Night and the City

Plot synopsis:
Harry Fabian (Widmark) is an ambitious American hustler and con man operating in London, always looking for a better deal. He maintains a fractured relationship with the honest Mary Bristol (Tierney), nightclub owner and businessman Phil Nosseross (Sullivan), and Helen (Withers), who is Phil's estranged wife. While attempting a con at a wrestling match, Fabian witnesses Gregorius (Zbyszko), a veteran Greek wrestler, arguing with his son Kristo (Lom), who has organised the fight, and who effectively controls all wrestling in London. After denouncing Kristo's event as tasteless exhibitionism that shames the sport's Greco-Roman traditions, Gregorius leaves with Nikolas (Richmond), a fellow wrestler. Fabian catches up with the two and befriends them, having realised that he can host wrestling in London without interference from Kristo if he can persuade his father to support the enterprise.
Fabian approaches Phil and Helen with his proposal, then asks for an investment. Incredulous, Phil offers to provide half of the required £400, if Fabian can equal it. Desperate, Fabian asks Figler, a panhandler and unofficial head of an informal society of street criminals, Googin, a forger, and Anna, a Thameside smuggler, but none can offer any help. Fabian is eventually approached by Helen, who offers the £200 in exchange for a licence to continue running her own nightclub, having obtained the money by selling an expensive fur Phil recently bought for her. Fabian agrees, but tricks Helen by having Googin forge the licence. Meanwhile, Phil is visited by associates of Kristo, who warn him to keep Fabian away from London's wrestling scene. Already suspecting Helen of duplicity, Phil neglects to warn Fabian, who proceeds to open his own gym with Gregorius and Nikolas as the stars, and Phil as a silent partner.
A furious Kristo visits the gym, only to discover that his father is supporting Fabian's endeavour. Meeting with Phil, the two plot to kill Fabian, but realise that they can only do so if Gregorius leaves Fabian. Phil meets with Fabian and removes his backing, suggesting that Fabian get Nikolas and The Strangler (Mazurki), a showy wrestler favoured by Kristo, into the ring together to keep the business going, knowing that Gregorius would never allow it. Finding The Strangler's manager, Mickey Beer (Farrell), Fabian convinces him to support the fight, and taunts The Strangler into confronting Gregorius and Nikolas. Gregorius agrees to the fight, convinced by Fabian that it will prove that his style of wrestling is superior. Beer asks Fabian for £200 to cover his fee, so Fabian asks Phil for the money. Instead, Phil calls Kristo, informing him that The Strangler is in Fabian's gym.
Betrayed, Fabian steals the money from Mary, and returns to the gym. However, The Strangler goads Gregorius into a prolonged and brutal fight, during which Nikolas' wrist is broken. Gregorius eventually defeats The Strangler in the ring as Kristo arrives, but dies minutes later in his son's arms from exhaustion. Seeing that both his business and protection are lost, Fabian flees.
In revenge of his father's death, Kristo puts a £1,000 bounty on Fabian's head, sending word to all of London's underworld. Fabian is hunted through the night, first by Kristo's men, then by Figler, who attempts to trap Fabian for the reward. Convinced that her licence is authentic, Helen leaves Phil, only to discover that the work is a worthless forgery. She returns to Phil in desperation, only to discover that he has committed suicide, leaving everything to Molly (Reeve), the club's elderly cleaner and flower stand operator.
Fabian eventually finds shelter at Anna's, but has already been tracked down by Kristo. Mary arrives, and Fabian attempts to redeem himself by shouting to Kristo that Mary betrayed him, so that she will get the reward. As he runs towards where Kristo is standing on Hammersmith Bridge, he is caught and killed by The Strangler, who throws his body into the Thames. The Strangler is arrested moments later, and Kristo walks away from the scene.

Tags: neo noir

Review:
This has a depressing feel of inevitability about it - you can see the problems in Fabian's plans long before they happen, giving the film a feel of small time from the very start.
The story is therefore quite compelling, despite it being very low key, the only weakness being the romance subplot and the fact that it is quite depressing.De Niro is good as Fabian, his best scenes are when he's talking, trying to create something that isn't.
Jessica Lange is good but doesn't have that much to do and again her character isn't convincing when the bad times come.
Support is good from the likes of Eli Wallach, Jack Warner, Alan King and others.Overall this is a good film with an overall air of realism.
The picture deals an ambitious, fast-talking lawyer named Harry Fabian(Robert De Niro, Richard Widmark role) in N.Y.C., he's a hustler with several money-making schemes .
The story terminates with a persecution excellently filmed with all its rawness .This noir urban/drama packs good performances though Robert De Niro is overacting.
Nice interpretation by Jessica Lange , the only character who shows a bit of kindness on Harry.
Supporting casting is frankly well, as Cliff Gorman, Eli Wallach, Jack Warden, Barry Primus, Michael Badalucco, among others , furthermore cameo role by Richard Price, screenplay's author.
This version about Harry downfall lacks punch and dramatic weight, it results to be much better the classic adaptation (1955), a real masterpiece, set in London with Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Herbert Lom. This inferior new version is dedicated to Jules Dassin, the magnificent director of the original picture and adapted from the novel by Gerard Kersh.
The motion picture is regularly directed by Irwin Winkler, usual producer of Robert De Niro films and occasionally filmmaker..
He is outstanding as Harry Fabian, flimflam low life lawyer and cheap BS artist who tries desperately to make a big splash as a fight promoter.
At any rate, those who didn't like the movie almost certainly didn't care for De Niro's performance since his character dominates the action.(2) The ending, which some might see as unfinished and others as disagreeable since, regardless of what transpires, Fabian is still a loser, perhaps bigger than ever.(3) Some rather cheesy plot play.
That could happen.What cannot be faulted is the authentic New York atmosphere created by director Irvin Winkler, who is better know as a producer, most notably of the Sylvester Stallone "Rocky" films, and the fine work by the rest of the cast, especially Alan King (Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman), Eli Wallach (Peck), Cliff Gorman (Phil Nasseros), and Jack Warden (Al Grossman).
The story itself, from a novel by Gerald Kersh (script by Richard Price), is a variation on the "lovable, colorful loser makes good" theme, only in this case, like an inept noir anti-hero, he falls on his face--more than once, by the way.No real De Niro fan should miss this.
NIGHT AND THE CITY (1992) *** Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Alan King, Cliff Gorman, Jack Warden, Barry Primus.
Slice-of-low-life portrait remake of 1940 Richard Widmark flick casts De Niro as ambulance chasing attorney Harry Fabian trying to score big-time as a boxing promoter with the help of his lady love (Lange in an uncharacteristically unglamourous role) and the ex-fighter brother (Warden) of his chief nemesis (King in a humdinger of chilly malevolence as the corrupt boxing mogul).
How did Robert De Niro go from a performance like Max Cady in "Cape Fear" to Harry Fabian in "Night And The City"??
All the while the mobster is still making trouble.Jessica Lange and Jack Warden are the best actors on display here, even if you never understand Lange's characters loyalty to Fabian even after he ruined her dream.
The only reason I'm glad I watched this to the end was the fact that I got to hear Freddie Mercury sing 'The Great Pretender' over the closing credits which was a nice surprise..
Night and the City is directed by Irwin Winkler and adapted to screenplay by Richard Price from the novel written by Gerald Kersh.
It stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Jack Warden, Alan King, Eli Wallach and Barry Primus.
Ambulance chasing lawyer Harry Fabian (De Niro) has grand designs to be a boxing promoter.
It's not down to performances of the cast or the tech production in general, in fact De Niro, Warden and the under written Lange are watchable, while Fujimoto's photography around the New York locations is superlative.
Harry trudges from one slice of idiocy to another, with a big plot development making no sense, and all the time there's ill placed humour hanging over the plot to further compound the feeling we are watching a disjointed attempt at neo-noir nirvana.
The makers dedicated the film to Dassin, that's a nice sentiment, but really they should have honoured him by making a far better movie in the spirit of the great director himself.
In his career Robert DeNiro has done four remakes of classic films of which Night And The City is one of them.
In redoing parts made immortal by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Boris Karloff, and in this case Richard Widmark, DeNiro has wisely chosen not to imitate any of these people, instead whatever you think of the final product, he's certainly put out his own interpretation on these roles.From the shadow world of the London underworld scene where American expatriate Richard Widmark operated to the streets of New York in the Nineties, the plot of Night And The City has essentially remained the same except, and this is critical for the ending.
DeNiro must have loved the fact that his Tribeca Productions got to film in and around New York, especially in Tribeca.
If you remember what happens in the original Night And The City, you pretty much know what is going to happen here and for the most part it does.The legal profession doesn't necessarily attract guys like DeNiro, he's no Louis Brandeis, he's not about to publish articles in Harvard Law Review.
Even Jessica Lange who is Gorman's wife and who DeNiro is carrying on with, he lies to her and worse because he needs money.
He'd do all this if he wasn't a lawyer.The cast is an incredibly select and good one of New Yorkers themselves who can play these parts like second nature.
She throws him and his put up accident case out of court in a really terrific way.The film would rate a lot higher with me had the original ending from Jules Dassin's classic version been kept.
Other than that this version of Night And The City is a good film with a great cast of players to perform it..
There is some good acting in Night and the City, but the movie overall is unremarkable.
I found this movie pretty hard to watch, mainly because De Niro's character Harry Fabian is not very likeable and I tried very hard to like or respect this character, but I only felt sorry for the guy and I found this depressing.
However, De Niro and some of the supporting actors are quite good from an acting perspective in some scenes.I gave this movie a 6 out of 10.
I actually liked this movie quite a bit but if you're not a De Niro fan, this movie would be completely lost on you.
If you're not a De Niro fan but you still find that interesting than you probably have time to catch this movie while you're still deciding on your method of suicide.On the other hand, if you ARE a De Niro fan, the idea of ol' Bobby playing a bullpoop-slinging, sheisty lawyer and ticking everyone off pretty much speaks for itself.
The casting people loaded this film with a lot of good, solid character actors, but apparently forgot a cohesive plot and a story to go with all these screen gems.This movie goes to further serve that De Niro can make a vehicle, not matter how rusted and barely running, watchable.
This film "feels" like a good old movie from days past when screenplays, characterization and dialog where important, that's why I liked it, and I suppose that may not be "modern" enough for some...I found this to be a good film, with excellent characterizations that work (finally a movie that has 'real' characters we can understand, believe in, sympathize with), a realistic plot and some very good acting (especially De Niro whom I found to be excellent once again).
Robert 'stars' as a not too respectable character trying to get a grip on his life and to make some money.The story, if their is one, did not grab my attention for a second.
The only reason I saw this movie was its filming locale, Boxers on West 4th Street in NYC.
Night and the City (1992) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Remake of the 1950 Richard Widmark noir has Robert DeNiro playing Harry Fabian, a real loser who works as an attorney chasing ambulances and various other lowlifes.
If you're looking for a direct remake then you can pretty much forget about it as this Richard Price scripted film is more comedy than anything else.
Apparently Martin Scorsese was going to direct this but ended up backing out only six years later the picture got started up again by Winkler, who by this time decided to direct the thing himself.
Jessica Lange plays his love interest and manages to turn in a fine performance even though the screenplay doesn't offer her too much.
We do get a nice supporting cast including Jack Warden as a former boxer with a bad heart who is constantly cussing or wanting to fight.
Needless to say, it's the performances that make this film worth viewing and we also get a pretty good music score as well as some nice covers of some classic tunes.
This isn't a classic like the original film but there are enough interesting things to make it worth viewing but I'm sure most will agree when it's over that the thing should have been much, much better..
Night and the City has it's other star in the name of Jessica Lange.
Both Lange and de Niro make "Night and the City" a joy to watch.
He is truly the great pretender, but feelin' good at it!If you like de Niro's work you should definitely see this lighter drama, because he dances a tightrope between a comedy and a drama and does so very convincing.
Here the movie is totally absurd: I didn't catch why Bob as a disastrous lawyer wants suddenly to become a disastrous promoter of boxing games!
If you are not De Niro fans, you are no reason to watch this movie.
The only good thing hit my head was Robert de niro acted well :-).
I'm the kind of guy that sometimes watches a movie based on its cast or its director, and that was the case with 'Night and The City' with Robert de Niro.
Unhappily this movie is not as good as the best ones from de Niro ( Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America or The Godfather 2, Jackie Brown ).
In this movie, de Niro looks like Jim Carrey with his electric style, but this is not the de Niro we're used to see.The movie is about Harry Fabian ( a second-class lawyer from N.Y.
Phil's wife, Helen, is in love with Fabian and plans to leave Phil and open her own pub.Night and the City is a remake of the homonym filmed in 1950, that I haven't seen but is much better rated than the 1992's version.It seems that Irwin Winkler works better as a movie producer than as director.
One of the movies he promoted are Ranging Bull, New York New York and The Goodfellas, all them starring Robert de Niro..
Based on Gerald Kersh's novel and the 1950 movie-version directed by Jules Dassin (to whom this remake is dedicated), "Night and the City" gives us yet another colorful character portrait from actor Robert De Niro.
His semi-reluctant partner, a faded boxing legend (Jack Warden, in a smashing performance) happens to be "Boom Boom"'s brother, while Jessica Lange is the abused wife of Harry's main financier.
OK, so we all agree that Robert DeNiro and Jessica Lange are among the greatest stars of their generations.
I actually thought that the movie's most interesting aspect was the contrast between Jessica Lange and Jack Warden, and maybe I'm the only one who even saw that.
I just finished watching Robert DeNiro in "Night in the City."  DeNiro's classic role as "loser" wannabe "winner" Harry Fabien is perfect especially when teamed up with the beautiful and talented Jessica Lange.
I am so very happy to see that Robert DeNiro has "six" movies coming out in the year 2004..
Surprisingly, there are several good points to recommend the second version: De Niro's acting, the supporting cast, and the New York ambiance principally.Some of the reviewers on here argue that De Niro's unlikeable character diminishes the film, but they are missing the point -- the story is famous in part precisely because none of the characters is likable.
The film goes wrong when it attempts to update the story and change things like the ending, which tries to redeem Harry and adds a sentimental touch totally out of keeping with the noir impetus of the film.
A remake of the 1950 film noir of the same name, 'Night and the City' is an interesting story, which begins well, but, has a lackluster culmination.'Night and the City' is about a cheating and incompetent lawyer played by De Niro, who suddenly gets obsessed on becoming a boxing promoter.
Great acting, great character development, a sense of impending doom, and then the movie inexplicably ends on what is supposed to be a lighthearted moment.
Robert De Niro proved once again what a good actor he is, even given the poor writing in this 1992 film.
As Harry Fabian, an adventurous lawyer on the make for a quick buck, De Niro showed a dimension of a fast talking, aggressive lawyer, who is looking to make a big score as he focuses his attention to the crooked world of boxing.De Niro had a really excellent supporting cast to work with, Jessica Lange and the late Cliff Gorman, as a couple, looking to make it big as well, with Lange romancing DeNiro on the side.
I like Jessica Lange and Robert DeNiro and consider them both to be good actors.
I especially liked the main character, Harry Fabian.
I loved King of Comedy, and i found certain similarities between the main character Rupert Pupkin, and Harry Fabian.
This movie does suffer from many flaws like tepid characterisations, silly plot and mediocre direction, but the main character saves the film from being total trash..
A fast talking Lawyer Harry Fabian (Robert De Niro) with a failed plan.
As your viewing you say to yourself, "Why did I wait so long for the inevitable?" I was generous in giving this movie a grade of three stars for Jessica Lange and Robert DeNiro under the tutelage of acting school coach the renown Stella Adler.
Irwin Winkler's "Night And The City" is a light-hearted story about a shyster lawyer who gets into trouble when he decides to become a boxing promoter.
The plot is based on the Jules Dassin 1950 classic of the same name and features plenty of humour, sharp dialogue and interesting characters.Harry Fabian (Robert DeNiro) is an unscrupulous and fast-talking scam artist.
His main problems, however, are that he doesn't have sufficient funds of his own and also that established boxing promoter and gangster Ira "Boom Boom" Grossman (Alan King) doesn't appreciate someone else competing against him and threatening his profits.Harry regularly frequents a bar run by Phil Nasseros (Cliff Gorman) and is having an affair with Phil's wife Helen (Jessica Lange).
His recklessness, appalling lack of good judgement and capacity for betrayal make him a self-destructive character whose actions inevitably get him into hot water.Cliff Gorman, Eli Wallach, Alan King and Jack Warden are excellent in their supporting roles as they're all convincing and add considerable substance and colour to the whole movie.
It took a while to sort out what was going on with his character, a shyster lawyer by the name of Harry Fabian.
However if you can appreciate some clever acting, you won't be disappointed by DeNiro's turn as Harry Fabian here.
I also liked Alan King's out of character turn as hood Boom Boom Grossman, and Jack Warden as his retired boxing brother Al. Warden reminded me here of Burgess Meredith in the Rocky films, and I tried picturing him in the role of Mickey Goldman.
Night and the City is a 1992 remake of the 1950 film noir of the same name.It is an adaptation of Gerald Kersh's novel of the same name.
It features Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange.
It tells the story of a one Harry Fabian,a two-bit lawyer in New York.He easily becomes fascinated in the world of championship prizefights in the sport of boxing and needs the help of a hardnosed promoter,Alan King.Disaster plagues Fabian as his boxers fail to pass their physicals, and Warden dies while setting up the big event.
But he decides to face up the challenges for the first time in his life and stand his ground up to the final event of the situation.Overall,the movie does not hold up to the original film as it is far from being a classic.In fact,it was borderline average despite the presence of wonderful cast particularly De Niro and Lange.
De Niro's role is contradictory; on the one hand Harry Fabian lies and cheats, but the more you get to know him, the bigger his heart turns out to be.
I díd enjoy most of the acting though, beside De Niro I find Lange, Warden and Gorman especially worth mentioning.It's about time I tried the original, I suppose.