Homicide (1991)

A Jewish homicide detective investigates a seemingly minor murder and falls in with a Zionist group as a result.

Director:

David Mamet

Writer:

David Mamet

Stars:

Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, Vincent Guastaferro

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Mantegna	...	Bobby Gold
William H. Macy	...	Tim Sullivan
Vincent Guastaferro	...	Lt. Senna
J.J. Johnston	...	Jilly Curran
Jack Wallace	...	Frank
Lionel Mark Smith	...	Charlie Olcott
Roberta Custer	...	Cathy Bates
Charles Stransky	...	Doug Brown
Bernard Gray	...	James
Paul Butler	...	Commissioner Walker
Colin Stinton	...	Walter B. Wells
Louis Murray	...	Mr. Patterson
Christopher Kaldor	...	Desk Sergeant
Linda Kimbrough	...	Sgt. Green
Robin Spielberg	...	Records Officer

Storyline

Policeman Bob Gold has to capture a murderer that not even the FBI has been able to find. But before he can even start he is re-assigned to the murder of an old Jewish lady in a black area. The evidence points at a Jewish hate group and he discovers connections between them and his previous case.

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Plot Keywords:

neo noir | jewish | murder | policeman | self hatred | 

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Taglines:

Detective Robert Gold. Whatever he chooses to do is going to be wrong. He still has to make a choice.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 1991 (France)

Also Known As:

A gyilkossági csoport

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,971,661

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edward R. Pressman Film,Cinehaus,Bison Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the American city where the movie takes place is never stated.

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Goofs

Toward the end of the film, when two policemen take Randolph away from Bob Gold, Bob's right arm is hanging. In the next shot, Bob's right arm is stretched.

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Quotes

[after being shot]
Randolph: Oh, God... God help me... what did you do to me?

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Connections

Featured in Invent Nothing, Deny Nothing: Five Guys from Mamet's HOMICIDE (2009)

User Reviews

Excellent film but still a bit of a let-down

Bobby Gold, a jewish homicide detective involved in tracking down a cop killer, stumbles onto the shooting of an elderly jewish lady. Although starting only very reluctantly, he gets drawn deeper and deeper into this second case, eventually getting involved with a militant pro-Israel group which causes him to question his own identity as a Jew. This naturally leads to neglect of the first case. Bad things happen as a result.

If you like Mamet films, then you'll certainly enjoy this one. As is typical, his tight dialogue creates wonderful tensions with a minimum of words and the acting is excellent. Unfortunately, the movie fails to live up to its promise. Part of the blame is in a relatively weak finale and a conclusion which goes by so fast you'll miss it if you blink. The real problem, however, is that we never develop any intimacy with the human relationships and personal conflicts which should be the heart of the movie but instead just end up providing support for the actual events taking place. We should be leaving the theater with the story playing over and over in our minds for some time to come, but instead we leave simply having been entertained and enthralled for the duration of the film. Not a bad thing, but not as good as it could have been.