Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Masterful Movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

One of the greatest English language 'cop' dramas ever made. Lumet and Williams take us along a path where almost everyone one might trust is dirty, the fantasy of the 'war on drugs' is forced to confront the reality of the streets and everyday life, and the closest bonds imaginable between men are fractured by a judicial system that is often itself corrupt and impossible to trust.Over the years much has been said about this film and its lack of recognition, especially in light of only one academy award nomination and no wins. I can't speak to why that happened, but I can say that a greater set of awards earned is the almost universal recognition of this movie as a truly relevant and brilliant statement still fresh over time.So many movies from 30 plus years ago are clearly 'showing their age'. Techniques used, scripts employed, acting, even costumes nail most films from c. 1981 to a particular time frame. Viewers must make allowances for the age, a real negative to enjoyment. Not so, Prince of the City. It is as crisp and compelling now as it was when first released. The only real difference between it and contemporary dramas is the ability of people to now enjoy it as a masterpiece and a reference to a great age of directors like Lumet, instead of a 'first run'.Lumet used a huge supporting cast. How amazing is it that so many near perfect performances are offered by actors that either were never heard of again or slipped into a careers that aren't worth mentioning? To me, that is a little bit of proof of the crazy magic of Prince of the City. For some reason so many people came together and jelled into an ensemble that for 167 minutes can still help us suspend time as we live the story with them. Certainly, the reason has to be the masterful hand of Lumet.If you haven't seen Prince of the City but enjoy this genre of film then please see it soon. It's long, so give yourself the required time to enjoy it. Extra points to you, if you watch it with one or more friends that not only enjoys 'cop' dramas but also enjoys great direction, smooth acting, and like to discuss film making in general. You will find great joy not only in the movie but in the conversations it will inspire. No doubt two threads of your conversation will emerge: where can I get more Lumet movies and why didn't Treat get more recognition for his work. Question one is easy to answer, check out IMDb. Number two is a question film buffs have been asking for over 30 years without satisfaction.

Police officer Daniel Ciello (Treat Williams) is talked into helping a commission that's investigating police corruption. Naturally things go wrong, he starts to have strong doubts about what he's doing and he starts to fall apart.Rightfully forgotten drama. I saw it in a mostly empty theatre back in 1981. I knew Lumet was a great director and I thought Williams was a good actor (I had seen him in "Hair"). It starts off OK but then quickly falls apart. There are WAY too many characters to keep track of and a bewildering amount of dialogue. SOME of the dialogue is needed for the story but most isn't. Characters and situations are bought up seemingly at random and then disappear. The almost three hour running time is unnecessary. This could have easily been done in two hours. I got bored and annoyed by the slow-moving script and all the pointless characters and situations. I completely gave up trying to understand the story and I ended up having trouble staying awake by the last hour! I only stayed in the vain hope that it would make sense and improve. It didn't. Also Williams was terrible in his role. He chewed the scenery so much it got embarrassing! Most critics loved this film (for some reason) but a few pointed out that it was way too long and a few outright hated it. It was a bomb at the box office and quickly forgotten. You can safely skip this one.

Sidney Lumet's "Prince of the City" is an astonishingly in-depth portrait of the interlocking worlds of the police and the criminal. Dealing with drugs, cops and corruption, this is "Serpico" all over again, but it's revised, enlarged and in some places improved.Like "Serpico", this is also based on a true story. Treat Williams plays Danny Ciello, a cop working in an unsupervised special unit of the police force, whose methods of gathering evidence and confessions are somewhat unorthodox. However, when his conscience gets the better of him and he decides to blow the whistle on the corrupt behaviour in his department, Danny finds himself in the awkward position of having to choose between saving his own job and those of his partners, whom he refuses to indict. Though most people ignore him, Lumet's films sparkle with a sort of gritty authenticity. He's influenced everyone from Spike Lee to Scorsese, and many films owe their tales of corporate corruption and grungy moralising to Lumet. "Prince of the City" may itself be long and at times taxing, but its final 20 minutes make the long haul worth it, particularly Lumet's final lines, a direct challenge aimed at his audience.8.9/10 - Underrated.

Pletchner from REPO MAN sticking his head through a window pane during the Columbians' bust; the chair collapse in the IA office; Orbach roughing up the state's attorney; the junkie chase in the rain; accidentally handing a receipt from the DA's office to the crooked bondsman - these are dynamite scenes equal to some of Lumet's best work. The supporting cast and occasional gritty dialog are Lumet hallmarks. The camera's always in the right place, the city looks dirty, the cops look like hoods, the hoods look like cops, all's well in the looks department.But this movie is 2 hours too long at 3 hours, and Treat Williams, though decked out in a series of wonderful coats, gives an atypically uneven performance. The Lumet-Jay Allen script also is terribly imbalanced, burying Williams under awful expositional speeches. Depthful insight is sacrificed to an epic, shallow and ultimately trite style. Lumet got the best out of Chayefsky and Waldo Salt and Mamet, and Pacino and Steiger and Dan O'Herlihy and a lot of people, and he is among the best directors in terms of camera movement and B&W lighting; but he also made THE WIZ, THE ANDERSON TAPES, and GUILTY AS SIN. He once said that the best work comes from preparing for the miracle to happen. Sometimes it doesn't happen. It happened several times on this set, but if you're going to write this many monologues your name better be Shakespeare; and if you're going to direct this many monologues, your name better be something other than Sidney Lumet. (for other Lumet monologue embarrassments, see Sean Connery's drunken confession in THE OFFENCE.)