Prince of the City
![[box cover]](../reviewimgs/p/princeofthecityvhs.jpg)
Legendary director Sidney Lumet is a working director, not the type to take long vacations or spend a couple of years in pre-production for his next feature. No, Lumet cranks 'em out, averaging around one film per year from the mid-1950s to 1989, and seven features in the '90s. And while the man himself doesn't enjoy the celebrity of Cameron, Spielberg, or Tarantino, his hard-boiled films have been as influential as his magazine-cover colleagues' work, and if you're not familiar with him, you probably have seen some of his classics — Serpico, 12 Angry Men, Fail-Safe, The Verdict, Murder on the Orient Express, The Fugitive Kind — the list goes on and on, and even a few favorites have already arrived on DVD, including Network, Dog Day Afternoon, and Deathtrap.
But our favorite of all (and it's a tough call, trust us) is probably the 1981 Prince of the City, a worthy companion piece to the legendary Serpico and damn near the best cop movie ever made. This one isn't a shoot 'em up. There are no outlandish car chases. Prince of the City is about the brotherhood of police — that most inviolable of fraternities — and what happens when one of their members breaks ranks. Based on a true story, Treat Williams stars as NYPD detective Danny Ciello, a cop on the narco squad whose members have been nicknamed "princes of the city" because they are untouchable, enforcing the law as they see fit without any fear of retribution from the public, their superiors, or the hated Internal Affairs Bureau. But Ciello, who enjoys his lofty status and a comfortable suburban life with his family, is approached by Federal officials who intend to launch an investigation of the NYPD but can't do it without anybody on the inside. Ciello resists at first, viewing all watchdogs and stool pigeons to be lower that the street-life he regularly busts. But after considering the Feds' offer, he realizes that it will be an exciting, dangerous assignment, and he accepts on one condition — "I don't rat out my partners." The Feds agree to his terms, but Ciello's secret assignments soon create a mountain of moral dilemmas that the cop in him doesn't want to ignore but the loyalist in him cannot stand — dilemmas that eventually lead him back to the partners he swore he would never betray.
Lumet was the perfect director for this gritty masterpiece, and it's a shame that the film didn't launch Williams into the A-list projects his talent deserved. Even today, after a string of lesser-known movies, he still remains one of the best male leading actors of the past 30 years (in fact, Williams doesn't just star in Milos Forman's 1979 Hair, he towers above it). But with no big-name stars, a running-time of three hours, and subject matter that is somewhat depressing and, by the end of the film, emotionally exhausting, Prince of the City suffered a choke-hold at the box-office and was virtually overlooked by the 1982 Academy Awards, only garnering a Best Screenplay nomination (although it did secure the Pasinetti Award for Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival the previous year). The movie has found new fans on home video over time, but since it requires an above-average attention-span, you probably wouldn't have any trouble finding it at your local renter this weekend.
As for any DVD, this one could go one of two ways: It's an Orion production, and either Warner or Image currently holds the rights. It's also a perfect fit for RSDL discs, now widely in production, and we're hoping to hear of a new transfer in the second or third quarter of 2000, if not sooner.