The Public Eye 07/21/20

Howard Franklin’s atmospheric, non hysterical tale of the New York underworld is told from a great viewpoint, that of a night-prowling shutterbug who documents life on the streets, from the swanky nightclubs to gangland killings on the cold sidewalks. Joe Pesci has his most endearing role in a part suggested by the famous photographer Weegee, a small man with ambitions for his ‘found photos’ of party revelers and bloody corpses to be viewed as art. Is Barbara Hershey’s club owner using him for selfish purposes?  What happens if the hoods suddenly regard him as a hindrance, instead of a boost to their egos? The colorful production elicits a marvelously atmospheric image of New York in wartime. The biggest surprise: Pesci’s dialogue is all PG-rated! (The movie itself is an ‘R’.) With Jared Harris, Stanley Tucci and Jerry Adler. On Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.
0721//20