Night and the City DVD (15)

Dir: Irwin Winkler, 1992, USA, 105 min
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Jessica Lange, Alan King

This 1992 adaptation of Gerald Kersh’s novel is often overlooked in favour of the early 1950 version starring Richard Widmark, but is not without its merits. Featuring a strong cast and a deftly adapted script by Clockers (1995) author Richard Price, it’s a light-hearted look at life on the bottom of the pile. DeNiro plays Harry Fabian, an ambulance-chasing lawyer who takes umbrage at the description ‘shyster’, perhaps because it cuts so close to the bone. From the outset, he’s the archetypal small man out of his depth – entangled in an adulterous affair with the barkeep’s wife (Lange) and attracting the worrying attention of local mobster-cum-boxing promoter ‘Boom-Boom’ Grossman (King). When Harry gets the idea to start up his own boxing promotion, one senses that it’s doomed to failure, but there’s a certain will for the doomed endeavour to succeed, despite the odds. This is largely due to DeNiro’s performance, which is pitched somewhere between Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1980) and Jack Walsh in Midnight Run (1988), creating a portrait of a confident loser from the fringe of society and desperate to carve a slice of the pie for himself. “Why can’t I be the man for once?” he bemoans and it’s this desire to be someone that is Harry’s undoing, as he stretches himself further and further to realise an unworkable dream.

Director Irwin Winkler shoots the film in journeyman fashion and while it accurately captures the feel of New York, any number of other films could say the same. This is not a film of visual flourishes, but rather of strong ensemble playing and unfussy narrative. While DeNiro heads the cast, he’s surrounded by dependable supporting players such as Eli Wallach and Jack Warden and the only possible makeweight in the cast is Jessica Lange. While she has a couple of sparkling moments, she struggles with a part that is underwritten. Her only function seems to be to support Harry, no matter how badly he screws her over and this seems at odds with the tough, sassy way she plays the role of Helen. While the interplay between her and DeNiro has its moments, it never quite lights up the screen as it was meant to.

It’s difficult to know quite how to categorise the 1992 version of Night and the City. While it pootles along rather pleasantly, it doesn’t really offer any particular highs or lows and as such may be more suited to rental than purchase. The paucity of extras combined with the fact that it’s only available as a 4:3 pan-and-scan presentation means that even rabid DeNiro aficionados might think twice about adding it to their collections.

Extras:
Trailer

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Tom Alexander