Downtown (1990)

Police Officer Alex Kearney works in a rich, plush suburb of Philadelphia. When he stops an important businessman and his story of the incident is not believed, he is sent to work Downtown,... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Benjamin

Writer:

Nat Mauldin

Stars:

Anthony Edwards, Forest Whitaker, Penelope Ann Miller

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Edwards	...	Alex Kearney
Forest Whitaker	...	Dennis Curren
Penelope Ann Miller	...	Lori Mitchell
Joe Pantoliano	...	White
David Clennon	...	Jerome Sweet
Art Evans	...	Henry Coleman
Rick Aiello	...	Mickey Witlin
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Lt. Sam Parral
Ron Canada	...	Lowell Harris
Wanda De Jesus	...	Luisa Diaz
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Inspector Ben Glass (as Frank McCarthy)
Kimberly Scott	...	Christine Curren
Ryan McWhorter	...	Ephraim Cain
Danuel Pipoly	...	Skip Markowitz
Maurice Hill	...	Man with Dog

Storyline

Police Officer Alex Kearney works in a rich, plush suburb of Philadelphia. When he stops an important businessman and his story of the incident is not believed, he is sent to work Downtown, the most dangerous, crime-filled precinct in the city. Everyone there is sure that this 'by the book', pampered, suburban cop is going to get himself, and whoever is assigned as his partner, killed. Detective Dennis Curren, draws the unfortunate 'babysitting' assignment. But when Alex's best friend is killed investigating a stolen car, Alex throws the book out the window tracking down the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

police | car | detective | disturbed identity | slapstick comedy | 

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Taglines:

When you pound this beat, it pounds you back.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Deux flics à Downtown

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$2,346,150 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When White pulls up to them on the freeway to shoot Dennis, the passenger side window is down, but during the shot where he pulls abreast of them to open fire, he rolls the passenger window down.

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Quotes

Henry Coleman: A fuck-up. Another goddamn, four-star, class-A fuck-up! Every backward candy-ass shit-for-brains fuck-up in the city, I get 'em. Not Wynnefield, not South Philly, not Germantown, me!

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Connections

References The Terminator (1984)

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Soundtracks

"I GO TO WORK"
Written and Performed by Kool Moe Dee
Courtesy of Jive Records

User Reviews

Cop out of water, big time.

Police Officer Alex Kearney is a keen, by the book cop who's happy with his beat in a nice part of Philadelphia. Unfortunately his adherence to the rules lands him in trouble with his chiefs after he tries to arrest an an important businessman with long standing police connections. When his side of the story is not believed, he is given the choice of suspension or a transfer downtown. Choosing the transfer, Kearney isn't quite prepared for how dangerous and crime filled downtown is. Worse still, his new tough no nonsense partner positively hates him!

It's churlish to suggest that Downtown is merely a cash in of the buddy buddy inter racial cop movies, that, as we know, were made viable entertaining fare by the likes of Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. Starring Forest Whitaker (Dennis Curren) and Anthony Edwards {Alex Kearney}, Downtown is as much about a fish out of water scenario than it is polar opposite cops working together. With both things dovetailing together to create an engaging actioner that's worth the time of those who are stuck for a rental one evening. Suffering a touch in the last finale due to the inevitable mawkish character strand, IE:just why is Curren so miserable and mean,? while a stronger villain than David Clennon's barely grumpy Jerome Sweet would have helped enormously. But with some genuinely funny sequences, and some well staged action set pieces, Downtown achieves most of the requisites set down for the action/comedy genre. Nice support comes from Joe Pantoliano as a bizarre looking hit-man and Penelope Ann Miller as Kearney's fraught girlfriend, Lori Mitchell. 6.5/10