seymourblack-1 Irwin Winkler's "Night And The City" is a light-hearted story about a shyster lawyer who gets into trouble when he decides to become a boxing promoter. Early on in this movie, Murphy's Law is mentioned and sure enough, when this guy tries to achieve his ambitions, it seems that anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The plot is based on the Jules Dassin 1950 classic of the same name and features plenty of humour, sharp dialogue and interesting characters.Harry Fabian (Robert DeNiro) is an unscrupulous and fast-talking scam artist. He's strictly small time but is ambitious to become "somebody" and the way that he intends to do this is by promoting a programme of boxing matches featuring young fighters from his own locality in New York. His main problems, however, are that he doesn't have sufficient funds of his own and also that established boxing promoter and gangster Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman (Alan King) doesn't appreciate someone else competing against him and threatening his profits.Harry regularly frequents a bar run by Phil Nasseros (Cliff Gorman) and is having an affair with Phil's wife Helen (Jessica Lange). She wants to get out of her marriage and plans to set up a bar and restaurant of her own. Harry promises to get her the liquor licence that she needs to do this.In order to head off any potential problems, Harry recruits Boom Boom's older brother Al (Jack Warden) who's an ex-prize-fighter who detests his brother. Boom Boom warns Harry of dire consequences if anything untoward should happen to Al. Harry arranges to finance his new enterprise by borrowing money from Phil and a notoriously ruthless loan shark called Peck (Eli Wallach) and predictably, trouble follows when nothing goes according to plan.Robert DeNiro delivers a high energy performance as the hyperactive hustler with a penchant for quick-fire monologues that simultaneously entertain and disgust whoever's listening. His recklessness, appalling lack of good judgement and capacity for betrayal make him a self-destructive character whose actions inevitably get him into hot water.Cliff Gorman, Eli Wallach, Alan King and Jack Warden are excellent in their supporting roles as they're all convincing and add considerable substance and colour to the whole movie. Jessica Lange is also good in a part that doesn't require her to display the full range of her talents.Judged purely on its own merits, "Night And Tha City" (1992) is a thoroughly enjoyable and fast-paced piece of entertainment. However, for those who've previously seen the 1950 version, it will inevitably be seen as a rather anaemic remake of a classic movie that had incredible intensity, power and poignancy

Michael_Elliott Night and the City (1992) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Remake of the 1950 Richard Widmark noir has Robert DeNiro playing Harry Fabian, a real loser who works as an attorney chasing ambulances and various other lowlifes. He finally grows tired of being one of the small guys so he tries raising enough money to start a boxing match but soon he's butting heads with mobsters. If you're looking for a direct remake then you can pretty much forget about it as this Richard Price scripted film is more comedy than anything else. Well, I can't say it's a comedy because I'm not quite certain what it is. Apparently Martin Scorsese was going to direct this but ended up backing out only six years later the picture got started up again by Winkler, who by this time decided to direct the thing himself. Big problem. Winkler's direction is all over the place and it really hurts the film as there's never any real indication that the man behind the camera knows what he's trying to do. Sometimes the overall mood is comical but at other times it turns rather dark (only to be watered down). I'm really not sure what they were going for but you certainly shouldn't expect any of the darkness of the original movie. This baby is pretty much it's own thing and even though the direction is bad there's still enough going on here to make it worth viewing. It seems DeNiro is either love or hate here but I found his performance to be rather refreshing and I found him to be very entertaining in the role. Again, he isn't as dark or as menacing of Widmark as he plays the character more happy-go-lucky and there's constantly a smile on his face as he goes from one bad situation to the next. I found these happy approach to be rather fun to see as we don't often get to see DeNiro in this type of role. It's not a complete masterpiece but if you're a fan I think you'll enjoy seeing it. Jessica Lange plays his love interest and manages to turn in a fine performance even though the screenplay doesn't offer her too much. I thought her and DeNiro, their third film together, did a nice job and I wish their scenes had been written a little better. We do get a nice supporting cast including Jack Warden as a former boxer with a bad heart who is constantly cussing or wanting to fight. He adds a lot of charm to the film each time he's in a scene. Eli Wallach has a brief role and it's always nice to see him. Cliff Gorman nearly steals the film as Lange's husband who doesn't know everything that's going on. We even get a cameo by Regis Philbin who plays himself in a scene that will remind many of the one in THE KING OF COMEDY when DeNiro busts in on Jerry Lewis. Needless to say, it's the performances that make this film worth viewing and we also get a pretty good music score as well as some nice covers of some classic tunes. If a remake should try and be completely different from the original then this movie does just that. This isn't a classic like the original film but there are enough interesting things to make it worth viewing but I'm sure most will agree when it's over that the thing should have been much, much better.

ma-cortes The picture deals an ambitious, fast-talking lawyer named Harry Fabian(Robert De Niro, Richard Widmark role) in N.Y.C., he's a hustler with several money-making schemes . Harry concocts a plot as boxing's small-time promoter . But he makes erroneous friends, the old boxer's brother(Alan King), a tough gangster. Harry is the role who fills completely the movie , he survives as person who reports false crime in the trials. Harry becoming involved with mobsters and an affair with his barman's spouse(Jessica Lange). But his plans go awry and he's on the run for his life. The story terminates with a persecution excellently filmed with all its rawness .This noir urban/drama packs good performances though Robert De Niro is overacting. Nice interpretation by Jessica Lange , the only character who shows a bit of kindness on Harry. Supporting casting is frankly well, as Cliff Gorman, Eli Wallach, Jack Warden, Barry Primus, Michael Badalucco, among others , furthermore cameo role by Richard Price, screenplay's author. Dark cinematography by Tak Fujimoto and atmospheric and effective musical score by James Newton Howard. This version about Harry downfall lacks punch and dramatic weight, it results to be much better the classic adaptation (1955), a real masterpiece, set in London with Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Herbert Lom. This inferior new version is dedicated to Jules Dassin, the magnificent director of the original picture and adapted from the novel by Gerard Kersh. The motion picture is regularly directed by Irwin Winkler, usual producer of Robert De Niro films and occasionally filmmaker.

coderx75 I actually liked this movie quite a bit but if you're not a De Niro fan, this movie would be completely lost on you. Just read the plot outline to see what I mean. An incompetent lawyer strives to become a boxing promoter. If you're not a De Niro fan but you still find that interesting than you probably have time to catch this movie while you're still deciding on your method of suicide.On the other hand, if you ARE a De Niro fan, the idea of ol' Bobby playing a bullpoop-slinging, sheisty lawyer and ticking everyone off pretty much speaks for itself. He's got quite a few moments that make the movie interesting even if the plot line isn't.