Night and the City

R

Released Oct 16, 1992

1 hr. 38 min.

Crime

Drama

List

57%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

31%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Harry Fabian (Robert De Niro) is a crooked lawyer running cons all over New York City. After he fails at a boxing scam, he finds himself in dire financial straits and takes a loan from a merciless moneylender named Mr. Peck (Eli Wallach). When he needs help paying Peck back, Harry turns to Helen (Jessica Lange), a married waitress he is sleeping with. He begins to plot one last con -- that double-crosses many of his allies. With no friends left around town, Harry's luck goes from bad to worse.

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Audience Member

Coming off the back of Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear remake in 1991, Robert DeNiro and Jessica Lange collaborated again a year later on another remake; this time Jules Dassin's 1950's film-noir, Night and the City. The original had a lot of admirers which can often lead to a retread being heavily criticised and even though I haven't seen Dassin's version, Irwin Winkler's certainly didn't deserve the much maligned reception it received. Two-bit, incompetent lawyer Harry Fabian (Robert DeNiro) takes whatever unethical approach is required to defend his clients but when he finds himself involved in a lawsuit with a prize boxer, he develops and interest in the boxing world. In another of his get-rich-quick schemes he decides to stage his own boxing event but in doing so, he steps on the toes of the local mob boss and has to borrow money off everyone he knows to put his plan together. From the offset we overhear Sam the Sham's Wooly Bully played out to the sidewalks of Manhattan as DeNiro's Harry Fabian shuffles in and out of the busy commuters. It's a brisk opening and sets the tone for the rest of the film. Fabian is a man that's always on the move and by his own admission "I'm like a shark: I stop moving, I die". He's a very colourful character and it's another one of DeNiro's interestingly offbeat portrayals that's not unlike his desperate hanger-on Rupert Pupkin from The King Of Comedy. Fabian is basically a no-good, shyster who ambulance chases his way to a living. He lacks scruples and a moral integrity and anyone that gets close to him, simply isn't safe from his financial shenanigans. He really is a hard man to like but that's all the more reason to single out DeNiro's magnetic performance. As a viewer, you don't trust this man as far as you could throw him but DeNiro still makes you care. Despite his faults, Fabian is still shown to have a modicum of decency and it's a decency that DeNiro teases out of the role. He's not the only one on form, though, the entire supporting cast deliver very strong work; Jessica Lange's ambitious but bored waitress, Cliff Gorman as her controlling and suspicious husband, the great Jack Warden as DeNiro's business partner and Alan King as the local mobster "Boom Boom" who takes a strong disliking to Fabian. It's an eclectic mix of personalities that make up this quintessential New York story as cinematographer Tak Fujimoto makes great use of the locations to capture the flavour and vibrancy of the city itself. All positives aside, though, this film came in for some very heavy criticism; there has been complaints about it's tone, a muddled script, poor direction and badly judged performances but I really didn't see it that way. DeNiro's kinetic energy brings a very lively pace to the film and Irwin Winkler's direction handles the pace more than admirably and employs the use of some impressive tracking shots along the way. Even these weren't good enough for some, though, as he was criticised for trying too hard to be like Scorsese (who was originally onboard to direct before passing it on). I can accept that the ending of the film loses a little steam but, for the most part, Richard Price's screenplay is filled with humour, sharp dialogue and three-dimensional characters. There's not much more that's required. An under the radar and vastly underrated slice of New York life that benefits greatly from, a rarely offscreen, DeNiro in one of his most enjoyable roles. Forget the critics, there's much to recommend this and it's a film that should be on every DeNiro fan's list. Mark Walker

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

A remake of an old black and white film. I like this version better!!!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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Audience Member

An unnecessary remake of a classic. Despite great performance from De Niro and Lange, and the well-crafted Scorsesian New York, De Niro's unjustified passion for boxing just put the audience in a heavy fog struggling to get involved without getting bored. The happy ending looks more like a farce.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I first heard about this movie when i saw the theatrical trailer on a movie website a couple of years ago and I saw it for the first time and it was very entertaining. Just seein Robert De Niro as a cheating and incompetent New York City lawyer, who tries to become a boxing promoter but it doesn't go so easy, was both funny and one of his best performances i've ever seen in his career. Director Irwin Winkler directed an amazing groupm of actors that includes Jessica Lange, Eli Wallach, and the late greats Alan King, Jack Warden, and Cliff Gorman. The #1 song out of all the music in this film is not only but Freddie Mercury's 1987 solo song "The Great Pretender". It is one of my favorite songs and I listen to it every day and sometimes reminds me of this film and I'm glad they used this song, they should do it in more movies don't you think?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Audience Member

A unique performance from De Niro where he plays the goofball underdog fighting to stay above water. A bit of a random story that grows arms and legs, and ends a bit prematurely but littered with comedy moments that probably shouldnt be funny it just about works. No De Niro, no enjoyment.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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Audience Member

ok remake but this bares little semblence 2 the 1950 version.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Irwin Winkler

Director

Robert De Niro

Harry Fabian

Jessica Lange

Helen Nasseros

Cliff Gorman

Phil Nasseros

Alan King

Ira 'Boom Boom' Grossman

Jack Warden

Al Grossman

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David Ansen

Newsweek

Relish the movie's snappy, low-life high spirits.

Jan 18, 2013

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B-

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 3/5

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Vanessa Letts

The Spectator

[Winkler] plunders heavily from older and better productions, updates the plot clumsily to the 1990s while retaining the themes and styles of another era.

Jul 24, 2018

Full Review

Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

Even at its best, Irwin Winkler's remake of the 1950 Jules Dassin original never becomes entirely convincing.

Apr 13, 2018

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

An unnecessary remake? judged by the end result. it's hard to tell what motivated Irwin Winkler, a poor director, to redo the Jules Dassin noir classic of the 1940s; perhaps the opportunity to work with De Niro and Jessica Lange, though neither is good

Rated: C

Sep 11, 2006

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Synopsis

Harry Fabian (Robert De Niro) is a crooked lawyer running cons all over New York City. After he fails at a boxing scam, he finds himself in dire financial straits and takes a loan from a merciless moneylender named Mr. Peck (Eli Wallach). When he needs help paying Peck back, Harry turns to Helen (Jessica Lange), a married waitress he is sleeping with. He begins to plot one last con -- that double-crosses many of his allies. With no friends left around town, Harry's luck goes from bad to worse.

Director: Irwin Winkler
Executive Producer: Harry J. Ufland, Mary Jane Ufland
Screenwriter: Gerald Kersh, Richard Price
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Tribeca Productions, Penta Films S.L.
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 16, 1992, Original
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.2M
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround, Stereo