Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
A newly elected District attorney finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner.
- Sidney Lumet
- David Sardi
- Jeffrey T. Bernstein
- Maggie Murphy
- Martha Pinson
- Robert Daley
- Sidney Lumet
Rating: 6.3/10 by 125 users
Alternative Title:
Prove Apparenti - IT
A Noite Cai Sobre Manhattan - BR
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 53 minutes
Budget: $10,000,000
Revenue: $9,889,670
Plot Keyword: drug dealer, corruption, police, police corruption, district attorney, nypd, the lost evidence
This film starts and ends with some lovely jazz, thereafter it is all rather an unremarkable crime thriller. When a drug dealer kills three cops and then escapes in a patrol car, the District Attorney "Morgie" (Ron Liebman) announces that when the perpetrator is apprehended, he is going to be prosecuted by the newly qualified lawyer (and ex-cop) son of one of those officers seriously injured by the attacker. "Casey" (Andy Garcia) is that man, and after a curiously far-fetched turn of events finds himself facing the killer in court and next thing, he is DA himself and party to an investigation into police corruption that might well lead to his own nearest and dearest. To be honest, I found this whole thing all just too convenient. It's all just a bit too "nice" and the courtroom scenes at the start which also feature Richard Dreyfuss are really underwhelming. The plot is messy and the conclusion really lacks, well, substance. It looks good and combined with the score is effective at creating a New York that is seedy and immoral - but Garcia just hasn't the gravitas to pull this off and Ian Holm (his father "Liam") is no great shakes either. It's watchable on the telly on a wet winter's evening, but that's about the height of it, sorry.
