{"id":50023,"date":"2016-09-23T15:37:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T19:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=50023"},"modified":"2016-09-23T15:37:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T19:37:13","slug":"americas-love-affair-with-police-thrillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=50023","title":{"rendered":"America’s Love Affair With Police Thrillers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Fee
\n<\/span>Montana Senior News<\/span><\/p>\n

Classic DVD’s: Police Thrillers<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> Ever since Peter Yates’<\/span> Bullitt<\/span><\/i> (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<\/span> Bullitt.<\/span><\/i> A few years later, Don Siegel directed Clint Eastwood in the volatile,<\/span> Dirty Harry<\/span><\/i> (1971).<\/span> Dirty Harry<\/span><\/i> 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). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Fritz Lang’s<\/span> The Big Heat<\/span><\/i> (1951) with Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin was the<\/span> Dirty Harry<\/span><\/i> of it’s day. Ford plays a cop, whose wife is killed by some gangsters. Like<\/span> Dirty Harry<\/span><\/i>, 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’ \u00a0jolting,<\/span> Experiment in Terror<\/span><\/i> (1962). In the film, lovely Lee Remick plays a San Francisco bank teller, who is blackmailed by an asthmatic killer. \u00a0Ross Martin (TV’s<\/span> Wild Wild \u00a0West<\/span><\/i> \u00a0(1965-69) plays the killer with fiendish skill \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In the 1960s, Norman Jewison’s<\/span> In the Heat of the Night<\/span><\/i> (1967) won Best \u00a0Picture of the Year. The film was an extremely intelligent and racially charged police\/detective thriller.<\/span> Harper<\/span><\/i> (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<\/span> The French Connection (1971)<\/span><\/i> 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<\/span> The French Connection<\/span><\/i> and<\/span> Dirty Harry<\/span><\/i> with numerous police shows \u00a0on television and the big screen. \u00a0Most of them were mundane and artificial.<\/span> Columbo<\/span><\/i> \u00a0(1971-2003) with Peter Falk was a rare gem. Falk’s<\/span> Columbo<\/span><\/i> was inimitable; a humane and doggedly persistent detective.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In the 1980s, Walter Hill’s police comedy thriller,<\/span> 48 Hours<\/span><\/i> (1982) packed theaters. Richard Donner’s buddy cop comedy thriller,<\/span> Lethal Weapon<\/span><\/i> (1987) was a mega blockbuster and spawned three sequels (1987-97). \u00a0Hollywood has produced countless police\/detective thrillers. Listed below are some of my favorite police\/detective thrillers and a few sleepers. Enjoy<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In<\/span> No Way to Treat a Lady<\/span><\/i> (1968), George Segal plays a detective, who is still living at home with his nagging mother. \u00a0Segal 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 \u00a0genius at disguise. Segal is assigned to the case. He becomes romantically involved with Lee Remick. Steiger tracks Remick. \u00a0The \u00a0film mixes black humor and suspense to perfection. It’s a super sleeper. NR; 3 \u00bd stars<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In<\/span> Klute<\/span><\/i> (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. \u00a0Rated R; four stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Walter Matthau plays a \u00a0depressed, relentless San Francisco detective in<\/span> The Laughing Policema<\/span><\/i>n (1973), who is baffled by a case involving a mass murder. \u00a0Matthau thinks the killings are tied to \u00a0a 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. \u00a0Rated R; three stars.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In<\/span> Serpico<\/span><\/i> (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 \u00a0harrowing 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. \u00a0Rated R; 3 \u00bd stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In<\/span> The Untouchables<\/span><\/i> (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, \u201cif they pull a knife, you pull a gun.\u201d Robert De Niro plays the power hungry, sadistic Capone. \u00a0Outstanding film with overwhelming soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Rated R; four stars.
\n<\/span>
\nUntil the next time grab some pop corn and enjoy these classic police thrillers!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}