A New York City narcotics detective reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption. However, he soon discovers that he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted.
At the end of a long and hot summer day, members of one family gather in a large house. Everyone has something painful and offensive to say, and their silence is even worse.
Director:
Sidney Lumet
Stars:
Katharine Hepburn,
Ralph Richardson,
Jason Robards
A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him in this gritty ... See full summary »
After Duke Anderson is released from prison after ten years for taking the rap for a scion of a Mafia family, he cashes in a debt of honor with the mob to bankroll a caper.
New York City cop Daniel Ciello is involved in some questionable police practices. He is approached by internal affairs and in exchange for him potentially being let off the hook, he is instructed to begin to expose the inner workings of police corruption. Danny agrees as long as he does not have to turn in his partners but he soon learns that he cannot trust anyone and he must decide whose side he is on and who is on his.Written by
Josh Pasnak <chainsaw@intouch.bc.ca>
Akira Kurosawa complimented director Sidney Lumet on the beauty of the camerawork and the whole movie. By this he meant that there is an elemental connection between the story and the techniques used. For example background lighting is gradually phased out to make the characters stand out more towards the end of the film. See more »
Goofs
When Barnes is picking up the Ciello family at their home, Barnes puts his hat - a brown fedora - on Ciello's young child's head. In the next shot, when Barnes takes his hat back from the child, it is not the fedora he had just put on the child but instead is a dark hunting hat with a long baseball cap like bill and no brim. See more »
Quotes
Carl Alagretti:
Dave's been calling all over town about you. Why do you always have to shoot off your mouth, Ciello? I heard he's talkin' about some cop who's squealin' to the Chase Commission.
Daniel Ciello:
Carl, let's not sit so close to the TV set. I can't get any kind of recording here.
Carl Alagretti:
Man, that's not funny.
Daniel Ciello:
Listen, you oughta think about comin' over, Carl. Lotta cops are doin' it. You see that waitress over there? The one with no tits? She's been wearin' a wire for six months. She's got a transmitter stuffed right up ...
See more »
Alternate Versions
The film originally premiered on TV in a version broadcast over 4 hours (running no longer than 196 minutes), including previously unseen material which had been cut from the 167-minute theatrical release. Among the restored scenes is one that makes more sense of the DiBenadetto Case (the character Ciello's first rat-job). See more »
this "cop-rats on cops" story was probably meant to impress in 1976. But it didn't age well. We are left with the clichés, a dragging, heavy script that is plain factual, and terrible acting.
Treat Williams is ridiculous. He over-acts like those actors from the mute cinema era. but more than that, literally CRY like a child, his face full of tears, every over scene in a movie that last 2h40!!
Result: He is very annoying, and you end up feeling embarrassed that this guy can get lead roles. 10 minutes into the movie, you can't stand him anymore and wish you never see him act ever again.
The direction of Sydney Lumet is clean and professional as usual. But the script is so full of clichés, so heavy and demonstrative! Nothing gets to you: the characters, the story, the whole movie drags endlessly. It has absolutely no invention, no craftiness. It is plain flat.
A below average cop movie that wants to be big, 2h40 minutes of plain "cop rats on cops story". No twists in the plot. Mediocre dialog. Bad actors... And Treat Williams cries and makes "hurt" faces as to tell you : look, something is happening!
Not even nice vintage shots of the New York of the time. Avoid it.
7 of 15 people found this review helpful.
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this "cop-rats on cops" story was probably meant to impress in 1976. But it didn't age well. We are left with the clichés, a dragging, heavy script that is plain factual, and terrible acting.
Treat Williams is ridiculous. He over-acts like those actors from the mute cinema era. but more than that, literally CRY like a child, his face full of tears, every over scene in a movie that last 2h40!!
Result: He is very annoying, and you end up feeling embarrassed that this guy can get lead roles. 10 minutes into the movie, you can't stand him anymore and wish you never see him act ever again.
The direction of Sydney Lumet is clean and professional as usual. But the script is so full of clichés, so heavy and demonstrative! Nothing gets to you: the characters, the story, the whole movie drags endlessly. It has absolutely no invention, no craftiness. It is plain flat.
A below average cop movie that wants to be big, 2h40 minutes of plain "cop rats on cops story". No twists in the plot. Mediocre dialog. Bad actors... And Treat Williams cries and makes "hurt" faces as to tell you : look, something is happening!
Not even nice vintage shots of the New York of the time. Avoid it.