Prince of the City (1981)

Directed by

Sidney Lumet

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 47m

Rated

R

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 184 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A police officer decides to reveal corruption inside his own department. He goes undercover for investigators, but the case throws his career and personal life into crisis.

grittymoral conflicttenseslow-burnbleakcerebralsomberrealistic

What happens

Prince of the City is a 1981 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. It is based on the life of Robert Leuci, called Daniel Ciello in the film, an officer of the New York Police Department who chooses, for idealistic reasons, to expose corruption in the force. The screenplay, written by Lumet and Jay Presson Allen, is based on a 1978 non-fiction book by former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Robert Daley. The film stars Treat Williams as Ciello, with a supporting cast featuring Jerry Orbach, Lindsay Crouse and Bob Balaban. Lumet had previously directed Serpico (1973), an award-winning film about corruption in the NYPD. In real life, that film's subject Frank Serpico was acquainted with Leuci and helped convince him to come forward. Produced by Orion Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros., the film premiered on August 19, 1981. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was not a commercial success, but earned several accolades, including an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Director for Lumet, and Best Actor for Treat Williams. It also earned the Pasinetti Prize at the 38th Venice International Film Festival. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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