Better Late Than Never, But Still Way Too Late

Prince of the City is being released on DVD.

Finally.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Prince of the City is one of the great, unsung American film classics. Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Bob Balaban, and many, many others, the film is based on the true story of Bob Leuci, a New York City police officer who was part of an elite unit within NYPD that dealt exclusively with major drug dealers. The "princes of the city," as they came to be known, lived by their own code, created their own justice system, and enjoyed the fruits of their efforts - for instance, if they determined that it was unlikely that a drug dealer would go to prison based on physical evidence, they'd steal his money, throw him out of the city, and threaten him with death if he was ever seen again.

Finally, Leuci (who in the film is called Danny Ciello) suffers a crisis of conscience, turns himself in, and agrees to go undercover to root out corruption within the unit. Under one condition - he will never give up his partners.

The movie then tells the story of Leuci/Ciello's slow, inexorable descent towards doing the one thing that he wants to avoid above everything else - and the collateral damage that is done along the way.

It's painful to watch at times, but there's no question that it is a great, great movie - one that was criminally underappreciated at the time. I still remember the day that I saw it for the first time - June 8, 1982. And where I saw it - the UC Theatre in Berkeley. And who I saw it with - three of my best friends from Cheney Hall, who I had to drag away from Game 6 of the NBA Championship Series between the L.A. Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. But hey, it was only playing for one night.

It's been years since I've seen it, and I can't wait to see it again.