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Cop Land
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De
Niro
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| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
Miramax
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| Kiddie Movie: |
Lots of use of the "F" word, and a nudie bar scene so I'd
say probably not.
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| Date Movie: |
It's a good drama, bring them along.
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| Gratuitous Sex: |
Some boob shots in the nudie bar.
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| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Some quality kills, blood, and a gory burn victim.
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| Action: |
No real high speed
car chases in this one, but some pretty good suspense type
scenes.
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| Laughs: |
Not really.
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| Memorable
Scene: |
None stand out, just the whole movie is good. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Again, none stand out.
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| Directed By: |
James Mangold |
| Produced By: |
Cary Woods, Cathy Konrad, Ezra Swerdlow
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Cop Land
A Movie Review |
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MPAA Rated - R |
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It's 1:45 Long |
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| A Review by |
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Stu Gotz |
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I'll be honest with you, when I first heard
about "Cop Land" all I knew was that Sylvester Stallone was to star
in the movie. Knowing this I honestly thought the movie was doomed to
be cheesy. Let's face it folks, Stallone has a knack, or maybe a
curse, that in any movie he has top billing, although often action
packed and entertaining, it tends to be over-acted and unbelievable.
I call it the "Stallone Factor." With that I wrote the movie off. But
then I heard that Di Niro, Liotta, and Harvey "The Bad Lieutenant"
Keitel were also in the movie. Hmm… maybe this movie would be
good after all. You know what? It wasn't good… It was GREAT!
Best cop/mob drama I've seen in a long time, and maybe that Stallone
curse is lifted!
Unlike other cop and mob movies, "Cop Land" doesn't overdue
stereotypes and avoids all those cliché high speed chase
scenes that end up in monumental explosions. Instead, we are given an
overweight, droopy Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone) who desperately
wants to be an NYPD Cop. Problem is he's partially deaf, and
therefore winds up being the patsy Sheriff of a podunk New Jersey
town. This really doesn't sit all that well with him, but what else
is he to do? Harvey Keitel plays Ray Donlan - You can think of him as
the "Godfather" of bad cops, and it's a role he plays well. All of
the bad cops in New York's 34th precinct report to him, and he keeps
the heat off them courtesy of mob money.
Now, in order to keep better tabs on his men and get some pretty
safe housing at cheap interest rates, Ray and the mob boys have
worked it out over the years so that the players in this cop game get
the low interest loans, usually in exchange for bending the law and
always keeping their mouths shut. Basically the cops of the 34th own
Garrison, New Jersey (didn't Pullman try something similar in
Chicago?), and this land has its own rules, which Sheriff Freddy
really has no control over. Anyway, "Cop Land" also has the likes of
Gary "Figs" Figgis, played by Ray Liotta, as a coked out (and I'm not
talkin' soda) cop who wants out of it all. This doesn't sit too well
with Ray. And lastly, we have the smooth, NYPD Internal Affairs
Investigator, Moe Tilden (Robert Di Niro), who knows what's going on
and desperately wants to expose it all, but he doesn't have that one
piece of evidence to put the case together. So, how does it all play
out? Well… I don't want to spoil it for. Just know this - Ray is
one heartless mother-fucker, Sheriff Freddy gets a spine, and a lot
of bad cops wind up dead.
For me the best way to describe "Cop Land" is "believable."
Sitting there in the theater I really felt sorry for poor,
dim-witted Sheriff Freddy, I felt rage when I thought about what a
ruthless bastard Ray was, and I just loved Di Niro' s portrayal of a
sneaky and cynical IA officer. With that being said I give "Cop Land"
4 of 5 stars. A great movie - 'nuff said, and I'm Stu Gotz. |
