Badge of the Assassin (1985) (TV)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Mel Damski

Writers:

Lawrence Roman (writer)
Philip Rosenberg (book)

Release Date:

2 November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Three black revolutionaries gun down two New York City police officers. The subsequent investigation...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Black Detective | Black Cop | Murder | Based On True Story

Cast

James Woods	...	Robert K. Tannenbaum, Assistant District Attorney
Yaphet Kotto	...	Detective Cliff Fenton NYPD
Alex Rocco	...	Detective Bill Butler NYPD
David Harris	...	Lester Bertram Day
Steven Keats	...	Harold Skelton, Defense Attorney
Larry Riley	...	Herman Bell
Pam Grier	...	Alexandra 'Alie' Horn
Rae Dawn Chong	...	Christine Horn
Richard Bradford	...	L.J. Delsa
Kene Holliday	...	Albert Washington
Toni Kalem	...	Diana Piagentini
Tamu Blackwell	...	Gloria Lapp
Richard Brooks	...	Anthony 'Tony' Bottom
Akosua Busia	...	Ruth
Lewis Arquette	...	1st Foreman

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R | Iceland:12

Company:

Blatt-Singer Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The first scene of the movie is set in 1971, yet the two cops are in a 1975-76 Plymouth Fury. Also, the light bar present wasn't used on NYPD patrol cars until 1973.

Quotes:

Detective Cliff Fenton NYPD: It doesn't make sense!
Herman Bell: It does not have to! It just has to get noticed! They have to learn - -oppressing people COSTS!
Detective Cliff Fenton NYPD: Now I know what you are. You're not a man; you're not a leader; you're a black thug!

Peculiar Institutions

I can understand why some people might consider this movie dated and filled with stereotypes. All the symbols are there. "Let's off the pigs," and so on. It helps, though, to dispell that impression if you remember the 1960s and early 1970s when US cities were almost in a state of open warfare. Stepin Fetchitt never existed outside of the imagination of white people, but organizations like the Black Liberation Army, depicted here, did. And hate crimes based on race were all too common. (A bit of historical research will dig up Eldridge Cleaver's explanation for why he switched from raping black women to raping white women -- because raping white women was "a political act.") And Afros were popular among African-Americans. But it certainly is hard for us to put ourselves in the places of the characters in this movie, because social movements like this were in turmoil. Until the early 1960s "desegregation" was the accepted goal. By 1970 it was clear that that wasn't enough, and now an uneasy truce exists in which the great racial divide persists and practically nobody is willing to talk about it. But at least the killings are fewer and our contempt for law lessened.

"The Badge of the Assassin" is a pretty straightforward story. The B.L.A. executes two cops in New York (one black, one white) and then disperses, only to be rounded up after exhaustive effort by agents of several justice organizations, mainly the office of the NYC DA, Tannenbaum, played by James Woods, whose book this movie is based on. It's usually dangerous to base a film on a single source who's author is still alive. First-person accounts are often self serving, as Cleaver's was. But here, Woods is a member of an ensemble -- and an extremely good cast too. Pam Grier is no longer the epitome of beauty she'd been ten years earlier but is attractive, and a surprisingly subtle actress. Rae Dawn Chong is not beautiful but her features are magnetic and her performance fine. Alex Rocco is a fine subordinate, although it's hard to accept him as a police officer who's last name is "Butler." Woods shows his usual mannerisms, which fit the character of a principled but ambitious DA rather well. The standout performance is an underplayed on by Yaphet Koto, who is a police officer and a "good" black guy, in the sense that some war movies have "good" Germans. He's on the side of justice. And what more can we ask for, really. Wow, is he smooth. His expression hardly alters, regardless of the scene he happens to be in, but he manages to project a considerable spectrum of emotions, including humor. (When he's stopped at an airport gate and asked to surrender his weapon before boarding the plane he goes into a mock rage and threatens to call "the president, my congressman, the Muslims, and the B'nai Brith!") In another scene he uses almost none of his features except his eyes when, questioning two black prisoners, he is called an "Uncle Tom." Later, the prisoners ask to speak to the black officer alone. With scarcely a twitch he replies, "A few minutes ago I was Uncle Tom. Now I'm a black officer." He and his character provide the kind of stability that a movie with James Woods so often needs.

Of all the characters in the story, and there are many, aside from the victims and their families, I felt saddest about the BLA assassins. No one is born a murderer. They did it out of a sense of group loyalty. "This is my proof that I belong with you." You murder a complete stranger because of the color of his skin or the kind of clothes he's wearing. If anything in this movie is dated, homicide committed for reasons of race or resentment against any faceless group is dated, and thank God for that.