Night and the City (1992)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Irwin Winkler

Writers (WGA):

Gerald Kersh (novel)
Richard Price (screenplay)

Release Date:

1993 (Austria)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

The story about a cheating and incompetent lawyer (Harry Fabian) who suddenly gets obsessed on becoming a boxing promoter.

Plot Keywords:

Color Remake Of Black And White Film | Remake | Neo Noir | Independent Film | Based On Novel

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Harry Fabian
Jessica Lange	...	Helen Nasseros
Cliff Gorman	...	Phil Nasseros
Alan King	...	Ira 'Boom Boom' Grossman
Jack Warden	...	Al Grossman
Eli Wallach	...	Peck
Barry Primus	...	Tommy Tessler
Gene Kirkwood	...	Resnick
Ignazio Spalla	...	Cuda Sanchez (as Pedro Sanchez)
Gerard Murphy	...	Steel Jaw #1 (as Gerry Murphy)
Clem Caserta	...	Steel Jaw #2
Anthony Canarozzi	...	Emmett Gorgon
David W. Butler	...	John Bonney
Byron Utley	...	Frisker at Disco Club
Margo Winkler	...	Judge Parker

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Penta Films

Trivia:

This was the first of two films written by Richard Price that Martin Scorsese left the helm as director. The second film was 'Clockers' in which Scorsese turned over the project to Spike Lee so he could instead direct 'Casino'.

Quotes:

Harry Fabian: This is like the Greyhound station for DEATH!

Movie Connections:

Version of Night and the City (1950)

Soundtrack:

Love Doesn't Matter

A great cast, not a great movie

I'm the kind of guy that sometimes watches a movie based on its cast or its director, and that was the case with 'Night and The City' with Robert de Niro. Unhappily this movie is not as good as the best ones from de Niro ( Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America or The Godfather 2, Jackie Brown ). In this movie, de Niro looks like Jim Carrey with his electric style, but this is not the de Niro we're used to see.

The movie is about Harry Fabian ( a second-class lawyer from N.Y. ) that tries to make success in the boxing-promoting market. But the market is dominated by Boom Boom Brossman, a senior promoter of big fights in N.Y. that sees his domain threatened by Fabian. To get the money to promote the fights, Fabian needs to beg money from all his friends, one of them, Phil is the owner of the Boxers pub. Phil's wife, Helen, is in love with Fabian and plans to leave Phil and open her own pub.

Night and the City is a remake of the homonym filmed in 1950, that I haven't seen but is much better rated than the 1992's version.

It seems that Irwin Winkler works better as a movie producer than as director. One of the movies he promoted are Ranging Bull, New York New York and The Goodfellas, all them starring Robert de Niro.