Cop Land (1997)

***SPOILERS*** Leaving the Scores nightclub after a bachelor party for a fellow three seven precinct cop young Murrary "Superboy" Babitch, Michael Rapaport, gets in his car and drives to the George Washington Bridge on his way home to Garrison NJ.

As Babitch enters the bridge he's side-swiped by a car with two coke-heads that almost up-ends him. Moving along side the out-of-control car one of the occupants pull out what looks like a shotgun, it turned out to be a steering wheel club. As Babitch hits the breaks the car speeds away only to get blasted by Babitch from behind killing the two in the getaway car.

As the police and ambulance crews come on the scene they find that the two who Babitch shot dead were unarmed and that he may well be not only thrown out of the NYPD but have to serve time for homicide which cause Babitch to get very emotional. Before you know it he jumps to his death off the bridge, or did he? His body was never found.

Speeding through the town of Garrison the next day NYPD policemen Ray Dolan & Jack Rucker, Harvey Keitel & Robert Patrick, are stooped by the towns Sheriff Freddy Heflin and his deputy Cindy Betts, Sylvester Stallone and Janeane Garofalo. After Deputy Betts is given a lecture by the two cop on how she should be out looking to arrest criminals not giving tickets to fellow cops Freddy lets them leave without being ticketed. As the car drives away Freddy notices that the "dead" Babitch is in the back seat and that he's very much alive.

Police corruption and murder is the main theme of "Cop Land" with a cover up of a cop's suicide that unearths all the dirt that was swept under the rug in Garrison and in the 37th precinct over the last ten years. Financing the three seven precinct's cops houses in Garrison with low or no interest loans and the forgiving and forgetting about paying them off had the entire precinct working for the mob. Thus allowing the mob to push drugs and launder the drug money within it's, the three seven precinct, jurisdiction.

Not believing that Babitch is dead Interanal Affair let. Moe Tilden, Robert De Niro, starts to put the heat on the cops who are sticking to the story of Babtich sudden demise. Tildon starts to make some headway in the case which makes Donlan & Co. very nervous. They realize that they have to provide a body for the police investigation of Babitch's death to close the case. That body was to be that of Babitch himself!

Top notch police drama with Sylvester Stallone giving the best performance of his career as the sad-sack Freddy Heflin. Freddy because of an ear injury couldn't make the grade as a real cop and always looked up to the men of the three seven as his hero's. That's until he found out that they were anything but. With Babitch on the run after Dolan & Co. tried to murder him Freddy finds him hiding in a water tower with Figgys(Ray Liotta), another cop from Garrison, providing him with food and water. Friggy's also has it in for Dolan and his fellow corrupt cops for the murder of his partner Glenn Tunney three years ago.

Tunney was about to talk to a grand jury about police corruption and was mysteriously found murdered in his prison cell before he could testify. Figgsy correctly suspected it was Dolan who had Tunney done in. Freddy realizing that he has to talk to let. Tliden about what he knows but is told that the investigation was shut down by the mayor due to the pressure of the NYPD union. Which

Fmovies: This movie was always going to be interesting because it involves so many sides to the one story. There is an excellent balance established between all the factions involved in the case of a missing/dead police officer.

The characters for this sort of movie are very original, and their flaws are revealed just as much, if not more so than their strengths. This has to be Sylvester Stallone's career highlight, and goes to show that his talents are not necessarily best for action movies. And De Niro's understated but excellently played "Moe Tilden" leaves you wishing he was featured more. The scenes between these two characters are worth the viewing alone. Harvey Keitel as well, plays an excellent cop/quasi-crime boss.

It's a little soppy at times but overall a stand-out in it's genre.

Mangold's second film, the corruption drama "Cop Land" stars Sylvester Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the much-denigrated sheriff of tiny Garrison, New Jersey, a community which - thanks to a technicality - is populated almost entirely by members of the New York City Police Department.

When young cop Murray "Superboy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) becomes embroiled in a controversial shootout which leaves two black youths dead, he apparently commits suicide rather than face the wrath of an official investigation. In reality, however, he flees to safety back home in Garrison. In the wake of the controversial events, NYPD Internal Affairs lieutenant Moe Tilden (Robert DeNiro) arrives in Garrison to uncover the truth. He attempts to enlist Freddy to watch the watchmen, including Superboy's uncle, veteran cop Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel); coked-out Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta); and Joey Randone (Peter Berg), the husband of the woman (Annabella Sciorra) Freddy loved and lost. A rich, complex film about redemption, "Cop Land"'s portrayal of Freddy's struggles to prove his worth mirrors Stallone's own return to thoughtful, character-driven drama after years of vacuous action roles. Like Freddy, he faces an uphill battle, fighting for respectability in the face of a superb cast including Janeane Garofalo, Cathy Moriarty and Paul Calderon.

Cop Land fmovies. Cop Land is written and directed by James Mangold with an ensemble cast featuring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, and Michael Rapaport. Distributed by Miramax Films it features a musical score by Howard Shore.

Freddy Heflin (Stallone) is the sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey. A small satellite town across the river from the Big Apple where many of the big city cops reside. Freddy always wanted to be a big city cop but due to partial deafness was unable to make the grade. But when a hero white cop shoots dead two black youths it sets off a series of events that make Freddy realise that the big city cops in Garrison aren't as honest as he is. Thus Freddy must decide if he should get involved.

It was heralded as the film to break Stallone on to the A list of serious actors, and the film where a fine ensemble had gathered and worked for a basic scale wage-such was their faith in the material. Yet in spite of making a considerable profit at the box office and receiving generally favourable reviews, Cop Land seemed to vanish without trace before it could make its mark in the cop/drama genre. A lot of that can probably be put down to the sheer weight of expectation, considering the cast involved, for something out of the top draw. However, revisiting the film now, over ten years post its release, Mangold's movie shows itself to be the tight and intelligent picture it is.

From the off it's evident that there's very little good about the town of Garrison. The coppers drink and drive, cheat on their partners and the sheriff looks like an out of work, overweight slob. Mangold clearly is more about the bleak than the beautiful. As the narrative and characterisations move forward, a multitude of strands start to dangle on the screen-where it at first appears a bit too chocked-but ultimately unfolds with ease as the story progresses. Here's where Cop Land excels, it could so easily have just been another good cop/bad cop movie, one where the doofus partially afflicted guy saves the day. But Cop Land is more intimate in detail of its characters, intimacy that is boosted by a pretty flawless cast (notably Stallone & Liotta). There's healthy helpings of action and drama, but it's the dialogue driven confrontations that entertain the most; where we get the pleasure of watching acting heavyweights battle for supremacy.

With a slow burn sense of doom hanging over it from the off, Cop Land very much feels like a throwback to the adult westerns and film noirs from the 1950s. There's nothing wrong with that of course, in fact it's a compliment. But this deserves its own little niche, that of the contemporary crime thriller with urban western overtones. A damn fine film with a great thoughtful script, that is acted accordingly and directed without flab and pointless filler. 8/10

I just saw Cop Land for the first time this evening. I watched the "Exclusive Director's Cut" DVD.

This is one of the greatest films I have ever seen. Sylvester Stallone, who I've never thought was much of an actor, gives the performance of his career - a performance that deserved the Academy Award for Best Actor. Incredible. I owe the great Stallone a big apology for not seeing his gift of acting before now.

Everyone in this film, including Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Janeane Garofalo, and Ray Liotta, gave stellar performances as well. I guess paying all the actors just scale brought the best out of everyone. Why this modern day "High Noon" doesn't have a higher rating from the IMDb voters like me is way beyond my comprehension. Cop Land deserves, at least, inclusion in the Top 250 films. Perhaps this cut that I just saw is much better than the original theatrical release.

I know that everyboby's laughing about a movie that Stallone's starring in. His name is an easy target even to the most ignorant ones; they immediately put him under the 'action movie' label, like Arnold or Jean-Claude. What people forget (or don't know) about is that Stallone differs from all those action movie actors, in that he turned into this icon we all know by making a series of (really) bad choices. Do you know that Sly's the one who wrote the script of the Oscar winning Rocky? Do you know that because his face is half paralyzed (from birth) he speaks in that weird way that some people find difficult to understand what he's saying (and always joke about it)? Do you know that he was paid only $60.000 for his acting in Cop Land, while he had to gain 30 pounds for his role?

To me Cop land is the kind of movie Stallone should have made after First Blood. The director knows what Sly's really capable of so he gives him this role of the cop that is so fair and just, but inside him a burning past lives on. He's a hero and because of that he's lost half of his hearing to save the woman he loves, but she went on to marry another man. He can't be promoted because of his hearing, and while he wants to stay integral, he has to face the deeds of his fellow police officers.

The movie showcases the struggle of a man to overcome his past, the temptation of corruption and the triumph of one's will to remain true to what he believes in. The final sequence is similar to the one's of The Unforgiven or Taxi Driver and it provides a hymn to the human spirit. Stallone's perfomance is unforgettable and he should be nominated for an academy award. Do you think that it's an accident that his performance overshadows De Niro's and Keitel's appearences?

I believe that if Stallone did a movie like that right after his first 2 triumphs he could be leading a career similar to the one of De Niro's. But unfortunately, to all of us Sly's only capable of throwing hand grenades. Right Leonard Maltin?