Carlito's Way 1 & 2 Double Feature Minisode Review

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Don't realize how important a voice is until you hear the wrong one in its place. There's a reason they use the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in Star Wars and not a guy like Al Pacino, right? No, because this doesn't work.

[00:00:24] Luke! So we can rule the universe as father and son! I can't breathe in this thing. And I'm too stinking blind.

[00:00:51] There was a point where he changed. It was the movie Scent of a Woman where he said hoo-ha after everything. It's like a period at the end of the sentence. Like, I got a dog on my leg. Hoo-ha. When I'm hungry, I eat broccoli. Hoo-ha. Hoo-ha doesn't mean anything to a civilian. To us, it's a nonsensical phrase. Might as well be out there going, na-na! Na-di-boo-boo. Because that's what Pacino does. He takes little kid sayings, turns them into tough guy phrases no matter what the situation is. Someone comes and says the mob's gonna kick your ass. Be like, you, sir, are a liar.

[00:01:21] Liar, liar! Your pants are on fire! Na-di-freaking-boo-boo. And Pacino always looks like he's chewing gum, too, right? Every time I see him, he's chomping away. I love to go up to him on the set, like, what kind of gum you're chewing? Hubba-bubba. Really? No! I just like to say, hubba-bubba.

[00:01:51] I spend most of my time in Pacino movies trying to figure out where he's looking. Because he doesn't look at the other actors anymore. It's like a fly always gets on the screen in front of him. It's the only thing you can pay attention to. Somebody's like, hey Al, hold on. ...else for no reason in movies, too. That's why I see somebody cast him as a librarian. Just to see what he'd do.

[00:02:20] Because you know everybody's gonna be shushing him, he'll be screaming, he's like, shh, where's the B-section? Shhh, where is the B-section? Shhh. And what the HELL is the Dewey Decimal System? So as usual, we are always having some mini-chats. And in this case, I decided we were long overdue to go into the Carlitos Way movies. And for Godfather-themed week, some of the other different episodes fell through.

[00:02:47] And I was like, nah, whatever happens, I gotta still talk about these. These still owe arguably even more to the Godfather than they even do to other Brian De Palma and Al Pacino movies. And in this case, it's like, yeah, perfect timing. Been long overdue. Let's just talk about them now. You know, I've wanted to check out the books these are based on for a while. But here first, here are three other segments involving these, and then we'll go from there.

[00:03:16] Next. Reloaded. Re-edited. Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun. Here is a reshuffled mini-episode.

[00:03:48] Appeals decision. Now devolve upon me the painful duty of unleashing upon society a reputed assassin. The prisoners discharge. Call the next case. You got Carlito Brigante, man. You a legend. He's one of us. Put some more in everybody's pocket big time. He was big. This is a tough guy. He just got out of Lewisburg, man.

[00:04:07] I am sitting in jail, wondering where you are. What was it like inside, Charlie?

[00:04:35] Kids nowadays, the shotgun you miss, you fly up in the air, man. Who are you working on? We're tired. We're tired. That's right. They're tired. I got a good feeling about this club. I think we're gonna make some real money. But as soon as I make my 75, I'm splitting. Maybe you don't remember me. My name is... Maybe I don't remember the last time I blew my nose. If I ever see you here, I'll get it. You'll die. Did you ever kill anybody, Charlie? You guys went down. Yeah.

[00:05:03] You just do what you gotta do to survive. I give you a million bucks to make a simple pay-worth and nothing happens. The contract's already down on your palm. You're gonna end up in that river out there. I'm asking for a unit. Yeah, well, I ain't dealing. I ain't going back to prison no matter what! You said you would pay my job. Charlie, I gotta do this, just this one thing, and then I'm out. Every instinct you've got won't do anything but get you killed! He saved my life, Gail!

[00:05:39] That's what I am, right or wrong. I can't change that! Never give up your friends, Dad. And there's only one rule, you save your own ass. Didn't you ever have a dream? Yeah, I had a dream, Charlie. I'm Batastella at there for review. You may have actually heard me on the Women In Session podcast also at in session film dot com.

[00:06:09] But I'm really excited that the Jacked Up Review Show Podcast asked me to take part. But getting away from horror for a little bit, as much as I do love, you know, horror thriller things, I really do love Carlitos Way also, actually. I know everybody probably would say Scarface here. I love Scarface. I love Godfathers, of course. Carlitos Way actually is one of my favorite Al Pacino performances. And because we have seen him, you know, Godfather, Godfather 2, the nostalgia of it, the consequences.

[00:06:38] If everything is for family, then what is it all for if you end up alone? And then we do have the revelry of, you know, the mounds of cocaine and, you know, all the little friends, you know, of Carlitos Way. The ecstasy of it, I suppose. But Carlitos Way is much more somber, reflective. You know, I love when he gets out of prison. He says, what happened to the miniskirts? Now it's the 70s. I think Sean Penn is very excellent in this as a supporting actor. And he's won awards for other things, of course. But I always thought he should have been nominated at least for this.

[00:07:08] Just the bittersweetness of, I don't know, the life of crime and, you know, I'm Billy Blanco from the Bronx. You know, you kind of can't escape even when you're trying to go your own way, even when you're trying to go legit. So I think it's a little more of an outlier film for De Palma that it's a more tender piece in a way. There's some beautiful romantic scenes also in it, the way it's filmed. So I really love that one. That's one that I go back to too often.

[00:07:36] This here is the story of East Harlem. Italians, Puerto Ricans and blacks. All in a three-sided war. And then one day that's what made the peace. The dope. Everybody working together in the business. Earl was the brains. Nothing ever went down without discussing it with Earl. Rocco had all the connections. Me. I'm Calito Brigante. You don't never want no beef with me.

[00:08:08] Come on, Carlito. What do you do? Hustling, beaving, anything for dollars and MAs. What I tell you. One day you're gonna meet the right kind of man. You wanna start making some real money, Charlie? The Italians. I have a very dependable supply line. One day you and them wild yo-jo come scurrying over to me like a bunch of starved cockroaches. You ain't a street hood no more. You a business man. I got my dignity. My pride. You're gonna bring down Hollywood Nikki.

[00:08:38] He's got three tons stashed in the safe house. Nobody knows where that is. I do. When you take something that's mine, spit in my face. You stay away from my sister, you understand me? You was in on it. So you're responsible. I'm putting contracts on you, Rocco, and Earl. We can't go to war with this guy. You making decisions for me and Rocco now? We work for you? You are gonna hand us everybody.

[00:09:06] Otherwise, you're going down with them. I need them. I need them. This loyalty that you have for your friends for someday is gonna get you killed. Every day I want you to remember one thing. You still alive. That's me.

[00:09:27] How about the fact that that producer who produced both Dog Day Afternoon worked with Al Pacino later on on Scarface?

[00:10:12] Brickman? Martin Brickman? My dude, yes. Yeah. And that's a big producer, you know? Didn't he produce Cruising? Yep. He produced Cruising and Sea of Love. I think so. And Scarface. And he took credit for Carlito's Way 1 and 2. So there you go. Like, he's done other stuff like The Bone Collector and Betsy's Wedding and the Four Seasons, as well as flops like Pluto Nash.

[00:10:37] So, he was big until 2018, but I remember him just saying, like, yeah, Dog Day Afternoon changed my life. That's my career. All right. You back in business, huh? I'm retired, Laleen. I told you that. No more business for me. Oh. Come on, man. All them people in Lewisburg and you tell me you didn't connect? I did a lot of reading mostly.

[00:11:05] Worked on my appeal, that kind of thing. What about you? What is this? Pachanga told me you was doing 30 years. Yeah. Beat it. You beat it? How'd you do that? You know, like you, I did a lot of reading. And I worked with some guys, some smart guys in a joint and speed it, so. Shit. That's good. It's to you.

[00:11:36] To you. Realized. So listen. I'm in with some new people now. No italiano, tu sabe? Now they trust you. They think you're fucking getting or something. Where they from? Pleasant Avenue? No, downtown. Anyway, they got the money. They got a lot of money. They sent me heavy paper. They went through 25 for a key. If it's good shit, you know? And they want regular street people. Gente el barrio.

[00:12:04] You know, old school all the fucking way. Stand up guys like us. Right, Lali? Yeah. Old school, baby. So what you say? You and me, just like old times, man. And you bringing the people you with out? I ain't with nobody. I told you that. I ain't connected no more. Oh, come on, man. You forget who you're talking to? Look at this, man. Wait a minute. This how you beat your 30 years, huh? No. Piece of shit. Let me just back.

[00:12:34] I'm gonna kill you, you motherfucker. I'm gonna fucking push you in the fucking river! What the fuck is going on, Carlito? No, no, wait a minute. Wait a fucking second! You a fucking chiva, man? You a fucking rapper? I'm gonna fucking kill him, man! Let me kill him, Carlito, man! No, let him fucking kill me! Fuck you! Kill me, mother...

[00:13:27] Listen, he even turned off. Listen to me now. Who sent you? Who sent you, motherfucker? Answer me. The DA. The DA. Norwalk? Norwalk? Yeah, man. He got a heart out for you, man. He got a deal with the eating again. Big time. I was dealing. Who told him that? I don't know. I've been clean since I got up. I haven't made one fucking move. Who told him that? I don't know! Who told him that? I don't know!

[00:14:03] I would never do that. I was gonna give you a signal. It wasn't even turned on. It's something else, man! Oh, shit, man. You can kill me. I ain't gonna kill you, Nelly. I ain't even gonna hurt you, man. The only people who ever cares.

[00:14:33] Hey! How do you do that? You lost, motherfucker. Let me get somebody. Let me get you. Let me get you. All right, gang. So, again, you know, I love talking about all the different movie franchises we've had, including movies that no one knew were franchises. And it's like, yeah, here's one of them. Curly Oswe. Anyway, and in this case, yes.

[00:15:02] Curly Oswe is just so in your face. I didn't care for the first one when I first saw it, but I came around on it. I was like, you know, it has more pros than flaws. It is a decent action movie as well, but it's also... Pacino really stretching himself. You actually care for him and wanted to get out of here as a former drunk kingpin.

[00:15:26] And again, there are flaws in the narrative, but it's also so wild, too, how this is the same material as... What was also the book that was... Well, actually, no. It was called... It came from the book After Hours. And... As well.

[00:15:54] But that was a sequel to the book of the same name, Curly Oswe. We all getting out of here soon, Carly. It's all. Missed it already. Time to stop all your bulls. My bulls. Rippin' off cars, sellin' reefer. Time to get your act together. The last time I checked, we was all doin' time. Me and Rocco, we businessmen. You? Small-time street hood, eh? Wanna start makin' some real money, Charlie?

[00:16:25] A kudom? Heroin's takin' over. My people, they have a very dependable supply line. But... The Italians, see? They ain't goin' to 125th Street to deal with the brothers. And they ain't goin' west to deal with the Puerto Ricans. They need distributors in those neighborhoods. Guys with heart. Guys with brains. Stand up, mother... You can be a part of this, Charlie. Or you can keep us in quarters the rest of your life.

[00:16:54] Think about it. That's how three cats from different islands got together. Me, Earl, and Rocco. We hit Harlem like Frazee hit Ali. Growing up, I thought, oh, is this related to the Martin Scorsese movie? I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. But, yeah, it's by Edwin Torres.

[00:17:25] And... Man of Pareto. He used to be a New York Supreme Court justice. And then he turned into a novelist. He's proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, as you should be. And he's done all kinds of other crime fiction. And, yeah, he's... He's used his background to really get into those. And... And... It's wild, though, too, how... It was a reverse. It's like the...

[00:17:54] The movie by De Palma was a neat kind of sleeper hit for him after years of flops in the 80s. And cult movies. And... It was always a darling. It was always on AMC, because it's easy to modify. I didn't... I think that's why I didn't like it right away. There was so much action in the strip club. It was like, get on with the fucking plot. But... I love it. It's like... You got Sean Penn as the... Dirty lawyer who's in way too deep. About to get... You know... Killed by a few different hitmen.

[00:18:24] But it's a fast-paced movie. And basically, a lot of the people who Carlito has wronged, you know, come back for him. Stab him in the back. And that happens to be this one punk. Played by... John Leguizamo. Who doesn't take kindly to him being bullied. Well, I... What happened to me in Carlito's way was I had worked with De Palma. So this is my second time with him. So I feel much more comfortable. And he trusted me. Which is why people work with the same director often. Because you create this rapport.

[00:18:53] And you have a shorthand. And... And I did a lot of research for the part. You know, and I knew people like that growing up. I mean, drug dealers. And, you know, they let me go. You know, and I started improvising like crazy. And adding all this text. And... And De Palma loved it. And so I feel like I really found myself... Like what it was to be present in the moment. To be as...

[00:19:23] As explosive and as volatile as you can be. And also as quiet. And working with Pacino was... And Sean Penn was ridiculous. So that's how I found myself in there. And then I followed up with Tu Wong Fu. Where I did the same thing again. You know, sort of like... I did mad research. Hung out with all these transgender Latin women and men. And they helped me. You know, helped me find this character. And helped define it. And helped create this whole life. And then I brought it to Tu Wong Fu. And... And...

[00:19:53] B-Bang Kidron allowed me to bring all this extra stuff to it. By the way, they're turning Tu Wong Fu into a musical. Broadway musical. Can't wait to see that shit. Yeah, there's a neat subway chase at the end. And... Shootouts aside, just... You also just... The grit in that New York location. You know, it's like you feel at first... Am I about to watch a Death Wish movie here? It's like, no. I've seen a... Pure Adventure. Crime movie. There's some mild dark comedy in here. It is funny though, how...

[00:20:23] Curly Toe is roughing up some guys. Who are messing with them. And he's like, I don't fucking know you. It's like, that's great. That's probably realistic though too. And... Again, De Palma loves cinema. So he does work in some 40s, neo-noir look. And overall feel. Now onto the prequel. You know, that comes out in 2005. Universal is putting some money into all their... Different sequels to theatrical movies that they release. And they had their rogue pictures sub-label.

[00:20:53] And they decided, hey, let's do a prequel. Let's actually film the book that was left out for the original movie. And they went to town. They had some huge cast members. This movie still gets shown every once in a while on HBO. I don't know. It had nothing to do with this bullshit. Reggie called me talking about he want to come down the island and hide out.

[00:21:22] I took the first plane smoking. There's my ticket. I landed this morning. Don't listen to that fucking cocodo. Shut the fuck up. Reggie, where's the money? Fuck you. Punieta, where's the money? Reggie, tell me where the fucking money is. Just give it up and we'll let you walk. Nobody letting nobody walk. Fuck. Where's the money? Reggie, there's six guys downstairs. You kill us, you still ain't making it out this building. Tell me where the money is.

[00:21:52] We'll cook up a story for Artie and let you go. Reggie, listen to him. This is your last out, brother. I'm supposed to believe that shit? Listen to him! Punieta! I'm trying to help you out, Reggie! Fuck you, Carlito. You said next time you see me gonna be bad? Well, you shouldn't have came looking then, cause you dying first. Reggie. Reggie! And the author approved of it. The critics, not so kind, but... I thought everyone did so good in this, actually.

[00:22:20] I didn't care for it when I saw it premiere at 2 in the morning on TNT one night, but... I've come around on it since, cause it's really snappy. Great cast. Huge cast. Jay Hernandez did pretty good capturing both Pacino and the character. And... Man. He's so young here, too. This is before he was on other stuff like Friday Night Lights movie, Hostel, Suicide Squad, where he played El Diablo.

[00:22:49] I wasn't a fan of his Magnum P.I. remake, but it wasn't his fault. It was just a bad show. But... Yeah, he's been into other stuff like Joyride, Crazy Beautiful, bad movies like LOL, cult movies like Takers. And he's also coincidentally in Nothing Like the Holidays, a holiday movie with John Leguizamo. So there you go. Have a quiet drink in this motherfucker without you pushing a mop in his face! Fuck!

[00:23:18] If you don't mind, we'll drop the tea shop at home. You can get Reggie out of here. You got it. Now that Earl's calling you to make sure we never see him again. You know you ain't got nobody to blame but yourself, that Earl passed you up. Could have had the whole policy bank, but you just wouldn't straighten your ass out. Fuck Earl and fuck you! You ain't nothing but rock those niggas. You know what, Reggie? Walk your ass home. It's freezing out here, man. Okay.

[00:23:49] Hop the bus. You know what? You hung around close to a year. You ain't learn shit. You made no friends, no contacts. All you do is go to Black Pride meetings, drink all night and chase whores. You know the last time I checked, Malcolm X was a Muslim scholar. No pork, no booze, no pussy. Paid five times a day and wore a bow tie. You don't know nothing about me. A punk is a fucking punk, Reggie. Black, white, Puerto Rican and Chinese. The only reason why you allowed to walk the streets is your brother.

[00:24:19] He's gone now. So you better go home, lock yourself in it, stay there. I'm gonna tune you up one day, Carlito. Why wait, motherfucker. If you're gonna make a move, make a move right now. Next time I see you, it's gonna be bad.

[00:24:51] He's been a go-to. He was for playing Marines and detectives. He's in Lake View Terrace. Done some other voiceovers. He played Bonnie's dad in Toy Story 4. So there you go. But yeah, I got nothing against him. I think he's very talented dude. And I mean, he'd said other recurring stuff like the Expanse and Scandal, but this is cool to see him kind of, he got his feet wet here. And I just thought, hey, he looks like a young Pacino.

[00:25:20] He could have easily played a young Tony Montana, but great cast. Michael Kelly, years before he was on House of Cards, Jack Ryan. At this point, he would have already been on The Sopranos. And we got Mario Van Peebles, who again, you know, this is the dude who wrote, directed and starred in New Jack City. So come on. And we got, you know, we do have Diddy. He did good here.

[00:25:48] This is before we knew he was a prick off screen. And we got Jacqueline DeSanto, who has been in a few NBC shows, not as well known. She's cute, which is overall her goal. But it was fun seeing. I was confused at first. It was like, yeah, yeah, Louise Goodsman. He's in both these movies. He's like, oh, but he's not playing the same person. I'm like, OK, cool. I can dig it. And, you know, he's been in everything.

[00:26:15] Oz, Narcos, Code Black, Cindy LeMay's Q&A, Soderbergh's The Limey and Out of Sight. Yeah, Traffic. So yeah, he's a Paul Tom Sanderson, Soderbergh regular. He's been worked with De Palma and other stuff like Snake Eyes. He was with Michael J. Fox in The Hard Way. That was funny. But he had a brief recurring role in NYPD Blue as Martinez's dad. So that was cool.

[00:26:45] Actually, no, I think they were brothers. But yeah, he's really come a long way by saying, hey, you know, I don't play games. How funny it was. They just reference multiple times that community and then finally showed up on the show playing a version of himself. Yeah, I mean, I love me some Louise. He's a beyond talented dude. He's probably gotten more popular because he was in around this time in other movies like Waiting. But he does good here.

[00:27:12] He gets to do some akimbo gun fights and really let loose. But there's some reverse kidnapping. There's some utter getting even. I dug the plot twist. I think a lot of people were just full of shit, really. It is delivered exactly what I expected. Crime for galore. And and they were pretty good at incorporating real life history in it.

[00:27:41] They referenced the Rockefeller drug laws by the governor. Under Gerald Ford back in the 70s. I was like, yeah, the 70s look and feel looks neat. And there's some other neat actors in there, too. Juan Carlos Hernandez. But yeah, you're in Carlos Pesito gets to play a dirty detective play named Little Jeff. Got Chad Coleman from The Wire.

[00:28:09] Yeah, Burt Young from Rocky's in every gangster movie. Pretty sick cast. And yeah, the fact that I got 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm like, fuck that. That's more like a 60 or 70%. Don't give me a 30%. That's no. No. Give that to some lazy slasher franchise or... crappy... TV movie spinoff of a cop show. Yeah. Whatever, guys.

[00:28:39] You dig your own grave. These two movies, both what we're seeing. Get them off the aisle. Don't listen to anybody else. Go in and make up your own mind. They delivered exactly what they promised. Mario Van Peebles was on fire as usual. Just have fun with both. They're both very solid. It would be a fun double feature to do, actually, in many ways. But thanks for listening to our various inserts as I wrap this all up for you. Enjoy the rest of Godfather month.

[00:29:05] We'll return after these messages. All right, folks, Hal Pack here. We've got a 90-minute weekly Shack Stop. It's growing all over the world. Find it at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Mondays. Then 3 p.m. on Wednesdays. Then 7 p.m. on Thursdays. You can catch it on many more radio stations.

[00:29:30] 99.9 KERV, 1 p.m. Central Time, 2 p.m. Eastern on Mondays. Then catch the Encore on Thursdays at 5 p.m. Central Time, 6 p.m. Eastern. Then catch it Wednesday mornings at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, 10 a.m. Central, 1077 K-Twins. Then hang out with us Wednesday afternoons on MXTR and Hal Shack Radio, 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

[00:29:57] Then Thursday, get up bright and early with us on 95.7 Web Radio at 6 a.m. Pacific Time, 9 a.m. Eastern. Of course, we've got your Friday covered as well. 12 p.m. Eastern Time on MXTR FM and 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 9 p.m. Central, 1077 K-Twins. Find everything on HalShack.com.

[00:30:30] Welcome to the Better Call Daddy Show, the number one podcast where we admit no matter what happens, Daddy has the advice we need to fix our problems. Introducing my dad, Mr. Wayne Friedman. That was good. It would be nice if you could also sing a song. What would the song be? You love Paris in the springtime. I just made up some words to it. I love Rina in the springtime. I love Rina in the fall. That's right. That's good enough.

[00:30:56] What I do is interview people of interest, share it with my dad, and get my dad's advice. My dad is my hero. Nobody's got my daddy. Oh boy, let's go to grandpa. You like to be a little rebel. I tried to rein you in. I have a daughter named Rina that acts just like I did. She's got a son that is not only just like me, but it's just like her. I'm your host, Rina Friedman Watts. Invite your friends, subscribe, and I'm excited to take this journey with you. Let's dive in.

[00:31:24] She was teasing this guy with the sword, and she accidentally cut his dick. Oh my god, I'm dying. And then he started to enjoy it. I started going down the phone sex rabbit hole. You've got the wankers, and you jerk off in five seconds, and then they're done because A, they don't want to spend money, and B, they're quick. My stepfather had mania. If I'm yelling at one of my kids, that fear, that rigid fear. Mom even said to me, I hope you have a kid just like you. There are lots of people that are being bought and sold right now for profit.

[00:31:54] If you think you're going to kill yourself, shut up and kill yourself. If you're not going to kill yourself, then shut up, smarten up, and it's all on you. The bullshit has to end. Wow. When I was 11 years old, I was raped and molested over the course of a year. What Jeffrey Epstein had was a sickness inside of him. I am Evan Castrilli Carmichael. I can do anything that I believe that I can. I'm so excited too. Let's go. Next, I'm Better Call Daddy with my mom and my grandpa. Stay tuned.

[00:32:22] Follow us on the web on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The podcast is available on Podbean, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Anchor, Apple, and anywhere else podcasts are available. Feel free to review our show and leave comments on any of those sites. Thanks a million for listening.