Mark Fee
Montana Senior News
Classic DVD’s: Police Thrillers
Ever since Peter Yates’ Bullitt (1968) hit the screen, I’ve been a consummate fan of police and detective thrillers. The film was based on the real life adventures of San Francisco Police Detective Frank Toschi. Steve McQueen played Bullitt. A few years later, Don Siegel directed Clint Eastwood in the volatile, Dirty Harry (1971). Dirty Harry was based on one of Toschi’s most harrowing cases, the notorious Zodiac killings. Eastwood played Harry Callahan again in a number of sequels (1971-87).
Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat (1951) with Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin was the Dirty Harry of it’s day. Ford plays a cop, whose wife is killed by some gangsters. Like Dirty Harry, the film is unforgettable; raw and emotionally charged. The film literally shreds the screen. One of the scenes with Lee Marvin, as a sadistic mobster, is searingly intense. Ford plays an FBI agent, in Blake Edwards’ jolting, Experiment in Terror (1962). In the film, lovely Lee Remick plays a San Francisco bank teller, who is blackmailed by an asthmatic killer. Ross Martin (TV’s Wild Wild West (1965-69) plays the killer with fiendish skill
In the 1960s, Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (1967) won Best Picture of the Year. The film was an extremely intelligent and racially charged police/detective thriller. Harper (1966) didn’t win any Academy Awards. But Paul Newman gave a matchless performance as, wise cracking P.I., Lew Harper. William Friedkin’s frenzied The French Connection (1971) won the Academy Award for Best Picture (1971). Once again the coveted award went to a film about cops. Gene Hackman won an Academy Award for Best Actor, as the maniacal Poppy Doyle. Hollywood exploited the popularity of The French Connection and Dirty Harry with numerous police shows on television and the big screen. Most of them were mundane and artificial. Columbo (1971-2003) with Peter Falk was a rare gem. Falk’s Columbo was inimitable; a humane and doggedly persistent detective.
In the 1980s, Walter Hill’s police comedy thriller, 48 Hours (1982) packed theaters. Richard Donner’s buddy cop comedy thriller, Lethal Weapon (1987) was a mega blockbuster and spawned three sequels (1987-97). Hollywood has produced countless police/detective thrillers. Listed below are some of my favorite police/detective thrillers and a few sleepers. Enjoy
In No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), George Segal plays a detective, who is still living at home with his nagging mother. Segal is Jewish and a member of the New York Police Department. Rod Steiger plays the owner of a theater. He is psychotic and unbearably deceptive. He is a murderer and genius at disguise. Segal is assigned to the case. He becomes romantically involved with Lee Remick. Steiger tracks Remick. The film mixes black humor and suspense to perfection. It’s a super sleeper. NR; 3 ½ stars
In Klute (1971), Donald Sutherland plays a small town detective, who inadvertently becomes involved with a high priced hooker played by Jane Fonda. Sutherland is concerned with the strange disappearance of a good friend, who was a noted businessman. The case leads to high fashion New York. Fonda is a struggling model, who also happens to be a hooker. Sutherland’s friend was one of her clients. She receives ominous phone calls and asks for Sutherland’s help. An outstandingly directed and acted film; spellbinding thriller. Rated R; four stars.
Walter Matthau plays a depressed, relentless San Francisco detective in The Laughing Policeman (1973), who is baffled by a case involving a mass murder. Matthau thinks the killings are tied to a murder that was never solved and an elusive businessman. The cast including Bruce Dern, as Matthau’s sardonic partner and Lou Gossett, as a fellow officer, is uniformly excellent. The film is an extremely graphic trip into the underbelly of San Francisco. Not for the timid. Rated R; three stars.
In Serpico (1973), Al Pacino plays a heroic member of the NYPD, who defies convention and his superiors and turns whistle blower against his fellow officers. Based on a true story, the film is a harrowing study of character and consequence; corruption and pathos. Pacino has never been better; Sidney Lumet’s direction is flawless. The soundtrack by Mikos Theodorakis is haunting and electric. Rated R; 3 ½ stars.
In The Untouchables (1987), Kevin Costner plays an obsessed, idealistic federal officer who refuses to give in to Al Capone. Costner plays Elliott Ness. Ness has to clean up bootlegging in Chicago. Unfortunately, he knows nothing about trapping Capone. He enlists a reluctant Sean Connery to help him. Connery teaches him, “if they pull a knife, you pull a gun.” Robert De Niro plays the power hungry, sadistic Capone. Outstanding film with overwhelming soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Rated R; four stars.
Until the next time grab some pop corn and enjoy these classic police thrillers!