Two-fisted cop Brennan (Nick Nolte) is something of a legend in the department. Brennan shoots and kills a small-time Puerto Rican hood and then threatens witnesses to testify that he acted in self-defense. Brennan has a hidden dark side as well as a partnership with certain figures of organized crime, but thing go wrong when he shot a a Hispanic dope dealer. An ambitious, idealist young ex-cop turned assistant DA is assigned the case, he's called Aloysius "Al" Reilly (Timothy Hutton) and still wet behind the ears. He is handed a case by homicide chief Kevin Quinn (Patrick O'Neal) , an inquiry into a shooting by NYPD detective Mike Brennan. Then Reilly finds out the another drug dealer Texador (Armand Assante) is a witness. The focus shifts toward racial tension as the Irish fall prey to old animosities against blacks and hispanics, including baron Texador and he happens to be romancing Hutton's former girlfriend. It results in violent confrontations between Texador, Reilly and the rogue cop Brennan. When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly !.
Semi-taut thriller with a lot of famous actors giving stunning acting. The storyline is a convoluted plot loaded with crime and corruption, of racial and social conflicts, of guilt and redemption. Several hard-boiled roles interweave in one of those satisfying plots replete with darkness and violence, where all the pieces fall into into place at the end. Here the cops fall out, band up, are almost coerced into killing one another and shoot it out with the bad guys form the nub of an engrossing, constantly hard-as-nails tale, conventional at heart, but crisp and atmospheric in the execution. There's a motley group of interesting characters appearing here and there against the backdrop of New York. Despite a redundant romantic subplot, mi¡uch of the film is tightly written and directed, embellishing its conflicts with a wealth of telling detail, but it does remain earnest and faintly predictable. Although the interpretations are mostly solid, it never quite achieves the convincing, harsh, tone it aims. Stars Nolte playing a tough, crude, decorated officer, but also totally corrupt, hair-trigger attemting to make his murder of a dope dealer look like self-defense. His character who knows no law or limits is the axis on which the story revolves. The one that gives unity and strength to the successive parallel stories that are interwoven in his personal quest to find himself. Nick Nolte's outstanding acting anchors the proceedings, which gets somewhat muddled by Sidney Lumet's hard-boiled and reflective script based on the book by Edwin Torres . While Timothy Hutton is acceptable as the prosecutor assigned to who is supposed to sweep the the case under the rug. Being well accompanied by a nice cast, such as: Patrick O'Neal , Lee Richardson, Luis Guzmán, Charles S. Dutton, Paul Calderon, Dominic Chianese, Leonardo Cimino and special mention for the cunning drug dealer Armand Assante who's particularly fine throughout. And film debut of director Lumet's daughter, Jenny Lumet.
The motion picture was competently directed by Sidney Lumet who keeps up the pace, fills the screen with pathos without gross sentiment. After starting an off-Broadway acting troupe in the late 1940s, he became the director of many television shows in the 1950s . Lumet made his feature film adaptation of directing debut with ¨12 Angry Men¨ (1957), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and earned three Academy Award nominations. The courtroom drama, which takes place almost entirely in a jury room, is justly regarded as one of the most auspicious directorial debuts in film history . Lumet got the chance to direct Marlon Brando in ¨The Fugitive Kind¨ (1960), an imperfect , but powerful adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play. One of the best films was ¨Network¨, giving powerful scenes and providing a lavishly mounted vehicle for three great actors , Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and William Holden. Lumet was one of the best American filmmakers, including important films such as : ¨12 angry men, Fail safe, The pawnbroker, The hill, The deadly affair, The group, The offence, Serpico , Equus, The wiz, Prince of the city , Deathtrap , Daniel, Power, The morning after, Family business, Night falls on Manhattan, Gloria, Before the devil knows you are dead¨, among others. Rating 6.5/10.
