Rupert Pupkin, meet Harry Fabian

NIGHT OF THE CITY (1992)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally viewed in 1992)

Irwin Winkler's "Night and the City," a New York-style remake of the classic 1950  Jules Dassin film of the same name, is fast-paced and diverting enough but it lacks the elements of film noir that the original had.

Robert De Niro gives one of his more intriguing performances as Harry Fabian, an ambulance-chasing lawyer who concocts deals and phone calls out of a bar and meets his clients in a dirty hotel suite. Fabian's latest client was apparently assaulted by a big-time boxer, but the case is settled quickly when his client turns out to be bigger than the boxer himself. This case does ignite something in Harry, and he decides to become a boxing promoter! This means he is in competition with another promoter, Boom-Boom Grafalk (the boisterous Alan King), who tries to stop Fabian from foolishly pursuing a pipe dream. It is no secret that Boom-Boom has mob connections, so who would be foolish enough to promote any boxer if they are all managed by someone like Boom-Boom?

 

"Night and the City" tries too hard to be a Scorsese-like vision of the original film (Scorsese was originally approached to direct), but its realism does not always jive with the comedic elements, namely De Niro's performance. De Niro is like a ball of fire and dynamic as a fast-talking shyster, but he also laces the performance with humor and that may be the wrong approach. He thinks he is funny, and Richard Widmark's Harry Fabian character from the original never assumed he was funny at all. At times, De Niro seems to be treading on his Rupert Pupkin character from "The King of Comedy," again not the right approach. But there is an incredible scene where De Niro sits in a bar looking haggard and wasted as if he stepped out of a Charles Bukowski novel, realizing his life may be in danger.

Jessica Lange turns in an excellent performance as Fabian's girlfriend (a composite of two female roles from the original) who has dreams of running her own bar - she has dreams like Harry but can't quite fulfill them. Cliff Gorman is subdued and effective as Lange's husband who is suspicious of Fabian's schemes. There is also a terrific cameo by Barry Primus as a sports writer, Tommy Tessler, who "spits on Audie Murphy's grave" - he is so damn good as a no-nonsense New Yorker that you wish there was more of him. And lest we not forget the great Alan King, again also subdued as Boom-Boom - he has one intense scene where he scares Fabian with a story about a boxer who could push his fingers through a man's head. And also worth noting is the small, pivotal role of Boom-Boom's ailing, estranged brother (Jack Warden) who tries to assist Fabian.

"Night and the City" is not a total failure and it does have some bravura moments and is completely watchable. But its highly uneven mixture of comedy and drama eschews noir and its fatalistic approach, particularly from the original, for comedic hijinks with a forced dramatic edge (and silly happy ending, which had a far different ending originally). Call it Noir Lite.