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Saturday, January 20, 2018

PRINCE OF THE CITY (1981)

Coming off a couple of duds (Mega-Flop THE WIZ/’78 and the fun, if little-seen JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT/’80), Sidney Lumet was ‘running for cover’ commercially with this complex NYPD docu-meller about a corrupt/ conflicted ex-Narco agent; not so far from territory he nailed in SERPICO/’73 and (in reverse angle) DOG DAY AFTERNOON/’75.* But the hard work with co-scripter Jay Presson Allen shows in a bad way as they can’t find the key (or actor) to unlock the dramatic potential. Instead, Treat Williams’ opaque features grind away, like a manual clutch stuck between gears as he goes for ill-defined personal atonement wearing a wire for the Feds on major drug stings without incriminating that ‘old gang o’ mine.’ It proves a needle too hard to thread not only for Williams, but also Allen & Lumet who can’t organize the broad canvas. The trick they try to pull off, that everyone from mob guys (Williams’ cop is a ‘black sheep’ in a mobbed-up family); to a close-knit unit of police detectives; to local & Fed D.A.s, are all compromised by loyalties; and only men-of-principle left looking like villains. But then, we’re so busy working out who’s who (Program, Program, can’t make out the cast without a Program!; an idea acknowledged by the film’s occasional insert I.D. or ‘mug’ shot) niceties fall by the wayside. And where’s Lumet’s typically galvanizing character acting company? Just Bob Balaban sticking out in the wrong way; his usual trick, working a single behavioral 'tic' to death. Only Jerry Orbach, as an unsinkable undercover cop, breaks thru, finally finding a screen groove to match the remarkable run of Musical Comedy roles he’d been doing ‘On’ and ‘Off’ B’way for decades. A great screen presence born right before your eyes. It’s the only thrill in the pic.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Pacino must have been in Lumet’s mind for the lead. Aged out of the part? Too much like what they’d done before? And when the film underperformed, Williams' career went flat.

DOUBLE-BILL: Instead of the Lumet classics mentioned above, try Pacino with a young Johnny Depp going undercover against him in DONNIE BRASCO/’97.

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