REVIEW: COP LAND (1997)
a movie review by Chris Webb
copyright 1997
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel, Robert
De Niro, Annabella Sciorra, Janeane Garofalo, Cathy
Moriarty, Michael Rapaport. Directed by James Mangold
How close to being a classic film is Cop Land? About 100 minutes away.
Here is a film that is wrapped in a 95 minute package that should be about three hours long, and still would be enjoyable. Director/writer James Mangold probes into the lives of 5 different personalities that only touched the surfaces of their lives. He could have and should have gone deeper. Despite this lapse, though, Cop Land is a great film with great acting across the board.
THE SURPRISE
Sylvester Stallone is an intelligent guy. After all, he wrote the Academy Award winning Rocky (1976), and was nominated for the screenplay. It was also the last time we saw him truly act. Maybe urban dramas are a place he could inhabit and reap benefits from for movies to come. After failing to impress in comedy (Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot, Oscar) and in his specialty, action (the last few Rockys and Rambos, Judge Dredd), Stallone has delivered an understated performance that rightfully has Oscar buzz flying around him.
As the lonesome loser, Freddy Heflin, Stallone has to portray a half-deaf, overweight (he added 40 pounds and watched muscle deteriorate), and joke of a cop, who never became a Cop. He is the sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey, a haven for New York's most corrupt police officers. He keeps a peaceful town, but no one takes him seriously. He watches the cityscape pass him by, a place his hearing kept him from working. However, he wasn't always this buffoonish.
He lost his hearing while saving the woman (Annabella Sciorra) he has come to love, and protect, after she plunged off a bridge in her car years before. This kept him from becoming the decorated city officer he yearns to be, but in Cop Land he is presented the chance to achieve hero status.
THE REDEMPTION
Ray Liotta could have won me over years ago, had I seen GoodFellas before witnessing his performances in Unlawful Entry, the ironically titled Unforgettable and the atrocious Turbulence. I can finally say, he has won me over.
In fact, he puts in the most impressive performance in this well- stocked film. As an ambiguously moral cop, Liotta dives into his own personal dilemma of doing what's right and doing what's fashionable. He has some questionable dealings as a result of using his police privileges which extend to a drug habit and insurance fraud. But, on the good side, he serves as Freddy's mentor.
Perhaps to show HIS seriousness, Liotta has beefed up as well. In one chase scene, its enjoyable to watch Stallone and he become out-of-breath as a result of their weight gain. With his usual intensity, Liotta puts in a performance for all-time, that should be recognized come Oscar time. He's the one to watch.
THE RELIABLES
Harvey Keitel is the bad cop. Robert De Niro is the good internal affairs cop. Michael Rapaport is the fallen-hero cop. Noah Emmerich and Janeane Garofalo are the small-town Heflin-wannabes. All are terrific.
Keitel is unforgiving as ever as . He is the one who created Garrison for his profit and to run his shady dealings. His nephew, Michael Babitch, played by Rapaport, made a mistake. He had saved six black children's lives, recently, but became trigger-happy after being side-swiped by two black teens, and kills them. His uncle, Keitel's Ray Donlan hides him as others plant a gun in the deads' car. A bogus funeral is held after Babitch and Donlan fake a suicide.
Everyone around knows this is false, including Mo Tilden (De Niro). Yes, even De Niro has put on the pounds to capture the essence of an overeating desk cop, who must chase down some of his own. This meets with the bad cops' disfavor, but also compromises Freddy's position between his friends who got him the sheriff's job and doing the right thing. The deal is, Freddy has spotted Babitch, and Tilden has gone after Heflin to get him to become the cop he's wanted to be: An heroic one.
Garofalo and Emmerich play the bumpkin deputies smartly, and don't want to become involved in breaking up a mob-run dictatorship in Garrison. Its Freddy's turn to become the law. The question is, will he?
THE PAYOFF
Stallone and De Niro together make sparkling confrontations over right versus loyalty. And we are finally shown that Stallone knows how to act and can stand his own. De Niro has returned to acting since seeing a ridiculous bit in Marvin's Room and his patented psycho in The Fan.
Keitel and Liotta hold well, with Liotta putting in his best performance yet. The only lagging part comes from director James Mangold.
This was a great script which could have gone on forever, and been just as riveting. We hardly got to know some of these fascinating guys, but his direction was impeccable. Watch for the deafened shoot-out which takes place. It is the second great shooting sequence of the summer taking the lead of Face/Off's Over the Rainbow. Still, when the only flaw is that it was too short, it says something for the movie.
Come Oscar time, I ask that the Academy look favorably on Stallone, recognize Liotta, and give Cop Land a much-deserved nomination. Its not one of the immortals, but its one to see again and again.
My grade: A
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