Who would have thought that a film that has the likes of Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel, and Robert DeNiro would have a true break out performance from...Sylvester Stallone.
I remember first hearing about this film and the cast and thinking why in the hell Stallone was in this. He was going to ruin this film. I have to honestly say that Stallone's performance as Freddy Heflin, the small town sheriff of Garrison is Sylvester Stallone's greatest performance of his career. And yes, I am counting Rocky.
Cop Land is about a small town called Garrison, New Jersey that is right at the bottom of the George Washington bridge and faces New York City. It's a town built by cops from the city in an attempt to get out. The problem is that many of Garrison's cops are crooked and the recent shooting incident involving one of the officers drags internal affairs into the town and investigating what goes in in the precinct and the town of garrison itself. This leaves Sheriff Heflin (Stallone) right in the middle.
With a cast like this the acting is going to be excellent. Keitel and Robert Patrick as rogue cops. Liotta as the coke head undercover cop. Frank Vincent commits a real stretch as a union president. Writer/director James Mangold creates a story that is a compelling piece that is really a woe-is-me story from the point of view of Heflin. The sheriff is a disabled (lose of hearing in one ear from saving the local beauty queen in a submerged car) NYPD wannabe that most of the community sees as a Barney Fife. This is why the film isn't typical Stallone. This character is overweight, and almost wishy-washy. This isn't Rambo or Cobra, but a guy in a rut that he knows he'll never be able to get out of and at times he's too afraid to do anything about it otherwise he'll upset the status quo.
Cop Land is a cop movie like no other and is certainly under rated as hell. I never realized it buy it has come to my attention that this is almost like a modern day western, ala Shane or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, where a reluctant protector has to go above and beyond to save his town. A man's gotta do...
No comments:
Post a Comment