NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN

 

FOUR STARS - Profound

 

 

       Finding a moral course through the maze of modern life is difficult.  The turns in that journey are often forced upon us by circumstances and relationships over which we have little control.

       One of the most powerful studies of such moral dilemmas and ethical choices is “Night Falls On Manhattan.”

       Set within the District Attorney’s office of the city of New York, the film centers around an idealistic young lawyer named Sean Casey (Andy Garcia) who is a freshman DA.

       Few films present such a clear message to society addressing the problem and the solution to our moral morass.  Casey’s journey to this place is presented throughout the film.  It begins with a family who loves him and provides him with religious and moral support.

       The opening scene sets the stage.  With depressing pessimism, a deputy DA is orienting the new lawyers to the DA’s office.  His cynicism is disturbing.  He has become so jaded by his experiences of prosecuting crime that his poisonous words have a deadening effect on the young lawyers. 

       This opening scene is then contrasted to the final scene in the film in which Casey has now become DA only 8 months later.  This time, as he gives the orientation talk, he speaks of deeper issues of values, ethical choices and knowing who we are.  Though no longer idealistic, his is a clear clarion call to integrity and loyalty to following a purpose in life.

       The decision as to his life course was whether to follow his mother’s wishes and become a priest, or to follow his father’s example and become a policeman.  In bringing both together, Casey  brings his Christian ideals into the office of District Attorney after he works his way through law school as a policeman.

       The circumstance which propels him into becoming District Attorney is the shooting of his father Liam Casey (Ian Holm) as he attempts to arrest a drug lord.  Since it is his father, the District Attorney Morgenstern (Ron Leibman) turns the case over to Casey and he easily wins the victory.

       Casey’s political career is propelled forward when the DA, in a reelection campaign, suffers a heart attack.  Casey is drafted to run for office and wins.

       It is then the temptations begin.  The justice system in a city seized by greed and power begins its relentless pursuit of Casey‘s integrity.  

       As the story slowly reveals the presence of police corruption which implicates his own father and his father’s partner, Casey must now begin to deal with the truly painful implications of moral choices and maintaining personal integrity.

       This is most often the experience of life.  Moral choices are not so simple as to remove from a person the pain of such a choice.  The good suffer along with the bad, and the good and bad are not that far apart.  What separates them is not the price at which they yield, but the act of yielding itself.

       In a powerful scene in which Casey and his father are struggling with one another and with the temptation itself, Casey’s father proclaims:  “600 Thousand dollars!  Who can resist 600 thousand dollars?  I’ll tell you who, 26,000 policemen who are not on the take!”

       This, too, is the experience of life.  We often see the handful of those whose immorality has cost us all our dignity and self-respect, and feel embarrassed by their deeds.  Yet the truth is that there are far more of us whose integrity has guided us than those who have fallen into darkened paths.

       And, the moral choices that others make are not as black and white as we often project.  The outspoken lawyer Sam Vigoda (Richard Dreyfuss) defending the man who shot Casey’s father is driven by his own personal tragedies.  The loss of his own daughter to drugs has filled him with a passion to root out the kind of police corruption which allows drug dealers to remain on the street.            

       Life has a way of reminding us not only of our own imperfections, but also of offering us opportunities to act on our integrity. 

 

 

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