A Case of Deadly Force (1986 TV Movie) User Reviews (4)

Cops are the bad guys in a Cannon?

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 10 September 2022]

Adapted from the book Deadly Force by Lawrence O'Donnell - who now hosts The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC - this made-for-TV movie was released on video by Cannon yet is at odds with so many of the subjects presents by the action-heavy studio.

In a Cannon film, the near-vigilante tactics of the Boston Tactical Unit would be celebrated. Here, this fact-based tale of the 1975 cover-up of an unjustified shooting of a black man by two white members of this police group presents the police as overactive and brutal.

Despite claims of self-defense, the dead man's widow Pat Bowden (Lorraine Toussaint) claims that her husband would not be carrying a weapon. She hires former cop and current lawyer Lawrence O'Donnell Sr. (Richard Crenna) to clear her husband's name.

At one point, Lawrence reveals to his legal team - made up of sons Michael, Lawrence Jr., Billy and Kevin (John Shea, Tate Donovan, Tom Isbell, and Dylan Baker) that his father's death was listed as a suicide and how that impacted the way that the world saw the man that he loved forever after. The case, for him, has become personal, clearing Bowden's name being seen as him atoning for the way he saw his father.

Director Michael Miller made several films that I dug, like Silent Rage, Jackson County Jail and Class Reunion. He turned those movies into a run of TV movies. Writer Dennis Nemec also was a TV movie veteran and they combined to make a pretty solid film here.

Power-Packed True Story!!

[Axiom-2 · 10/10 · 30 March 1999]

This film is a very gripping true story about corruption, justice and redemption. It stars Richard Crenna (First Blood, Wrongfully Accused,) as attorney Lawrence O,Donnell who takes on the Boston Police Force, in a "wrongful death" suit. This is one great movie that received a 10 in my voting. This was another.50cent Laser Disc deal of a gem!!!!

Right, like Richard Crenna could lose

[Nozz · 4/10 · 13 June 2000]

Noble Richard Crenna has zero opposition in this movie, and that's what makes it irritating. All his opponents are abjectly transparent liars and all his allies are eagle scout material. The only tension is whether Crenna will keep a grip on his Boston accent. (Didn't his coach know how to pronounce "Suffolk"?)

The Blue Line Matters

[deanofrpps · 9/10 · 30 April 2020]

A Case of Deadly Force is the story of a civil rights case brought by a former Boston police officer turned lawyer against his department. The movie is based upon a book by Lawrence O'Donnell, a Boston PO turned attorney, Regrettably comments on it were space.

One commentator, critical of the film, correctly observed that in a civil rights case, Attorney Lawrence O' Donnell (Richard Crenna) stood alone as a beacon of integrity in the courtroom against notorious liars and hypocrites when the former police officer daringly turned on his department in a wrongful death suit brought against former fellow officers on behalf of a bereaved black mother.

The critic is correct in saying that the Made For TV movie A Case of Deadly Force is a bit one sided in that the saintly innocence of the injured party might have been somewhat inflated. Many people involved with violent encounters with police have less than pristine backgrounds. Whether that justifies police action is another question.

My evaluation is that A Case of Deadly Force is favorable. Where the movie attains a degree of excellency, it lies in the deadly accuracy of the dilemma and heart ache faced by a lawyer in a civil suit against the police. Often advocating the rights of clients often with a checkered past, the lawyer stands alone facing a violent system with a united unprincipled opposition: The Blue Wall.

This made for TV movie vividly exemplifies the mischief a determined police department is capable of: violent beatings and arrests of members of Mr O'Donnell's family. All it takes is a wink and nod to bring the entire department down on a civil rights lawyer. And many judges go along with this.

This no feel - good Perry Mason story.

Richard Crenna delivers a bravura performance. If there is a short coming in the film, it is given Mr O'Donnell's experience as a police officer he did not anticipate the violence of the reprisal that his former friends were capable of.