Dirty (2005)

Director:

Chris Fisher

Writers:

Chris Fisher (written by)
Gil Reavill (written by)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Violence Is A Language People Understand

Plot:

Two gangbangers-turned-cops try and cover up a scandal within the LAPD.

Plot Keywords:

Snake | Police | Cigarette Smoking | Pistol | Profanity

Cast

Frank Alvarez	...	Gangster #1
Clifton Collins Jr.	...	Officer Armando Sancho
Brittany Daniel	...	Tatiana
Keith David	...	Captain Spain
Robert Flores	...	Gangster #4
Aimee Garcia	...	Rita
Cesar Garcia	...	Gangster #3
Nicholas Gonzalez	...	Officer Rodriguez
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Salim Adel
Kevin Grevioux	...	Daddy
Wood Harris	...	Brax
Cole Hauser	...	Lieutenant
Wyclef Jean	...	Baine
Pat Healy	...	Ronnie
Tory Kittles	...	Wallace

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexual content and drug use.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (video rating) (2006) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #42125) | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Norway:15 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

2710 Inc.

Trivia:

The game that the drug-dealing white "jokers", that according to Baine doesn't fit the profile, is playing when Sancho and Adel busts through the door is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (VG), a game in which actor Clifton Collins Jr. (Sancho) does one of the main characters voices.

Quotes:

Officer Salim Adel: I hate white people.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gettin' Dirty (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

I'll Remember You

Strong delivery of cast and crew makes Dirty a clean and polished ride

Dirty will unfortunately draw comparison to Training Day, but if you can get past the similarities of the cover of this book, the content will come back strong and stand alone as a polished original. This movie reminds you that with decisive, deliberate direction, an excellent score and solid performances, a routine storyline can serve as the boilerplate foundation for the more difficult aspects of film-making to shine.

Collins has always been a favorite of mine to watch; almost singlehandedly destroying stereotypes of Latino actors while simultaneously stewing in the shallow pool of roles offered him. His stand out performances in 187 and Tigerland have only been improved in Dirty with his ability to bring humanity and sincerity to his otherwise bland characters. Gooding pulls it off in the end, almost through the sheer pleasure of watching him portray such an off-type character that the "over the top" performance was a necessity to draw your attention away from the believability of his playing the role. It was as if with every screamed expletive he was daring you to not take him seriously.

Dirty is a poster child film for how a director through what would appear to be either deliberate, clever and wise choices for the cast and crew or was very lucky in the outcome. But to this writer that is the magic of film-making. The end result of this film looks like a seamless collaboration of professionals turning out what is an interesting, exciting, visceral portrayal of bad cops and worse cops trying to outplay the system. Luck can only take you so far, and no doubt every component played a part in making this film work. The cinematography keeps the grit and grime of the streets in full focus, and the action and sometimes brutal violence is always just around the corner to snap your attention back into place as the plot moves forward.

To compare this movie to any other is doing it a disservice. Dirty takes any preconceived lemons it clearly had as a disadvantage going in, and made lemonade worth a second glass. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

7/10 - Maddis