Plot: What’s it about?
In the earliest days I can remember having a VCR, this viewer was always a connoisseur when it came to stepping into a local video store and seeing the evolution of videotape but always remembered to never judge a movie by its video box. At the same time I was ways fascinated with smaller company logos like Orion or Geffen or The Ladd Company that made films in conjunction with a bigger studio such as Warner Bros. One of the first days I ever entered a video store was in 1984 and seeing the many images and designs that happened to be displayed for one’s rental. For years, one of the images that piqued my interest came in the form of a bigger box than all the others. A title that fit two tapes and it certainly got me curious with a picture that I was even familiar with in my viewing guides of Wometco Home Theater. To see something that big made me wonder. For all those years, I never got the chance to see that particular film and if it was on cable, this film was at a point that was unfair in that it was in the middle and I didn’t want to get too involved for it looked like a movie to view from beginning to end. That image was the face of Treat Williams on the green outlined video box and the film was Prince of the City.
In the world of the New York City Police Department, Detective Bobby Ciello (Treat Williams) is part of a highly praised group of five policemen known as the Special Investigative Unit that make the big arrests and reap the benefits of its results. One day Bobby has an altercation with a family member during an occasion with his partners and brings him to a major decision in his life. He brings himself in as part of a bigger investigation that involves the corruption of his own officers keeping in mind that he would not involve his own partners of the unit that they had made. Unfortunately, it’s when he crosses the line upon this cracking down of crooked cops that makes his life more complex and more difficult to deal with psychologically and makes his partners who put the great trust in him think twice about whether or not to do the same as he did.
The first thing that this reviewer has to say is that this is a long film of a little more than two and a half hours and one I understood as to why it took two tapes to rent in that video store. Some would say it takes away from the overall impact of the film but this reviewer begs to differ as details, characters and complications put the viewer right away into the psyche of our main character. It does focus on Detective Ciello, and it manages to be not only about him but the ensemble of people on both sides of the law that tend to hop without being too complicated to follow. Granted, it’s a film that won’t take one viewing to get the overall feel but in this reviewers case the more viewings to take in, the better it gets and the more complex the story in the grounds of not going over the top, the more there is to appreciate and there is much to with this film.
Sidney (in his only nominated screenplay with Jay Presson Allen) pulls no punches and doesn’t succumb to a big car chase or the big shootout in between but rather has a minimal score, including as many details and characters as possible to balance the narrative, and doesn’t resort to any cliches that have burdened later films for other directors concerning the corruption in the police department. It utilizes its length and doesn’t waste any of it along with the smart move of not having any main title credits and saving who’s in the film for the end credits that are done in a most unique way by director Lumet and a method that is used as far as this viewer knows in one other Lumet film.
The acting all around is exceptional with Williams leading the pack as the cop who’s decision brings more conflict to all that is around him as well as the struggle for himself and all the questioning individuals that would like to crack him. The rest of the ensemble is sometimes like a who’s who of character actors giving terrific support to all the main scenes and the right touches for the little scenes. There were even some of the performers that I even questioned whether they were acting or not or even not knowing whether they were actors or just being themselves in their roles and that said a lot of how well cast Lumet assembled for this film. Prince of the City takes a story of corruption and poses a lot of questions within the system as well as gives the viewer a different tale that was based on a true story and shows that investigations like this take time and is used wisely throughout the course of this film which stands as another underappreciated gem of the eighties that plays just as good today as it did then.
Video: How does it look?
Prince of the City in its debut on DVD is shown in the original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the transfer is worth the wait as the print is very clean and devoid of any scratchiness or specks and if there were any, this reviewer hardly noticed it. The colors are bright all along and dark when they need to be and there are no evidence of overbleeding and keeps a nice balance visually throughout the entire film which like the video takes two discs in this case to show the entire film although since I didn’t see the video I could not compare as to if the act break was the same or if a slight jump in film during one scene of surveillance was the same in the film as it was here on disc #1. Despite that, the film looked great and the visuals used in this film are intact by todays standards even though it has the film of the time, the look is impressive.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track for Prince of the City is mostly dialogue driven as well as includes some effects in scenes as well as the occasional score that’s played through a few parts of the film as well as the films menu and the quality is quite good and even though not one to be compared to the audio epics of the day, it is quite good through all channels with the few effects on the outer channels and the dialogue during the interiors and exteriors of the film. Everything comes out with some muteness of the limited sound quality of the time and absolutely no distortion between any channels audibly. Overall a pretty good track. This disc also has a French Mono track as well as English, French or Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
With this 2 disc Special Edition, there is one extra each on each disc. The first disc contains the films effective Theatrical Trailer that has a few scenes, some dialogue and gives very little away of the film and it is on this disc anamorphically in 1.85:1
The other extra can be found on disc 2 and is wisely put on there. It’s the 28 minute featurette entitled “Prince of the City:The Real Story” and it gives a short and sweet take from its origin from the real cop to novel and writer to the films inception with some of the players involved included. It does make up from a regular commentary track and like the film utilizes what one would criticize as the film worked for its long length and its purpose, the featurette works for exactly the same reason for its short length. It gives just enough without overdoing it and telling it like it is.
In conclusion, it took this viewer twenty four years to fulfill the curiosity that was this film and given the time from its first release to now, it works considerably on DVD with the few but effective extras and certainly one worth owning in any DVD collection.
