One Tough Cop was a film that had one of the best trailers I've ever seen. It made the film look like a fascinating and powerful police drama. The film however did not get even close to the expectations of the trailer. It wasn't bad however. Just not great. Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects, Fled) stars as a police officer whose best friends are all involved in the Mob. Despite a great record, he gets framed by Internal Affairs and has to decide between his friends or his job. Chris Penn (Deceiver, The Funeral) is very good in support as Baldwin's very much in debt partner. Gina Gershon (Face/Off, Palmetto) is ok as the love interest. But the film's biggest strength lies in Stephen Baldwin. Baldwin is one of the most underrated actors in my mind (mainly because of poor career choices), but here he delivers a strong performance that brings the film through all of its predictability. Recommended for Baldwin's performance mainly.
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Brad K.19 August 1999
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lastliberal12 October 2007Another story about a cop (Bo Dietl) that tries to do his job while still hanging on to his friends from the neighborhood. The fact that they are all mobsters gives the FBI an opportunity to blackmail him into working for them. He refuses and almost loses his badge.
Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects) play Dietl, trying to stay clear of the slime played by Amy Irving and Victor Slezak. Why she would take that role is beyond me. It stunk!
Of course, we have to have a hot babe, and who better to play that role that Gina Gershon (Bound, Love Matters, Sweet Revenge).
It was interesting seeing Captain Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) playing a gangster role.
Based on a true character, it was OK, but you can probably find something better to watch. -
LeonLouisRicci12 February 2013Good performances can't quite save this Movie from a shallow and clichéd script in being much more than a standard good Cop with bureaucratic problems. Everything about this exercise in "based on a true story" story is thin and that keeps it from viewer investment and creative consummation.
There is a checklist of standard, gritty, crime solving with slim motivational backing. Laid out in front are the misunderstood macho, but sensitive, officer with a self-destructive partner in a corrupt system. He is unable to separate lifelong childhood friendships with Mobsters from professional duty.
This is the crux of this Crime Drama that is betrayed by speechifying and stiff setups. It is not a bad Movie, just one that demands more depth of insight and frankly, more involvement by the Writer and Director if they are to approach such a complicated scenario. Solving heinous crimes and the dismantling of a seasoned, successful law enforcement street Cop requires much more than this quickly moving and uneven attempt. -
hunbun15 October 1998top rate young turk actors, stephen baldwin and chris penn turn in painfully wooden portrayals of stereotypic undercover cops, baldwin: haunted good cop w/mafia boyhood friend and Penn: liqour/gambling addicted cop w/fatalist attitude...the FBI squeeze play is totally contrived, hackneyed and never advances the plot, the love interest sub-plot is under-developed and equally stilted...possibly the foreign (art film) director couldn't handle the material and/or properly motivate the cast...the subject matter and identical rape of a nun was masterfully done in "Bad Lieutenant" starring Harvey Keitel
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Pepito-522 October 2001Shame on the company that made this movie sham. The book at least tell a better story as far as being a bit more honest and no real shoot'em up, even though I found some exaggeration on Mr. Bo Dietl's way of telling of his exploits[ a word, if I may add, that can be taken in two different ways], like always fighting off bad guys with knives, mano a mano. You can fool some of the people most of the times, but you can not fool the NYPD cops, or for that matter, cops in general. This movie should not be saying that it is based on a true story. The only true incident was the rape of the nun. But the apprehension of the two young men that committed this heinous crime was not the way it happened. Read the book and see what I mean. For one tough cop, Mr. Dietl should have told Hollywood about his other exploits as an NYPD cop. Apparently those stories did not merit being put into the script. So what happens? Fiction with a childhood friend of Bo's that becomes a mafia made man. To add insult to injury, another mafia made man goes after Bo's partner. Never happened. One tough cop? tsk, tsk, tsk, I don't think so.
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This movie was supposed to be based on true events from beginning to end. What happened? Everything was fiction except the "Nun Story" which was also way exaggerated, Particularly the shooting scene. There are a lot of great, true cop stories in the naked city, this was not one of them.
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Pepito-515 August 2002I read the book and saw the movie. I guess the old adage: "It's not what you know, but who you know" applies here. I personally know a lot of true cop heroes, whom are both men and women, that would make this movie look like a Mickey Mouse cartoon flick if their stories were told.
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jmarcel19 April 2000One Tough Cop has a terrible title, but is a fun movie. More like a made for TV movie than a theatrical release, it nonetheless is entertaining. Chris Penn and Baldwin turn in good performances and the story, although cliche, is good enough to keep your attention. I gave it a 7/10.
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Pepito-513 October 2002A Frank Serpico, Bo Dietl is not. Frank Serpico served in Korea while in the Army, and is a true hero cop. I know for a fact that "Paco" is affable and courteous to all, be it a beggar out on the streets, or the average Joe blow. He is what I call the real McCoy! Please check out comments on "Serpico."
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CineMikey7 September 2002...this would have been better off as an HBO or Showtime Original, but I liked the biographical look at rogue New York Cop Bo Deitl. I confess, I heard him on the Howard Stern Show, and thought he was notes, but the movie is tightly and carefully plotted and the characters were believable. If the film has a fault, the plot is almost too tight. Good performances by Stephen Baldwin, Gina Gershon, and Mike McGlone. I liked the opening sequence okay as well. Come on, it's a cop movie, and a decent one at that.
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Pepito-520 September 2002If I may add one more short comment: When this movie was made, Mr. Bo Dietl; Stephen Baldwin; Chris Penn; the producers, and director...'Jumped the shark'... Hollywood jargon for a show or actor going downhill in his/her career.
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This a great movie about the true story of New York's greatest undercover officer. If you want to see a good undercover cop movie this is it. Bo Dietl fought against all the junkies on the street and when he went in the PD he had to fight off the brass to keep his job.
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moviewiz-413 November 2000This movie is quite good although the main character do not really tell much about his life(real life).
I just follow the story from pay-tv and would consider the plot is considerably well written, only after the credits roll, it was then realised that it based on a real person life.
Well, good one. -
Flint-1012 October 1998The ads tout this movie as being "produced by the guy who brought you 'Serpico', 'Scarface', and others". About the only thing this movie shares with those two is the word %&#@!.
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sanosito15 August 2003This is a very good and much overlooked police drama. It held my attention from start to finish. Chris Penn and Steve Baldwin were great believable partners together. I don't really care if any of it was "true" or "accurate;" it was true and accurate enough for me as to what goes on in the streets of a big American city and within a large metropolitan police department/organization. Way underrated!
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the amorphousmachine26 August 2000I really liked this movie! Mainly because of the performances by Stephen Baldwin as Bo Dietl and Chris Penn as his partner Duke!
One Tough Cop is a decent cop drama that has enough plot to keep you entertained, although I don't know how accurate the story is, but I wouldn't mind reading the book! ***1/2 out of ***** -
nickd997 June 1999I very much loved this film. The acting was top notch. Granted it wasn't your typical high dollar film where everything gets blown up, but it was a true American story. I would recommend this film to anyone. Stephen Baldwin was excellent in this film, the role he played fit him very well. My advice is watch it and you'll love it.
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Big O-722 February 2000This film is okay. The big drawback is that this is NOT a true story. The acting is fine, though Mike McGlone is a little hard to swallow (but there have certainly been worse performances that have gotten a lot more attention). It comes off as a film that reaches to be a Sidney Lumet production, but falls way short.
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lionel.willoquet20 July 2001The New York policeman Stephen Baldwin partied with his childhood friend, the mafioso Mike McGlone. Their complicity draws the attention of FBI... Inspired by the life of the policeman Bo Dietl, this muscular whodunit interpreted by Stephen Baldwin ("The Usual Suspects") brushes a bitter and violent picture of the daily life in the New York police. The first quarter of an hour let augur a robust detective, bitter and restless film. But the continuation does not hold the initial promises. The intrigue, badly tied up, suffers from the Stephen Baldwin's transparent interpretation.
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spargo3671 December 2020Very interesting film, Gina Gershon and stephen baldwin are the best. I have been looking for this video for a long time.
Great acting 2 by Chris penn. This movie is so great .
I had seen this movie some years ago and liked it. I wanted to have the film for my collection, so I purchased it. It was all that I remembered- well acted and directed, realistic action, gritty, and you really don't know who good guys and bad guys are till the end. -
Alex-37218 October 2002Or: an ode to Bo Dietl. This is the usual hero worship from an Ed McBain wannabe. No real plot, no production values to speak off, just a lot of actors who want to be part of an "important" story. And they should know better. I found it very difficult to care about _any_ of the characters in this turgid piece of cinema. And that's even though I like Stephen Baldwin, Chris Penn and Nora Gershon.
It doesn't help that the protagonists are the usual Black nun-rapists on angel dust (or crack in this case - where did I see that before - Hill Street Blues), it doesn't help that Dietl is chumming up with the local maffia (Mike McGlone), who are ok after all, as they're just good Catholic boys from the hood. Does Mike McGlone as the local mafia hood do anything illegal other than kiss Stephen Baldwin and sit around in a restaurant looking unemployed? And what's with all this kissing stuff? I think Stephen Baldwin and Mike McGlone kiss at least three times throughout the movie?
Something must be very rotten with the police, when they and the mafia are just a bunch of good old boys and the FBI fighting corruption are just out to get a small time, hardworking cop. Right. How mean of them. I guess they just don't understand. Check out the reviews of his book at Amazon.com to read the opinions of some (probably) real cops.
In short, this is just one overly long ode to a nobody called Bo Dietl. Miss it. -
DMX78629 November 2020I really enjoyed this Action crime movie, it is very entertaining and eye catching. a lot of action and violence in this film, I also love the cast , Stephen Baldwin, Gina Gershon and Chris Penn. excellent storyline to the movie.