Night and the City (1992 film)

Last updated
Night and the City
Night and the city poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Irwin Winkler
Screenplay by Richard Price
Based on Night and the City
by Gerald Kersh
Produced byIrwin Winkler
Jane Rosenthal
Starring
Cinematography Tak Fujimoto
Edited by David Brenner
Music by James Newton Howard
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • October 16, 1992 (1992-10-16)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million [1]
Box office$6,202,756

Night and the City is a 1992 American neo-noir [2] crime drama film and a remake of the 1950 film noir of the same name, itself an adaptation of Gerald Kersh's 1938 novel. The film stars Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange and is directed by Irwin Winkler from a script by Richard Price.

Contents

Plot

Harry Fabian is a fast-talking, two-bit New York City lawyer who hangs out at a bar called Boxers, owned by Phil Nasseros and his wife Helen. Harry has been having an affair with Helen, who dreams of setting up her own bar and leaving Phil. At the bar, he spots an article in the New York Post about a man who was pummeled by a boxer. He calls the man on Phil's phone and pitches a lawsuit against the boxer on the grounds that his fists are legally considered weapons. The fighter is promoted by Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman, who tries to muscle Harry off the idea of suing his boxer. The case is promptly dismissed by the judge, who knows that it is baseless.

Having seen the world of boxing up close, Harry decides to become a boxing promoter and files for a license. He recruits "Boom Boom"'s estranged brother, former professional prizefighter Al Grossman, to be his partner. "Boom Boom" tries to muscle Harry out of the fight business, but when Al protects Harry, "Boom Boom" cowers in fear.

Al asks Phil for a $15,000 loan to cover the cost of the fight. Sensing her opportunity, Helen stages an argument with Harry and demands that he come up with $7,500, promising that Phil will match the amount. Helen fronts Harry the $7,500 herself, allowing Harry to secure the loan. Phil promises that he will pay Harry the money the day before the fight. She gives him another $5,000 to help her set up her own bar by procuring a liquor license. Harry has a friend in the Federal Liquor Administration who supplies him a blank license but asks $7500 for it. Harry only has $5000, he has to have a printer put in the printed details, making the license essentially a fake. he gives Helen the licence but doesn't tell her all the details of how he got it.

"Boom Boom" tries one last time to persuade Harry to abandon the idea, offering him money to walk away from the fight business. Harry explains that he has spent his career in pursuit of quick and easy cases that can be settled for small cash amounts. He tells "Boom Boom" that he had a case once where the NYPD had mistakenly beaten up some people because they served a warrant on the wrong house. Instead of taking them to trial, he accepted the NYPD's offer of $20,000 to make the case go away. He insists that, for once, he is not going to take the money and run. "Boom Boom" threatens to kill Harry if anything happens to Al, who has already had two heart attacks.

After a nasty fight at Boxers, Helen finally leaves Phil.

Still set on keeping Harry out of promoting, "Boom Boom" meets with Phil and reveals that Helen has been sleeping with Harry. Enraged, Phil calls the state liquor authority to inform them that Harry had forged Helen's license. He pretends like everything is fine with Harry, and offers to throw a dinner party the night before the fight. After the party, he tells Harry that he will have the $7,500 the next day, which is the morning of the fight.

Helen wakes up Harry at his place, and they talk about their new endeavors. Her new bar is opening the night of his fight. Harry goes to Boxers and anxiously waits for Phil. When Phil arrives, Harry asks him for the money. Phil says he thought Harry was joking and then he reveals that he knows about his affair with Helen, as he beats up Harry. Desperate to keep the fight afloat, Harry borrows $12,000 from the ruthless loan shark Mr. Peck. At the venue, Al gets into a fight with one of the staff and has a fatal heart attack. With the fight off, Harry goes to Helen's new bar only to find that it has been shut down because of his forged license.

"Boom Boom"'s goons show up to make good on his threat. Harry and Helen run and end up cornered in an alley. Harry tries to talk his way out of what is coming by explaining that the goons should be after the guy who fought with Al and caused his heart attack. He throws Peck's $12,000 in the air as the final exclamation point on his speech and walks Helen past the goons, asking her under his breath, "How'd I do?" The goons shoot Harry in the back and throw their pistols in a dumpster.

The film ends with Helen holding Harry's hand as he is put in an ambulance, still talking optimistically about the future.

Cast

Production

The source novel and the original film featured pro wrestling, which was by the early 1990s targeted mostly at children, instead of boxing. Like the earlier 1950 film noir, the film was released by 20th Century Fox. It was chosen as the closing feature for the 1992 New York Film Festival. [3]

Critical reception

Janet Maslin felt that the film "is colorfully acted and refreshingly free of all the moody cliches such a story might be expected to thrive on. But it is also saddled with overly busy direction that sometimes interferes with the dialogue, making Mr. Price's long, perversely elegant conversational riffs hard to hear." Writing for The Washington Post , Desson Howe began his review, "There are few finer pleasures than watching Robert De Niro when he's on. In "Night and the City," he lights up the board as Harry Fabian, New York City's biggest shyster." Howe concluded that De Niro's performance was one of his best. [4]

Roger Ebert disagreed, dismissing De Niro's work as "more like a riff on Rupert Pupkin, the goofy talk show fan he played in Scorsese's The King of Comedy ". [5] Ebert and Howe both agreed, however, that Alan King's performance was fantastic. Owen Gleiberman concurred in his review, but he sided with Ebert regarding De Niro, concluding, "the actor who once seemed the heir to Brando, Clift, and, yes, Widmark — the actor who once got so far inside his roles that he just about detonated the screen — now plays characters who don't seem to have any inner life at all." [6] David Ansen praised the actors in his review: "De Niro is a sensationally manic-and even touching-sleaze; King, Warden and Gorman are splendidly disreputable, and Lange gives her role a tough/tender sexuality that's a pleasure to watch even when her character's loyalty to Harry confounds sense." [7]

As of April 2019, Night and the City holds a rating of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Raging Bull</i> 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese

Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana and Frank Vincent. The film is an adaptation of former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It follows the career of LaMotta, played by De Niro, his rise and fall in the boxing scene, and his turbulent personal life beset by rage and jealousy.

<i>Taxi Driver</i> 1976 American film by Martin Scorsese

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying and morally bankrupt New York City following the Vietnam War, the film follows Travis Bickle, a veteran and taxi driver, and his deteriorating mental state as he works nights in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Mancini</span> American boxer (born 1961)

Ray Mancini, better known as "Boom Boom" Mancini, is an American former professional boxer who competed professionally from 1979 to 1992 and who has since worked as an actor and sports commentator. He held the WBA lightweight title from 1982 to 1984. Mancini inherited his nickname from his father, boxer Lenny Mancini. In 2015, Mancini was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

<i>Rocky V</i> 1990 American film

Rocky V is a 1990 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to Rocky IV (1985) and the fifth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone, Tommy Morrison, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, a financially struggling Rocky Balboa (Stallone) agrees to train protégé Tommy Gunn (Morrison) at the gym once owned by Balboa's trainer, Mickey Goldmill (Meredith).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocky Graziano</span> American boxer

Thomas Rocco Barbella, better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. He was ranked 23rd on The Ring magazine list of the greatest punchers of all time. He fought many of the best middleweights of the era including Sugar Ray Robinson. His turbulent and violent life story was the basis of the 1956 Oscar-winning drama film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, based on his 1955 autobiography of the same title.

<i>State of Grace</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Phil Joanou

State of Grace is a 1990 American neo-noir crime film directed by Phil Joanou and starring Sean Penn, Ed Harris and Gary Oldman, also featuring Robin Wright, John Turturro, and John C. Reilly. Written by playwright Dennis McIntyre, the film was produced by Ned Dowd, Randy Ostrow, and Ron Rotholz, with a musical score by Ennio Morricone.

<i>Million Dollar Baby</i> 2004 American sports drama film by Clint Eastwood

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd. It also stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.

<i>Night Moves</i> (1975 film) 1975 film by Arthur Penn

Night Moves is a 1975 American neo-noir film directed by Arthur Penn, and starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark, with supporting performances from Melanie Griffith and James Woods. Its plot follows a Los Angeles private investigator who uncovers a series of sinister events while searching for the missing teenage daughter of a former movie actress.

<i>Night and the City</i> 1950 film directed by Jules Dassin

Night and the City is a 1950 film noir directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Googie Withers. It is based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Kersh. Shot on location in London and at Shepperton Studios, the plot revolves around an ambitious hustler who meets continual failures.

<i>Girlfight</i> 2000 American film

Girlfight is a 2000 American sports drama film written and directed by Karyn Kusama in her feature directorial debut, and stars Michelle Rodriguez in her first film role. The film follows Diana Guzman, a troubled Brooklyn high school student who decides to channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, despite the disapproval of both her father and her prospective trainers, as well as the competitors in the male-dominated sport.

<i>Fat City</i> (film) 1972 film by John Huston

Fat City is a 1972 American sports drama film directed and produced by John Huston, and adapted by Leonard Gardner from his 1969 novel of the same title. It stars Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, and Candy Clark in her film debut.

<i>Sea of Love</i> (film) 1989 film

Sea of Love is a 1989 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Harold Becker, written by Richard Price and starring Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin and John Goodman. The story concerns a New York City detective trying to catch a serial killer who finds victims through the singles column in a newspaper.

Naked Alibi is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame and Gene Barry. It was released on October 1, 1954 by Universal-International. Portions of the film were shot in Tijuana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al McCoy (boxer)</span> American boxer

Al McCoy,, born Alexander Rudolph, was a boxing World Middleweight Champion from 1914 to 1917. He had a total of 157 bouts. Of those determined officially, he won 44 with 27 by knockout, and had 6 losses, and 6 draws. Around 107 of his fights were no decision bouts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Phil Rosenberg</span> American boxer

Charley Phil Rosenberg was an American boxer. He was the World Bantamweight Champion from 1925 to 1927. His trainers were the legendary Ray Arcel, and Whitey Bimstein, and his manager was Harry Segal.

Daniel Victor "Boone" Kirkman is a former professional heavyweight boxer. He was a Contender throughout his career and scored notable victories over Heavyweight World Champion Jimmy Ellis, as well as Top Contenders and Heavyweight Title Challengers Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, José Roman and Ron Stander. He would also have fights against all time greats such as Two-Time Heavyweight Champion George Foreman, World Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton, and Top Contender and Undisputed World Heavyweight Title Challenger Ron Lyle, who was known for his brutal knockout power. He compiled a record of 36-6 with 26 knockouts.

Fighting Fools is a 1949 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on April 17, 1949 by Monogram Pictures and is the thirteenth film in the series.

<i>Night and the City</i> (novel)

Night and the City is the third novel by British author Gerald Kersh, published in 1938. It is a crime thriller set in 1930s London but also deals with social realism themes in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

<i>World in My Corner</i> 1956 film by Jesse Hibbs

World in My Corner is a 1956 American film noir drama sports film directed by Jesse Hibbs and starring Audie Murphy, Barbara Rush and Jeff Morrow. The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is one of the few non-Western films in which Murphy appeared.

<i>Grudge Match</i> 2013 film by Peter Segal

Grudge Match is a 2013 American sports comedy film directed by Peter Segal. The film stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro as aging boxers stepping into the ring for one last bout. Stallone and De Niro have both previously been in successful boxing films and worked together in Cop Land. It was previously scheduled for a January 10, 2014 release, but was moved up to December 25, 2013.

References

  1. "AFI|Catalog".
  2. Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN   0-87951-479-5
  3. Maslin, Janet. ""For De Niro, the Game Turns Serious", New York Times . October 10, 1992.
  4. Howe, Desson. "Night and the City", The Washington Post. October 23, 1992.
  5. Ebert, Roger. "Night and the City", October 23, 1992.
  6. Gleiberman, Owen. Night and the City, Entertainment Weekly . October 23, 1992.
  7. Ansen, David. "Beautiful Dreamers", Newsweek . October 18, 1992.
  8. "Night and the City". Rotten Tomatoes .