with one's conscionce.......2004-06-27

I just watched this movie on TV, and I would definitely wanna see it again one day. Garcia is brilliant and shows strong character facettes in acting. The movie is about more than the legal ins and outs of corruption and partnership. It's about the fact that one has to stay a human being in life.

Justice does not always follow the strict letter of the law........2003-08-16

This 1997 film is based on a novel by James Daley and directed by Sidney Lumet, who also wrote the screenplay. It's a fast-moving police procedural with constantly shifting questions about the law, political favors and what is really right and wrong. There are quite a few obstacles in the path of righteousness, but in the end I was satisfied with the conclusion, which shows that justice does not always follow the strict letter of the law.

Andy Garcia stars as a young assistant district attorney whose father, Ian Holm, is a cop who's been injured in a shootout with a drug dealer, played by Shiek Mamud-Bey. Ron Liebman, the District Attorney, lets Garcia prosecute the case, which seems to be simple. But the defense lawyer, played by Richard Dreyfus, introduces the concept of police corruption. And so, even though the outcome of the case is clear, other issues come into play, especially since the young prosecutor's own father might be involved.

The film moved fast, the plot deepening as the story moved along. And it was nice to recognize two actors who later went on to fame in The Sopranos: James Gandolfini is cast a cop and Dominic Chianese, who plays Uncle Junior, is cast as the judge.

The story held my interest, the acting good and the ending was satisfactory and believable. You'll enjoy it if you like cop dramas. Recommended.

Implausible Plot + Distracting Casting.......2003-01-02

Watching this movie in late 2002 makes it difficult to avoid indulging in typecasting. Wow - there's Bilbo Baggins and Tony Soprano, sitting in a car together!! Hey, isn't that Uncle Junior Soprano playing the Judge? Well, it's obviously not Sidney Lumet's fault - he had no idea when he made this movie that those actors would end up in such hugely popular roles.

As for the movie itself, other reviewers here have remarked about the implausible plot, which is mainly silly due to the unlikelihood of a lowly assistant DA suddenly having a career zoom up to the highest office of DA solely on one case. As for the case itself, for the cop-killing drug dealer, I found the whole thing laughable, and the part of the drug dealer was written and played as a horribly one-dimensional stereotypical character.

The whole "morally-conflicted prosecutor" concept wouldn't seem so boring now if we hadn't already been pounded over the head with it on TV in the last 5 years or so - "Law and Order", etc have managed to make the legal process interminably boring for me, and I am going to avoid any such movies or shows like the plague for the time being.

DVD:

DVD

Midsomer Murders - Garden Of Death [1997]

DVD: Moulin Rouge

Lucky Luke - Daisy Town