The Public Eye (1992)

Story of a 1940s photographer who specializes in crime and in not getting involved... until this time.

Director:

Howard Franklin

Writer:

Howard Franklin

Stars:

Joe Pesci, Richard Riehle, Bryan Travis Smith

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Pesci	...	Leon Bernstein
Richard Riehle	...	Officer O'Brien
Bryan Travis Smith	...	Young Cop
Max Brooks	...	Teen at Thompson Street
Richard Schiff	...	Thompson Street Photographer
Laura Cerón	...	Puerto Rican Woman
Chuck Gillespie	...	Cop at Puerto Rican Tenement
Christian Stolte	...	Ambulance Attendant (as Christian Stolti)
Jack Denbo	...	Photo Editor
Ellen McElduff	...	Lonely Woman at Drugstore
Marge Kotlisky	...	Rineman's Receptionist
Timothy Hendrickson	...	Richard Rineman
Del Close	...	H.R. Rineman
Henry Bolzon	...	Cafe Society Photographer
Jared Harris	...	Danny the Doorman

Storyline

Leon Bernstein is New York's best news photographer in 1942, equally at home with cops or crooks. The pictures are often of death and pain, but they are the ones the others wish they had got. Then glamorous Kay Levitz turns to him when the Mob seem to be muscling in on the club she owns due to some arrangement with her late husband. Bernstein, none too successful with women, agrees to help, saying there may be some good photos in it for him. In fact, he is falling in love with Kay.

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Plot Keywords:

photographer | mob | news photographer | picture | 1940s | 

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Taglines:

No matter what he was shooting, he never got involved -- except once.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Testemunha Ocular

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$3,067,917 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It took Howard Franklin 10 years before he could get his screenplay turned into a film.

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Goofs

Burnsey's 35mm camera is either an Exakta V or VX. Those models were introduced in 1950 and 1951, respectively, and would not have been available during the 1940's.

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Quotes

Kay Levitz: It doesn't matter what people say unless you believe them.

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Connections

Referenced in Dave's World: The Insecurity System (1993)

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Soundtracks

"You Can't Say No to a Soldier"
(1942)
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Performed by Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra
Courtesy of Sandy Hook Records

User Reviews

It all comes together

Joe Pesci is the perfect little pain in the rear end photographer getting into everyone's way with no real change for a normal life. His one dream? To have his book published, to get the picture no one else does. That he accomplishes in the photograph of a mob hit. The movie set against World War 2 and the gasoline rationing scandal he uncovers. Barbara Hershey seems to fall in love with him, but he doesn't seem to be paying attention. That one thing, the picture overwhelms his mind. Pesci is the whole movie, everyone else are just players. With Hoe Pesci you would think this to be a comedy, it isn't.