The Badge (2002)

A sheriff (Thornton) begins an investigation into the death of a local transsexual after hearing that high ranking politicians may have been involved. Although he is homophobic, his ... See full summary »

Director:

Robby Henson

Writer:

Robby Henson

Stars:

Billy Bob Thornton, Patricia Arquette, William Devane

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Sheriff Darl Hardwick
Patricia Arquette	...	Scarlett
William Devane	...	The Judge
Sela Ward	...	Carla Hardwick
Julie Hagerty	...	Sister Felicia
Marcus Lyle Brown	...	Deputy Jackson
Ray McKinnon	...	Deputy C.B.
Tom Bower	...	Bull Hardwick
Audrey Marie Anderson	...	Teenage Waitress
John McConnell	...	Ornell
J.C. Sealy	...	Rhonda Hebert (as J.C. Seally)
Ron Flagge	...	Gooch
Huey Alexander	...	Cletus
Deana Carter	...	Sherry
Mark Krasnoff	...	Squeegee

Storyline

A sheriff (Thornton) begins an investigation into the death of a local transsexual after hearing that high ranking politicians may have been involved. Although he is homophobic, his investigation causes him to be rejected by others, forcing him to seek help from the people he once despised.

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Plot Keywords:

transsexual | hit in the crotch | police detective | new orleans louisiana | neo noir | 

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Taglines:

A small town sheriff. A big city murderer.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Behind the Badge

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emmett/Furla Films, Millennium Films, Nu Image Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For what it's worth, Mona's dead body on the morgue table is a woman's, not a man's. The crests of the iliac, the hip bone, are pronounced, as they are in a woman's pelvic girdle. What this means is that the body was born female and couldn't have been a genotypic male with added breasts, which is the explanation offered by the M.E.

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Goofs

When Darl is talking with Carla outside her house, the door of Carla's car changes from opened to closed several times.

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Quotes

Sheriff Darl Hardwick: I'm beginnin' to think I liked you a lot better when you used to smoke all that reefer and we'd fuck in your Pinto.

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Crazy Credits

In the German end credits, Julie Hagerty's name is spelled "Julie Haggerty".

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Soundtracks

"Silent Night"
Written by Joseph Mohr
Melody by Franz Gruber (as Franz Xaver Gruber)

User Reviews

worthwhile picture

Anyone who contributes to the blab that Mr Thornton's characterisation of Darl was too close to his equally excellent characterisation of Hank in Monster Ball is not really contributing, or thinking very deeply. I have said as much before and I will say again here; Mr Thornton is the very best character actor in the US today and one of the best in the world.

It is no surprise to find a great actor tackling scripts that are well out of the main stream, this shows a thinking caring actor who is prepared to take risks and give more credibility to the work than to the star spin offs.

This movie is not a great one, but it is a very worthwhile experience that is, at least, thought provoking and contains some very fine acting from most of it's cast. The only real problem was the writer/director combination. This is not to say that the writing or the direction was bad, on the contrary, the direction particularly was very sound and the writing was fine though a little too "formular" in its shape. It's nearly always a mistake to direct ones own work, like reading ones own poetry, it becomes very hard to let a line go in an instant, when one is aware of how long it took to birth it. The Badge is fine and has some real strengths, its weakness lies in the denouement where there is the sense of a rather obvious ball being suddenly rushed to the goal post before time runs out for the some what staged final scene.

This work is worth the effort on many fronts, B.B.Thornton is excellent and that woman! what a sterling performance she gives in a very difficult role and against all kinds of odds. If you have not seen this movie and are thinking about it, then do it and do it now!