Cop Land (1997)

The sheriff of a suburban New Jersey community populated by New York City policemen slowly discovers the town is a front for mob connections and corruption.

Director:

James Mangold

Writer:

James Mangold

Stars:

Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvester Stallone	...	Freddy Heflin
Harvey Keitel	...	Ray Donlan
Ray Liotta	...	Gary Figgis
Robert De Niro	...	Moe Tilden
Peter Berg	...	Joey Randone
Janeane Garofalo	...	Deputy Cindy Betts
Robert Patrick	...	Jack Rucker
Michael Rapaport	...	Murray Babitch
Annabella Sciorra	...	Liz Randone
Noah Emmerich	...	Deputy Bill Geisler
Cathy Moriarty	...	Rose Donlan
John Spencer	...	Leo Crasky
Frank Vincent	...	PDA President Lassaro
Malik Yoba	...	Detective Carson
Arthur J. Nascarella	...	Frank Lagonda

Storyline

Sometime in the 1970's, police officers from New York wanted a safe haven to live, away from the dangers of the streets of New York, this is when they established a "Cop Land" in the small New Jersey town of Garrison. Freddy Heflin who was always admired by the New York cops wanted to become one, but because he was deaf in one ear this prevents him from achieving his goal, but has become sheriff of Garrison. Recently there have been a dark omen surrounding the NYPD, and Freddy is now investigating on this case, then Internal Affairs officer Mo Tilden is also on the case and asks Freddy for help, but Freddy could not. Now Freddy suspects that a New York cop named Ray Donlan might be one of the many cops who is corrupted by the mob and other criminals. Now, Freddy must find a cop who is nicknamed "Superboy" who can testify against Donlan and protect him, before Donlan finds Superboy and kills him.

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Plot Keywords:

sheriff | nypd | police | internal affairs | new york city | 

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Taglines:

No One Is Above The Law.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, strong language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

CopLand

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

DEM 1,854,272 (Germany) (30 January 1998)

Gross:

DEM 5,118,405 (Germany) (20 February 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, Woods Entertainment, Across the River Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 116 min (director's cut) 120 min (extended director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the actors in the film worked for scale due to the film's budget.

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Goofs

When Heflin is looking through the mortgage notes, Ray Donlan's address is cited as "10 Magnolia Cirle". Later at the end shootout, the numbers "381" can be seen at the front of Ray's house.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Moe Tilden: [narrating] Every precinct has its cop bar - a private club - all blue. For the 3-7 it was the Four Aces, just across the river.

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Crazy Credits

Normally, the credits display the actor's name on the left side with the character's name on the right. The credits here are reversed.

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Connections

Features The Geraldo Rivera Show (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Cant Seem to Make You Mine"
Performed by The Seeds
Written by Sky Saxon
Published by Neil Music, BMI
Courtesy of GNP Crescendo Records
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

The Good & Bad Of 'Cop Land'

This star-studded cast was more impressive than the story, which is probably one reason this film wasn't a big box-office success. The names might draw people into the theater but it just wasn't a good enough story to attract more fans.

Only small-town sheriff "Freddy Heflin" played by Sylvester Stallone, is a good guy while the others, all New York City cops, are shown to be crooked. You can overdo the bad-guy thing, too, which Hollywood does and then probably doesn't understand why the movie isn't appealing to the masses. With Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra and others, this should have done better.

Having said all that, I go on record as saying I enjoyed the film, finding it intense in parts and it kept my interest. Could it and should it have been better? Yes. It's too hard-edged, profane and too sleazy. But if you like a tough crime film, here is one. I would watch it a second time.