FIND ME GUILTY

Director Sidney Lumet has been making movies for almost half a century. Three of his best films, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Prince of the City,” are based on the lives of real life cops and criminals. “Find Me Guilty” follows suit with its depiction of Jack DiNorsico, a low level mobster in the Luchese crime family, known for his congeniality and sense of humor who refused to name names in the longest criminal conspiracy trial in history.

DiNarsico’s co-defendants, numbering about twenty, each have their own defense attorney. After spending half his life in prison with little help from the lawyers who defended him Jack figures he knows a thing or two about the laws that put him behind bars, so he decides to defend himself. Then the fun begins.

Vin Diesel foregoes the action genre that he painstakingly mapped out for himself beginning with “Pitch Black” and fulfills the promise of his roles in “Saving Private Ryan” and “Boiler Room.” His Jack DiNarsico is a multi layered character full of contradictions. He’s a hood who could intimidate his victims with his physical presence one moment and leave them laughing the next. In another life he might have been a successful standup comedienne. In his chosen life Jack would rather be a stand up guy. The adage - No honor among thieves - does not apply to him. Honor is everything to Jack - and he equates loyalty with honor. Ironically his fellow mobsters are embarrassed by his antics in the courtroom. They see the laughter he generates as a reflection on them. Yet, Jack still declares his love for them and the life of a made guy.

“Find Me Guilty” is primarily a court room drama despite the avalanche of laughs. Much of the dialogue is said to be taken from the actual court transcripts. As a result most of the humor is organic arising out of the situation and the quick witted DiNarsico. It must’ve been a daunting task to pick and choose the testimony that would come to define Jack DiNorsico’s comic persona since the trial ran for almost two years. It’s sometimes mob-guys-are-people-too subtext coats the film with a moral ambiguity that is unsettling. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most dangerous people who walk amongst us can also the most charismatic - and funny.

The rest of “Find Me Guilty” is fleshed out with some fine performances by Peter Dinklage as the lawyer for mob kingpin Nick Calabrese played by the very under character actor Alex Rocco who many might remember from “The Godfather” as well as his numerous TV roles. Ron Silver is the judge who has to keep DiNarsico in line in the court room and Linus Roache is the DA who longs to put DiNarsico and his fellow henchmen away for life. He is a walking cloud of exasperation in his futile attempts bring the trial to a speedy and just conclusion. In the small but pivotal role of Jack’s wife, Annabella Sciorra runs the gamut of emotions that allows Diesel to add depth to his own character in his reactions to losing the one person who put the glow of humanity in his life.

“Find Me Guilty” is not as compelling as much of director Sidney Lumet’s earlier films, but it is nonetheless entertaining. Any film from one of the Grand Masters of American Cinema is a cause for celebration.

Copyright 2006

Check out Sidney Lumet as a child actor in this socially conscious film of the 30s

“One Third of a Nation” (1939) - Silvia Sidney is trying to survive in the slums of New York with little help from her younger brother played by Lumet. As far as I know this is not on video. But it often shows up on the PBS networks.

Two more of Sidney Lumet’s quintessential courtroom dramas.

“12 Angry Men” (1957) - Henry Fonda heads an outstanding cast as the one juror who makes a difference in the fate of a defendant. Lumet’s feature film debut.

“The Verdict” (1982) - Paul Newman is a lawyer on his last leg who gets a stab at redemption in a medical malpractice case that pits him against a stiff collar law firm that pits him against James Mason.

Lumet’s New York Movies - “12 Angry Men” tops the list because it was the first. Here are the best of the rest!!

“A View from the Bridge” (1962) - Raf Valone is a Brooklyn dock worker who is consumed by his love for his niece. Based on the Arthur Miller play. Maureen Stapleton is his neglected wife.

“The Pawnbroker” (1965) - Rod Steiger gives a gut wrenching performance as a Holocaust survivor haunted by his past and emotionally distant from the world around him.

“The Anderson Tapes” (1971) - Sean Connery is an ex-con executing the perfect heist that goes wrong in a luxury apartment building in New York. It all has to do with illegal surveillance that by today’s standards might seem outdated. With Dyan Cannon and a very young Christopher Walken among others.

“Serpico” (1973) - One of the great cop movies of all time with Al Pacino in the title roll as the undercover detective who couldn’t be bought while corruption runs rampant around him.

“Dog Day Afternoon” (1975) - Also one of the great movies of all time with Al Pacino as an unlikely bank robber who holds a Brooklyn neighborhood hostage in his attempt to get money to finance his male lover’s sex change operation. With the late John Cazale (who played Pacino’s brother in “The Godfather”) as his partner in crime. Chris Sarandon plays the distraught lover. This is a one of a kind movie not to be missed.

“Prince of the City” (1981) - Treat Williams give a career defining performance as a whistle blowing cop who is ostracized by his peers when he tries to uncover corruption in the department. Some equally great performances from Jerry Ohrbach, Bob Balaban, and Lance Hendrickson among others. This is a great companion piece to “Serpico.”

“Daniel” (1983) - Timothy Hutton plays the son of parents convicted of espionage in the McCarthy era based on the best seller The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow which in turn was inspired by the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case. The son’t story is set against the turbulent sixties while the flashbacks with Mandy Patinkin as the loving father caught up in the wave of communist hysteria evokes a simpler time with its scenes at Coney Island.