Night Falls on Manhattan

United States

1997

114 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
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SCR Sidney Lumet, Robert Daley

CAST Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, James Gandolfini, Paul Guilfoyle, Shiek Mahmud-Bey, Colm Feore, Ron Leibman, Dominic Chianese, Jude Ciccolella

At an inauguration for a new class of Manhattan assistant district attorneys in New York, a lecturer gives a dull and uninspiring speech. He knows these ADA’s regard their jobs only as a stepping stone to a higher paying job in finance, corporate or family (“society”) law. The new class includes Sean Casey, a former NYPD cop who went to law school at night. He plods through cases prosecuting thieves, drug addicts and lunatics, discovering that the system is overburdened, the judges apathetic and the cops see court testimony mainly as overtime. Sean truly believes in the law and even tries to help the perpetrators resolve their troubles. NYPD partners Liam Casey and Joey Allegretto are hot on the trail of the violent, notorious drug dealer Jordan Washington. On a tip from a snitch, they venture into a decrepit tenement building. (Joey calls for heavy backup in spite of Liam’s insistence to keep it quiet.) Washington preemptively fires a submachine gun and Liam Casey is severely wounded.

Director

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet (born June 25, 1924) is an American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico (1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.

According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era making more than one movie per year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He is especially noted for his ability to draw major actors to his projects. “Because of his visual economy, strong direction of actors, vigorous storytelling and use of the camera to accent themes,” states Turner Classic Movies. “Lumet produced a body of work that could only be defined as extraordinary.”

One of his steady themes during his career has been the “fragility of justice and the police and their corruption,” according to Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film. He can deliver… read more

Sidney Lumet (born June 25, 1924) is an American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico (1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.

According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era making more than one movie per year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He is especially noted for his ability to draw major actors to his projects. “Because of his visual economy, strong direction of actors, vigorous storytelling and use of the camera to accent themes,” states Turner Classic Movies. “Lumet produced a body of work that could only be defined as extraordinary.”

One of his steady themes during his career has been the “fragility of justice and the police and their corruption,” according to Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film. He can deliver “powerhouse performances from lead actors,” and fine work from character actors and is today one of the foremost figures of New York moviemaking. His sensitivity to actors and to the rhythms of the city have made him “America’s longest-lived descendant of the 1950s Neorealist tradition and its urgent commitment to ethical responsibility.”

Lumet began as an off-Broadway director, then became a highly efficient TV director. His first movie was typical of his best work: a well-acted, tightly written, deeply considered “problem picture,” 12 Angry Men (1957). Since then, Lumet has divided his energies among other idealistic problem pictures along with literate adaptations of plays and novels, big stylish pictures, and New York-based black comedies. As a result of directing 12 Angry Men, he is also responsible for leading the first wave of directors who made a successful transition from TV to movies. For being one of the most reliable and dependable directors of the last half-century, in 2005 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his “brilliant services to screenwriters, performers, and the art of the motion picture.”—Wikipedia

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