I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This film tells the story of two brothers and also two of the greatest actors of own generation, story that have potential, but... Premise of film is thriller/drama, but part that was supposed to be thriller was not elaborated clearly. The plot is about nonsense. Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall give the best that could give from this screenplay, and Charles Durning as Jack Amsterdam was quite remarkable. Pace of this movie is slow, even too slow and plot is also predictable. Very bad ending as well. This is a film that was to easy to forget. In short, pretty average film with some potential to be a true classic. Rating:6/10

This one is probably less well known than THE LAST TYCOON despite the star cast - De Niro, Duvall and Durning. The confrontation scene between Durning and Duvall was great - it was pretty violent and ugly, the two of them sort of exploded on screen. I wish the film had more explosive scenes like that. Despite the understated tone of the movie, I was never bored. And i guess guess that is mainly because of the mesmerizing performances by De Niro and Duvall. De Niro must have done this right after THE RAGING BULL. Here he plays a solemn but ambitious priest in direct contrast to his aggressive detective brother played by Duvall.The film was based on John Gregory Dunne's novel and was adapted by none other than Joan Didion (PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK) and Dunne who was her husband.

Two high powered Actors and an attention to detail Period Piece set in the Post War Film-Noir era, so to call this Neo-Noir would be accurate. It is the story of flawed Characters among corruption and vice and in this atmosphere the gravity is intense.It pulls down righteous Men into a Hellish realm of money scams perpetrated by the Church who seemingly admire surface Saints who are ready to fill the collection plate. It is this hypocrisy that is at the heart of the Brother Detective and the Brother Monsignor Story and with some spice in the form of a Hooker Murder and some embarrassing sexcapades.This is a great looking Movie with some stunning Performances and a terse, if confusing at times, Script with some scenes that simmer, percolate, and are intense from Dialog exchanges. There is virtually no Action and all the Violence comes from either off screen or is buried in the Soul. So the entertainment comes from watching these two Brothers trying to keep from drowning in this cesspool and at least keep their heads and their Spirit (The Holy Ghost) above it all. If this was a True Confession, it would have to be admitted, they both failed. But will be forgiven if they say a few Hail Marys so they can be buried in Sacred Ground.

Spoiler Alert! This movie might have had some great ideas going on, but it was a long drag through the mud that made very little use of the Black Dahlia story. Sure, parts of the Black Dahlia case are peppered through it, but it really seems to have nothing to do with the conflict between the brothers. By the end of the film, you're left thinking - that's it? Though the brothers are well developed, their conflict lacks teeth outside of one good moment between Duvall and "Amsterdam" at a restaurant where Duvall's tactless frankness is just amazing.