Taglines: When you’re down to your last dream, you either live it or lose it.
Night and the City movie storyline. Robert DeNiro and Jessica Lange are the most impossible couple. He’s a failed lawyer. She’s a common waitress. Together they get in a downward spiral, as they can’t seem to deal with their problems. The lawyer just failed winning a case in court against a famous boxing organizer and he wants revenge by catching the organizer on his own territory: boxing. Although he knows nothing about boxing, with his fine talk he finds the help of a couple of people like the brother of his new enemy. But the relationship with his waitress doesn’t make things double as hard.
Night and the City is a 1992 American crime drama film and a remake of the 1950 film noir of the same name, itself an adaptation of Gerald Kersh’s 1938 novel. The film stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Jack Warden, Alan King, Eli Wallach, Gene Kirkwood, Gerard Murphy, Margo Winkler, Anthony Canarozzi and is directed by Irwin Winkler from a script by Richard Price.
About the Story
Harry Fabian (Robert De Niro) is a fast-talking, two-bit New York lawyer who hangs out at a bar called Boxers, owned by Phil (Cliff Gorman) and his wife Helen (Jessica Lange). Harry has been having an affair with Helen, who dreams of setting up her own bar and leaving Phil. At the bar, he spots an article in the New York Post about a man who was pummeled by a boxer. He calls the man on Phil’s phone and pitches a lawsuit against the boxer on the grounds that his fists are legally considered weapons. The fighter is promoted by Ira “Boom Boom” Grossman (King), who tries to muscle Harry off the idea of suing his boxer. The case is promptly dismissed by the judge, who knows that it is baseless.
Having seen the world of boxing up close, Harry decides to become a boxing promoter and files for a license. He recruits Boom Boom’s estranged brother, former professional prizefighter Al Grossman (Warden), to be his partner. Boom Boom tries to muscle Harry out of the fight business, but when Al protects Harry, Boom Boom cowers in fear.
Al asks Phil for a $15,000 loan to cover the cost of the fight. Sensing her opportunity, Helen stages an argument with Harry and demands that he come up with $7,500, promising that Phil will match the amount. Helen fronts Harry the $7,500 herself, allowing Harry to secure the loan. Phil promises that he will pay Harry the money the day before the fight. She gives him another $5,000 to help her set up her own bar by procuring a liquor license. Harry has a friend in the Federal Liquor Administration who supplies him a blank license but asks $7500 for it; because Harry only has $5000, he has to have a printer put in the printed details, making the license essentially a fake. he gives Helen the licence but doesn’t tell her all the details of how he got it.
Boom Boom tries one last time to persuade Harry to abandon the idea, offering him money to walk away from the fight business. Harry explains that he has spent his career in pursuit of quick and easy cases that can be settled for small cash amounts. He tells Boom Boom that he had a case once where the NYPD had mistakenly beaten up some people because they served a warrant on the wrong house. Instead of taking them to trial, he accepted the NYPD’s offer of $20,000 to make the case go away. He insists that, for once, he is not going to take the money and run. Boom Boom threatens to kill Harry if anything happens to Al, who has already had two heart attacks.
After a nasty fight at Boxers, Helen finally leaves Phil. Still set on keeping Harry out of promoting, Boom Boom meets with Phil and reveals that Helen has been sleeping with Harry. Enraged, Phil calls the state liquor authority to inform them that Harry had forged Helen’s license. He pretends like everything is fine with Harry, and offers to throw a dinner party the night before the fight. After the party, he tells Harry that he will have the $7,500 the next day, which is the morning of the fight.
Night and the City (1992)
Directed by: Irwin Winkler
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Jack Warden, Alan King, Eli Wallach, Gene Kirkwood, Gerard Murphy, Margo Winkler, Anthony Canarozzi
Screenplay by: Richard Price
Production Design by: Peter S. Larkin
Cinematography by: Tak Fujimoto
Film Editing by: David Brenner
Costume Design by: Richard Bruno
Set Decoration by: Robert J. Franco
Art Direction by: Charley Beal
Music by: James Newton Howard
MPAA Rating: R for strong language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 16, 1992
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