PRINCE OF THE CITY (1981)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 167 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Richard Foronjy, Don Billett, Kenny Marino
The sprawling Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) directed cop-drama Prince of the City stars Treat Williams (Hair, Deep Rising) as Danny Ciello, a detective on the NYPD's Special Investigations Unit, a criminal unit with a high success rate and history of big busts, including The French Connection, but it's also lousy with rampant crime and corruption within the ranks. Danny joined the force to make a difference but through the years he has leaned into the corruption, taking cash from drug busts, indulging in bribes, and suppling his junkie informants with heroin straight from the department's seized drugs cache.
He lives a flamboyant lifestyle with a too-nice-for-a-cop house, expensive wrist watches and fancy duds, which draws the attention of both his junkie brother and his unimpressed father, both of whom take note of lifestyle and disapprove. This family shame combined with the remorse he feels after he beats the snot out of one informant junkie to steal drugs for another junkie informant causes him to have a change of heart, he now feels that he needs to come clean. The opportunity to just that occurs when he is courted by the assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Cappalino (Norman Parker, Death By Invitation), who is out to bust corruption among the ranks of the SIU. With his own guilt chipping away at his conscious Danny agrees to work undercover for the Feds, but steadfastly refuses to turn on his partners; Gus (Jerry Orbach, The Sentinel), Dom (Kenny Marino, Death Wish 3), Joe (Richard Foronjy, Repo Man), and Bill (Don Billett, Ordinary People),
This is a cop flick gets into the cracked-psyche of a cop and his oath and loyalty to his brothers in blue; how they are almost lovers in how close they are to each other, and the idea of betraying your partners is an idea way beyond the pale. Danny works undercover for the feds wearing a wire over the course of several years, exposing the dozens of instances of illegal police activity and corruption among cops outside the SUI, politicians and businessmen, and he seems to get a thrill from it initially. However, when the higher-ups with the feds keep pushing him to turn on his partners he begins to crumble and is increasingly tormented by his choices, and things quickly begin to spiral out of control. I do like Treat Williams in this, from a cocksure crooked cop to a fidgety informant, at times I thought he was a bit too over-the-top, but it still works for me.
Despite his initial demand that he not turn on his partners his undercover actions eventually cause injury to those around him. His mob-connected cousin who saves his ass at one point, eventually gets thrown out with the trash, and more than one cop associate chooses to eat a bullet instead of turning into an informant and turning on his friends or facing an federal indictment for corruption. It's a film that was way ahead of it's time, things like this are still being explored on TV and on the big screen today, so I think this has probably aged quite well in that respect.
I thought that I'd never seen Prince of the City before, but as I watched it certain scenes early on were familiar to me, so I am thinking that I caught this on TV when I was a younger and just never finished it, in the 80's I was not watching three-hours movies, it was more quantity over quality back then, haha. Which is not too surprising, at nearly three-hours long this is a true commitment to sit down and watch, but I am glad I finally did give it a watch, it's probably one of my favorite cop drama now. Treat Williams is terrific as the cop-turned-informant, the various stages of his moral collapse while he free falls down a rabbit hole of his own creation is absolutely fascinating, and well-acted. Again, the length of this cop-drama epic might be a bit of a put-off, so I won't blame you for splitting this up into two separate viewings, but definitely check it. If you're into cop dramas like TV's The Shield or films like Serpico and Donnie Brasco, I think you're gonna love this flick.
Audio/Video: Prince of the City (1981) arrives on Region-free Blu-ray from warner Archive in 1080p HD and framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The images of NYC are shot by cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak (Death Trap) are grim, claustrophobic and depressing, the Blu-ray offers gritty visuals with a nice layer of film grain throughout. Colors are on the muted side but are well saturated and skin tones look natural, the urban landscapes look scummy and decayed, particularly a scene of Danny chasing a junkie through a crumbling neighborhood in the rain at night. Black levels are solid throughout as well, and the source is in great shape without dirt and debris. Also quite pleasing is the amount of fine detail in the close-ups of vintage period clothing and fabrics, the various well-groomed 70's era moustaches.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is crisp and clean and the two-channel sound design has some atmospheric moments like the sound of heavy downpour and a few of the more violent scenes. The score from Paul Chihara (Death Race 2000) has nice placement in the mix as well.
No new extras on this release but WAC carry-over the 29-minute archival featurette Prince of the City: The Real Story with contributions from director Sidney Lumet, screenwriter Jay Presson Allen, author Robert Daley, production designer Tony Walton, actors Treat Williams, Bob Balaban, and Lance Henriksen, plus we get the 2-minute Theatrical Trailer for the film. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork, which is also excerpted on the Blu-ray disc. .
Special Features:
- Prince of the City: The Real Story (29 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City (1981) is a terrific cop drama, a fascinating character study of a crooked cop turned informant who is broken down by the process and anguishes over his betrayal of his beloved partners. At nearly three hours long it's an epic-length watch, but it's an epic story that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good cop drama.
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
