In "Night Falls on Manhattan", Garcia plays a rookie NYC District Attorney who finds himself struggling to cope with moral dilemmas and compromised principles in the "real world" of lawyering. Offering a solid cast with good performances, this Hollywood tinged film builds quickly and maintains momentum while digging into fundamental issues which bedevil characters from cops to judges in their personal and professional lives. Worth a look for anyone into dramas, especially those dealing with questions of ethics. (B)

I liked this film, this is not a great movie but it's a good one, and the most important thing was that it didn't bore me for a moment.

The performances are good, the plot is interesting and clever. What I didn't like about it was that the shots of the film looked like a movie made for TV.

The plot is about how Sean Casey ,an assistant district attorney working for just six months, improves very fast in his way up at his job but he is going to discover many dirty things about policemen and politics and is at this point where he will have to make difficult decisions that will put in text his principles.

If you like intelligent police or court movies, this one is for you.

The plot was predictable; what was VERY good is the realistic sour compromises that atty's make. that alone warrants this movie as MUST SEE for students. I went to St.Johns University (undergraduate legal education), as did Sean Casey (AndyGarcia) No punches were pulled there, and that was reflected in the protagonist effort to make ethical decisions. There was one line that summarizes so much: "...if you want clean hands, become a priest. The degree to which police, criminal attys, DA's and all parties with knowledge about a criminal action get ugly is very true. This hopefully will take the hot air out of many law students, puffed up with him or herself. Well done and accurate, even if predictable. The DEVIL is in the movie detail.

NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN (1997) *** Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Ian Holm, Lena Olin, James Gandolfini, Ron Leibman, Shiek Mahmud-Bey. Excellent, gritty and absorbing crime drama dealing with Garcia as an assistant DA who becomes an overnight sensation after tackling a disturbing case of a drug dealer killing three cops on a raid gone awry that leads to a sticky web of corruption, lies, deceit and ultimately personal integrity. Garcia and Holm as his cop father, give superb performances as does Leibman as his teeth gnashing mentor (a delightful to watch turn) and Gandolfini as Holm's partner with some skeletons in his closet. Based on Robert Daley's book `Tainted Evidence' and adapted by the film's director Sidney Lumet with colorful panache of a true helmsman. – Letterman stooge Leonard Tepper is an extra in the jury (!)

A newly elected district attorney (Andy Garcia) finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father (Ian Holm) and his partner.

This was a pretty good film. At first, I thought it was going to be about tracking down and then convicting the cop killer. But we find out that the killing, tracking and convicting are all accomplished relatively quickly, and only serve as a premise to open up the idea that certain police officers were working with the drug dealers.

This is very well scripted, very well acted. And knowing a little bit about police corruption, the story does not even seem far fetched. Though it does have its darkly comical moments, such as having the killer strip naked for reporters.

Fascinating story of politics and justice in New York, or anywhere else for that matter. Most don't realize that on 3% of murder cases ever see a jury; most are plea bargained. But, there are those, like the one depicted here, that are essential, not for justice, but for the political ambitions of the DA and Mayor.

Sidney Lumet (Find Me Guilty, Dog Day Afternoon) likes working with ethical questions, and he did a good job here in presenting a world that is not black and white, but gray.

I generally do not like Andy Garcia (Ocean's Eleven, The Godfather Part III) or Ron Leibman (Zorro, the Gay Blade), but that may be because of their politics off the screen. It affects my judgment. I have to say that they both gave interesting performances that made this film worth watch. But, there were a lot of good stars in this film: Sir Ian Holm (Chariots of First) as Garcia's father, James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) as a corrupt cop and Holm's partner, Richard Dreyfuss (Mr. Holland's Opus, The Goodbye Girl, Jaws) as a liberal lawyer, Colm Feore (Bon Cop, Bad Cop, The Red Violin, Chicago) as an ADA that wants the top job, and Lena Olin (Enemies: A Love Story, Chocolat, "Alias") as the love interest.

Very good acting throughout and a compelling story.

If you enjoy straight-up, old-style dirty cop/courtroom stories, this may be the last of the great ones, filmed in 1997. Sidney Lumet directs. There are some really fine, passionate scenes that make you care about the characters. Three-fourths of the plot is roughly predictable, but this movie has the glow of being a fine, original, boiler plate version for many cop stories to come. Moody jazz trumpet score, including songs by Wynton Marsalis. And wow, what a cast: Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, Lena Olin, Richard Dreyfuss, James Gandolfini, Dominic Chianese. What more can I say?

This movie introduces you to the complexities of the judicial system. It starts with the idealistic view. It leaves you to make the choice of what is right and what is wrong. You'll have to decide for yourself what is or would be justice. From the politics, the backroom deals and the downright corruption it's all there. It certainly isn't pretty because nobody's perfect. The acting is great but I've always felt Andy Garcia is a fine actor. The entire cast was well chosen and you feel their emotions and believe them as their character. The story moves along well and there are enough twists to keep you interested. This isn't a movie that leaves you cheering for more. It does however make you think about the complexities of justice. When your outside looking in things always look different than when you are inside looking out.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Andy Garcia is a great actor, but casting a Cuban American as an Irish American (Sean Casey), is too much of a stretch. Ian Holm, a Brit, plays his father (Liam Casey), and no one would visualize the two as father and son. It is no coincidence that he was cast previously as a person of Mediterranean or Latin American heritage. Otherwise a fine film about New York police, divided loyalties, the illegal drug business, the corruption drug money makes possible, and the ethical consequences that involve everyone knowing of the crimes committed. "Night Falls on Manhattan" contains a good plot from the novel by Robert Daley and has a strong supporting cast with James Gandolfini, Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, Dominic Chianese, Shiek Mahmud-Bey, and Paul Guilfoyle.

This film is definitely based on the Larry Davis incident that took place in the late 80's where corrupt cops tried to shake down a drug dealer who wanted out of their "system"(dealers who payed off cops to rob other dealers). When he got out due to the death of his infant daughter, they invaded his home, he fought back by killing and wounding some officers and escaped leading to a dangerous manhunt in NYC. When they finally caught him (an old family relative snicthced on him), false accusations were brought up by the police and the media to portray him as a ruthless thug who ran away after killing the cops when all he wanted to do was leave the organization involving crooked cops and drug dealers. He is still serving time in Rikers Island fighting for a new trial.

Check out the documentary called THE LARRY DAVIS STORY which won an award for Best Documentary in the Urbanworld Film Festival in 2003.

However, it serves well on film and Sidney Lumet is great act capturing the look and feel of NYC in the early 90's. It has a "Prince of the City" feel to it.

To its credit, the movie had great actors, a complex and intelligent plot, and something of a message which is not a bad thing in these days of mindless chase and fight scenes as the norm for cop movies. But one actor really didn't do it for me, the lead Andy Garcia, as Sean Casey. Really, he was supposed to be a young Irish cop turned DA? Come on, in one scene he had something of a NYC Puerto Rican accent. They couldn't find a good Irish American actor for the role? I realize Lumet and Pacino were best buds, and at that time they tried to groom Garcia as another Pacino. But even in his prime, no one ever casted Pacino as Irish. Garcia is not that good, period. He just didn't do it for me.

It is a movie that made the critics happy because it is an intelligent and complex movie, but I just can't say it well enough, maybe because I am not a good critic, but it lacked the oomph to make it a great movie.

"Night Falls on Manhattan" seems like a rather generic title for a film that explores the gray area of political and law enforcement corruption. The acting is good, with special mention going to Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ron Leibman. As for Lena Olin, her character is so unimportant to the overall storyline, that it probably could have been eliminated entirely. After a bang bang beginning, the rest of the movie quietly explores who's on the take, and the back room deals necessary to bring corrupt cops to justice. This process is a real eye opener for Andy Garcia, who plays an idealistic district attorney. - MERK

This film starts and ends with some lovely jazz, thereafter it is all rather an unremarkable crime thriller. When a drug dealer kills three cops and then escapes in a patrol car, the District Attorney "Morgie" (Ron Liebman) announces that when the perpetrator is apprehended, he is going to be prosecuted by the newly qualified lawyer (and ex-cop) son of one of those officers seriously injured by the attacker. "Casey" (Andy Garcia) is that man, and after a curiously far-fetched turn of events finds himself facing the killer in court and next thing, he is DA himself and party to an investigation into police corruption that might well lead to his own nearest and dearest. To be honest, I found this whole thing all just too convenient. It's all just a bit too "nice" and the courtroom scenes at the start which also feature Richard Dreyfuss are really underwhelming. The plot is messy and the conclusion really lacks, well, substance. It looks good and combined with the score is effective at creating a New York that is seedy and immoral - but Garcia just hasn't the gravitas to pull this off and Ian Holm (his father "Liam") is no great shakes either. It's watchable on the telly on a wet winter's evening, but that's about the height of it, sorry.

We all have heard and seen this story many times: dirty cops take money from gangsters. Storywise this movie has no surprises, but what makes it better than average are the great acting performances by almost every actor in it. Really decent acting. Topped with a stylish direction by Sidney Lumet this movie will certainly please most fans of these dirty cops movies. It isnt a spectacularly great cop movie though, just a really decent one....

The story: Andy Garcia is investigating dirty cops, who take bribes from drugdealers. Andy Garcia's father gets accused of being a dirty cop as well. Will Andy Garcia be righteous and harsh and investigate his own father or will he start bending the law to save his own family?

Great supporting roles by Richard Dreyfuss and James Ghandolfini. Beautiful photography of New York City. Charming jazzy soundtrack. Overall just a really stylish dirty cop movie and although it never reaches excellence, it is still very enjoyable.

An interesting, complex and balanced film with good acting performances.

The film evokes complex life stories, characters who are not perfect, but still try to do something good.

Andy Garcia plays Sean Casey, a prosecutor who tries to put a dangerous criminal in jail who may be involved in a much bigger scandal.

The story is perfectly balanced, and the film itself does not choose the political side, but presents us with a complex world full of difficult choices.

Films like this are rare, precisely because they don't choose sides, and therefore are interesting and deal with universal things that interest everyone.

A film like this does not alienate the viewer, but draws him into an interesting world and tries to portray the struggle for the principles that make us who we are.

The cast is good, the actors made an effort to bring these interesting characters to life and show their emotions. The film is well directed and the cinematography is excellent.

An interesting film with complex characters and an excellent cast.

Wonderful performances by Ian Holm, Ron Leibman, Sheik Mahmud-Bey, and Richard Dreyfuss. If you're a student of great acting, this is a solid rental to enjoy several excellent "moments" from each. But as a film, the plot is beyond formulaic and predictable. The big reveal is presaged in the first act, in the courtroom, it just becomes a question of how they get there. Garcia's romantic interest is laugh-out-loud bad: felt like 60 seconds from meeting to dinner to sex to marriage talk. What's the rush, Sidney? And there's no real climax or ending. Credits roll - big shrug.

Back to the acting. Andy Garcia mostly sleepwalks through this one, mumbling his lines, other than an explosive moment with his dad's partner played by James Gandolfini. Ian Holm makes us ask the question again: why do great British actors play Americans better than American actors? He is completely believable as a lifelong New Yorker. Dreyfuss does well to moderate his trademark intensity to believable levels. Ron Leibman is funny and fantastic and makes me wish we'd seen a lot more of him in more films. Mahmud-Bey gives a mesmerizing subtle performance in the courtroom, just barely smirking as García needles him till he suddenly explodes.

Sure, Ebert and other failed-novelist intellectuals will cream over this movie ---"Roger, a big thumbs up, its a tough insightful look into the criminal justice system." All it gives you an insight into is the right-wing hysteria of that noted auteur of the courtroom, Sidney Lumet. Once again, he sets up a bogus straw man into order to wax rhapsodic over the forces of law and order. This time, its a monstrous drug dealer (black, of course) who is on trial for killing three police officers. His flamboyant, crazed-radical criminal defense lawyer(is there really any other kind in the world of Hollywood?) whines that the baddie had no choice but to gun down the cops since they were involved in the drug rackets with him and they were aiming to blow him away first.

Of course, this is an absolutely ludicrous argument, but Lumet urges us to take it seriously so that when the conviction comes down, we can rejoice, Himmler-style, in the grandeur of the thin blue line. Old Lumet sets up the old straw man and knocks him down. What a hack.

Probably the most offensive moment in the film comes when our fearless young protagonist, assistant DA Sean Casey (Andy Garcia) meets with the crazed-radical criminal defense attorney Vigoda (Richard Dreyfuss). While they are both in a steam room with wet towels draped over their shoulders (a Roman motif or a bit of unacknowledged homo erotica?), Vigoda confesses that he too has a deep affection for LAW AND ORDER and he solemnly intones, "Sometimes I think that we have to give up on an entire generation and lock them up and throw away the key." Well, you don't need to read to carefully between the lines for the answer to "A generation of whom?" Why those bad minorities of course who Vigoda and Casey agree, sotte voce, must be dealt with harshly, given that their naughty drug dealing and assorted criminality upset National Security State, which of course putters along fine in the face of corporate scandals. The day that Sidney Lumet whines about the corporate scandals that have engulfed our society is the day that I begin to take him seriously.

Sidney Lumet, in The Verdict, Q and A, Prince of the City, and now Night Falls on Manhattan, along with other "tough and gritty" movies, has demonstrated that he a vulgar buffoon is incapable of or unwilling to learn about the American legal system. He fawns upon power, and unspools magic theories about the careful deliberations that attends its use. Our packed prisons are eloquent testimony to the just how much deliberation the powerful exercise when it comes to the lives of the weak.

It the meantime, he endlessly denigrates the criminal defense bar and by extrapolation, those hapless suckers too poor and unconnected to avoid criminal prosecution. No doubt, he is considered part of "liberal Hollywood," and would self-identify himself so. If he is indeed a liberal, the governing assumptions that he buys into show just how little discourse there is in our society, particularly on the criminal justice system.

Here's yet another film with a too low IMDb average. Really 6.6. I'm so glad I came to view this film, a few years back. I just came to view it again, where I enjoyed it as much as last time. I love Sidney Lumet films. He makes good ones, rarely a bad one. I mean, he gave us Network, Equus, Family Business, and the lesser known, Guilty As Sin. This is just another one that holds up to the others, and another one on Lumet's notch of good films. This one has been constructed gingerly, attentively, as far as plot and story goes. One would even say judiciously, with great performances to boot, Dreyfuss, and Ron Leibman, a scene stealer, and terribly underused actor, most of his stuff t.v. related. Corruption runs high in a few cop beats, where Garcia's cop father (Holm, really good) is shot badly by a burst of machine gun fire, when a drug bust goes bad. Three beats were called in, where there should of only been one, which leads us to consider a few bad apples were involved. Even Garcia's father could be bad too like his partner and childhood mate, Joey (the late great Gandofini) a modest performance. Garcia, an ex cop, now a promising lawyer, is assigned to this criminal case, by Leibman who runs a law firm, to the disgust and anger of a slick lawyer adversary, Colm Feore (just another top form performance here), where the big black drug dealer, a nasty piece of work in a quite threatening performance, by Shiek Mahmud- Bey is caught, so it's really gonna get heated in that courtroom, where you don't want this black dude mad. Garcia's amusing remark, a moment I loved, sealed that deal. The turning point or second story, let's call it, takes off when a black book is recovered from one of the dead cops in that failed bust, a number of cops names including Holm's, all supposedly on the take are in there, and things get really juicy, plot wise, which sees Garcia back in the court room. This film has really been constructed thriller wise, as many characters, mostly the ones in question, aren't telling us everything. Dreyfuss's admittance about his teenage daughter to Garcia in those spa room scenes was something unexpected too. The film is very well written, all of it, it's treatment, etc, all shaped to perfection, solely by Lumet, the first scene in the lecture room, with budding lawyers, grabbing us straight away, with in your face frankness. The film has a very well researched feel, Garcia's performance though, not as good as the others. The character's choices and their situations, make sense, and we very well understand. If you're a cop and you go crooked, well the ball's in your caught, baby. Highly underrated and very much recommended cop/courtroom drama, Dreyfuss's performance as the black guy's defendant, the one you'll remember. He's brilliant.

A story for all ages. What is good? What is evil? You decide. Well crafted with outstanding performance by Andy García.

This is the only movie I have walked out on at a movie theater. Simply because I was bored. So I haven't seen the whole movie, actually only about 30 minutes of it. It was astonishingly boring. I guess there have been made worse movies than this, but there you go.