Prince of the City

"A cop is turning. Nobody's safe."

1981 2h 47m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 192

DramaThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice 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.

“A cop is turning. Nobody's safe.”

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Cast

Treat Williams
Daniel Ciello
Jerry Orbach
Gus Levy
Richard Foronjy
Joe Marinaro
Don Billett
Bill Mayo
Kenny Marino
Dom Bando
Carmine Caridi
Gino Mascone
Tony Page
Raf Alvarez
Norman Parker
Rick Cappalino

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Jay Presson Allen, Sidney Lumet
Languages: English, Spanish, Italian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 167 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 94% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

45 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sidney Lumet, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Paul Chihara. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jack Fitzstephens shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach and Richard Foronjy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sidney Lumet directs. Andrzej Bartkowiak behind the camera. Paul Chihara scores. Jack Fitzstephens cuts. A long sit — settle in. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 167 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Earned back only 94% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
345 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, Italian.
5Directed by Sidney Lumet, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Paul Chihara. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jack Fitzstephens shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach and Richard Foronjy carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A cop is turning. Nobody's safe.".
10IMDB entry: tt0082945 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 8 themes, including "new york city", "corruption", "police", "1970s".

The technical file

Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Original score: Paul Chihara
Editing: Jack Fitzstephens
Production design: Tony Walton
Costume design: Anna Hill Johnstone
Makeup / hair: Robert Jiras
Runtime: 167 min · 2h 47m
Status: Released
Budget: $8,600,000
Box office: $8,124,257
Return: 94% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Prince of the City (1981)

Also by

Sidney Lumet

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-10
★ 10/10
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?"

Production companies