New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.
It hurts to watch... literally. Every time i catch it it looks like I'm watching a copy of an old VHS tape. If anything was in need of remastering.... well, Prince of the City isn't going to be remastered because I don't even think it has a cult following.
And that is a crying shame, because it is a really good movie that you can currently only find bad copies of on Amazon.
The script is.... meh. It really is. You have seen the corrupt narcotics pitch many times before. That's not the draw. This was riding on Serpico's heels.
What is the draw is the directing. It is severely understated, severely actor focused, and entirely atmospheric. It is really minimalist directing done right and... it works.
The cast are a bunch of B-Listers at best, but they are B-listers that brought their A-Game and out classed most of the names you see on the marquees. So it's sort of like watching the underdogs win. They really nailed it, and their performances meshed perfectly with the direction.
It's not going to stand out for reasons of a rehashed plot... but it's going to have an effect on you. You will walk away thinking, "that was done well. They gave great performances, why haven't I heard of this?"