Night and the City ***½ (1992, Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Alan King, Jack Warden, Eli Wallach, Barry Primus) – Classic Movie Review 3372

Robert De Niro plays Harry Fabian, a cheating, fast-talking New York lawyer embroiled in shady boxing promotions, in Irwin Winkler’s classy 1992 updated remake of Jules Dassin’s 1950 film noir Night and the City.

Robert De Niro takes on Richard Widmark’s old role as Harry Fabian, a cheating, fast-talking New York lawyer embroiled in shady boxing promotions, in producer-director Irwin Winkler’s classy 1992 updated remake of Jules Dassin’s classic 1950 film noir thriller Night and the City.

Fabian makes dangerous enemies in promoter Ira ‘Boom Boom’ Grossman (Alan King) and bar-owner Phil Nasseros (Cliff Gorman), when he gets involved with King’s brother Al Grossman (Jack Warden) and Gorman’s waitress wife, Helen Nasseros (Jessica Lange).

Based on the 1938 novel by Gerald Kersh, Winkler’s neo noir movie is a shrewd one that knows exactly what it’s doing. It is packed full of sharp dialogue in the screenplay by Richard Price and propelled by magnetic acting, not least De Niro’s unstoppable star turn. And it is excitingly shot by cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, with a notable score too by James Newton Howard.

Also in the cast are Eli Wallach as Peck, Barry Primus as Tommy Tessler, Pedro Sanchez, Gene Kirkwood, Ignacio Spalla, David W Butler, Gerry Murphy, Clem Caserta, Anthony Canarozzi, Byron Utley, Margo Winkler, Maurice Shrog, Joe D’Onofrio and Michael Badalucco.

On a budget of $20 million, it took only $6 million in the US.

The closing credits say: ‘Dedicated to Jules Dassin’.

American film and theatre director Julius ‘Jules’ Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era. He moved to France, and later Greece, to continue his career.

Lange and De Niro had just teamed up in 1991 for another remake, Cape Fear. Martin Scorsese was originally set to direct Night and the City six years earlier but dropped out because the thought he had already ‘done’ it in all his other films and there was no challenge for him.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3372

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