The Public Eye

The Public Eye is set in New York in the 1940s and follows Leon Bernstein, a crime photographer known by the nickname Bernzy. Working on his own, he makes a living by reaching crime scenes as quickly as the police and selling his pictures of violence and death to the newspapers. His routine changes when he meets Kay Levitz, the widow who owns an elegant nightclub. Gangsters connected to her late husband are pressuring her over debts in an attempt to take over the business, and she asks Leon for help. His involvement with her draws him into a conflict between rival mafia factions, and his camera captures a killing that puts him in danger.

Howard Franklin wrote and directed the film, his second behind the camera after Quick Change in 1990; he went on to direct Larger Than Life in 1996. Joe Pesci plays Leon, with Barbara Hershey as Kay Levitz, Stanley Tucci as Sal and Jerry Adler as Arthur Nabler among a credited cast of 58. Produced by Universal Pictures and South Side Amusement Company, the film cost about 15 million dollars and returned roughly 3 million worldwide.

On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 5.7 from 18 reviews, while on TMDB viewers give it 6.2 from 102 votes, a small sample in both cases.