We've all seen plenty of "dirty cop gives up his former partners" movies by now. Sometimes it's an honest cop who won't play ball with the others in his department, (as in Lumet's earlier film "Serpico") other times it's a bad cop trying to avoid his own punishment by giving up others. "Prince of the City" gives us a different set up from the very first scene, that of Officer Danny Ciello (Treat Williams) unable to sleep. Danny isn't under investigation at all, he's bothered by dealing with the misery of junkies and drug dealers, while at the same time profiting from their misfortune. Despite his and his partners' illegal side activities, the idea of being a cop means something to Danny. He tells the Chase Commission Attorney Cappalino that the day he became a cop was the happiest day of his life. It's since dawned on him that he hasn't lived up to what being a cop was all about.
When he meets Cappalino, he's fascinated with the idea of redeeming himself somehow, but knows he can't talk without hurting his partners. Watching him struggle with the opportunity that's almost in his grasp, we get a revealing look at him. He calls Cappalino twice and meets with him only to repeat his insistence that cops are all good. He knows what he has to do, but he needs time to talk himself into it. He needs assurances, and to hear the right things.
One thing that this film really gets across better than any film of it's kind is the bond between partners. These men are the very best of friends rather than the usual characters you'd find in a film like this, greedy cops just waiting to turn on each other. When anyone takes money, they all split it evenly, even with Bando, the weakest of them, who they always leave outside. When they discover that Danny's getting cops indicted, they don't hold a grudge, they know him too well for that. Faced with the knowledge that Danny told everything, they don't try to kill him, they just make their own choices with that information. Danny is family, and his actions can't be undone. They don't like it, but not one of his partners ever even calls Danny a "rat." He's the same guy they've always known.
Ciello is assured that he won't have to turn on his partners, but once he becomes a part of the larger system, it becomes clear that it will be inevitable. Danny points out that they're singling out cops because "cops are easy." Cappalino agrees and wishes they weren't. He tells Danny that he'd be glad to hear about corrupt lawyers and judges, and certainly some efforts are spent in that direction. Danny tells them he's done "three things" while heading his SIU, a necessary strategy, to protect his partners. He's cautioned against perjuring himself, but he's perjured himself before, as have most of his fellow officers, in order to get convictions. Nobody calls him on it, because he's helping them get convictions.
His efforts get people promoted, good fortune that only adds to Danny's real troubles. He was able to get off the fence and act in no small part because of the rapport he'd built with Cappalino and Brooks. Once they're promoted out of the daily picture, he becomes just another cog in the machinery. Men like Santimassino and Attorney Polito have no loyalty towards him, and look forward to indicting him even as he's working with them. He didn't make their careers. To them, he's just another dirty cop, and they're not entirely wrong. It's asking a lot to expect a presumably upright attorney to revere a dirty cop just because he's helping them get other cops. They're eager to use him for their own ends, picking up their grudges when they get what they want. Loyalty is important in this story, and Danny's main redeeming quality (until he gives that up.)
This is a world where indictments are only numbers to the men seeking them. Danny doesn't quite understand this, as his heart breaks for the junkies he works with. His behavior, even when reprehensible is very human. When he decides to help Cappalino, he doesn't come across as noble. He's a guy who doesn't know which end is up, finally getting some sense of direction. Treat Williams makes this a very interesting role. He doesn't give us a super cop or even a very tough one. His Ciello is a guy two steps away from falling apart. He's told quite a few times that he "worries too much." and it's hard to disagree. He appears anxious every second, unsure of what to do next and having no idea what anyone else will do. He's very human above all else and it's surprising that he's able to make any progress without getting killed. He delights in telling suspicious parties "yeah, I'm wearing a wire." as if it's a ridiculous idea, when he is in fact wearing one.
He doesn't consider that his cousin Nick will pay the consequences for being involved with his activities. At times it's uncomfortable to watch him as he looks so ill at ease. Brooks and Cappalino discuss his habit of not carrying his gun any more, wondering if that's his decision not to fight it if he gets caught. For this character that seems plausible. He has more guilt than he knows what to with and he doesn't even understand it. As corrupt as he is, he's also impossibly naive to think that he could work for the Commission and not implicate his partners. That's likely a willful if not conscious lack of foresight, to enable him to do something. He's used to playing by his own rules, as a "prince of the city." As could be applied to anyone in the system he works for, he's been "judged by results." Convictions as just numbers is the logic that kept his unit going strong. He seeks to escape that by working for Cappalino, but finds that same logic again, only this time he's the equivalent of the junkie informant.
"Prince of the City" doesn't really answer this dilemma. It's not likely to encourage any dirty cops to come forward, but should we feel bad that a dirty cop doesn't get a get out of jail free card? Not really, but then again, he's been used as a valuable tool. Should he be rewarded for coming forward of his own free will? It does seem to mean more than someone who was pressured, but this is a movie about a system that only sees results, and whether pressured or through free will, the results would likely be the same. Ciello's squad is not the worst of the worst, they don't kill people, they just steal money and keep their informants supplied with drugs in a pinch. We're not told how it started, but we're told that it has been accepted for some time, even expected. Everyone in this film knows that cops dealing with Narcotics are dirty. Their behavior is no secret to anyone. What's new here is the effort put forth to stop it.
Ciello is attacked in court for perjury in an effort to overturn a conviction of a very corrupt lawyer. What do we want to happen? He did commit serious perjury, and the lawyer was convicted. Should it be overturned? We know the lawyer was corrupt. The judge decides that Ciello's perjury was not central to that conviction, as fair an outcome as we could ask, leaving the matter of Ciello's indictment to a separate hearing behind closed doors. Ultimately, a few men show their loyalty. They used Ciello, they can't just throw him away. Attorney Vincente threatens to resign over it. Vincente, Cappalino and Brooks are heard enough to help dismiss the idea. In coming forward on his own, they believe that he was trying to do the right thing and he didn't know enough about the system to avoid the problems he ran into. As Cappalino points out, the road to corruption was a gradual one, but the road back is made in one big leap without all the information.
Visually the film has an almost documentary style, giving us a rough looking New York City and putting our focus on the characters who work there. It feels like it could have as easily been a stage production, but the story and the acting are top notch. Treat Williams is perfectly cast in one of his best roles, and Jerry Orbach is terrific as Gus Levy, the only cop that isn't in the least intimidated by the Commission. The strength of the film is in the characters and their relationships, Ciello with his partners and then with Cappalino and lastly Vincente. Ciello needs a voice in his ear to function and he's lucky enough to find some people with genuine regard for him. Even a dirty cop has something if he has good friends, and he has that at least. His friends are likely headed for prison, but all the same it's good to see those relationships presented realistically, disappointment rather than oaths of revenge.
We're left without a neat little bow to wrap it up. Ciello helped the government convict dirty cops because he felt tortured by what the was doing, but in doing so he betrayed everyone close to him as he swore he would never do. In a way he's back where he started, having learned that the Chase Commission is "not his friend." The audience can be happy that many dirty cops were put away, but it's unlikely that Ciello will be happy any time soon, which is perhaps as it should be, some things can't be absolved that easily. The other good thing to take away is that you don't have to be Danny Ciello.
Lumet was a director who often presented stories where humanity isn't something that's rewarded by the system that regulates it. "Prince of the City" visits the same territory as "12 Angry Men," "Serpico," and "Dog Day Afternoon" among so many others. These are worlds where certain people have to work awfully hard to get any sense of the right thing to do and if you happen to be the wrong person, maybe there's no answer at all. While many subscribe to the idea that if you can't present a solution you shouldn't complain about a problem, Lumet clearly did not agree, and did us all a service by pointing at aspects of the problem we may not have considered, one of them being that honest cops and dirty cops both have some serious problems trying to work in the system, and there's always more corruption somewhere. It's interesting though, that Ciello the dirty cop, seemed to get off a little easier than Serpico the honest cop. If there's any lesson to be learned here, it's just that this isn't a system you want to trust with your fate. The stubborn voice of humanity comes through eventually, thanks to Cappalino and Vincente, but it's nowhere close to a sure thing in a system built for numbers, that rewards those who see in black and white, although the fates of so many exist in between those extremes.
What Happens?
Danny (Treat Williams) is the head of SIU (Special Investigative Unit) in New York City. He leads a tight knit group of cops, Dom Bando (Kenny Marino,) Joe Marinaro, (Richard Foronjy,) Bill Mayo, (Don Billett,) and Gus Levy, (Jerry Orbach) who he refers to collectively as his partners. They conduct narcotics busts efficiently working very much unsupervised. Taking drugs and money from the bad guys is all a part of the operation. They also have a network of informants consisting mostly of junkies. These aren't cops who steal drugs to feed their own habits, it's more of a practicality. They have to keep their informants happy, a difficult task if they don't have their fix. The money is another matter and that goes to keeping them in nice houses and wearing the best clothes. They also reason that taking the money is the best way to get rid of the bigger operators. They have a system, any time money is taken, it's divided evenly between everyone in the unit. This is how it works every single day. They do manage to put away a lot of drug dealers, as their unit is known for it's spectacular results. Ciello's partners are his best friends, even when they're not working they get together for cookouts.
