Synopsis: Consequences suffered by a corrupt NY policeman trying to do the right thing
Director: Sidney Lumet
Actors: Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Lindsay Crouse
Date: 1981
How viewed: Lovefilm rental
Rating: 4/5
David Meyer says:
It's a bleak study of class brotherhood, shot with simplicity and acted to the highest level.
I say:
This is a long, complex film (based on a true story) about a detective in the NY Narcotics Squad, who, along with his team, break up numerous major drug gangs, but do so by supplying drugs to informants, stealing money from dealers, and generally operating outside the law. When approached by 2 prosecutors charged with weeding out corrupt police, lawyers, and judges, he decides to co-operate, so long as he isn't asked to rat on his partners. The boy does good, but slowly more pressure is placed on him to reveal more and more, and as he starts to unravel mentally, eventually he admits to all the scams he was involved in. The film is long (nearly 3 hours) and comes on like a TV min-series (with chapter headings), there's a huge cast, and much of the dialogue is in street slang, so it's hard to work out the detail, although the bigger picture is clear. It raises very interesting questions about where police draw the line (remember this team was extremely successful, whilst underpaid and risking their lives almost daily). I struggled with the film a bit at the start, but it drew me in as it went along, and the only jarring feature was Treat Williams, who just seemed too young, and too clean-cut, though I admit, he put in a tremendous performance.
