Cop Land

In their only joint film Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro star in Cop Land, a story about Garrison, New Jersey a small town where an overabundance of NYPD officers reside. So much so that the place is called Cop Land and they have the run of the place.

As the official law in Cop Land the boys in blue have selected a wannabe. Sylvester Stallone who lost the hearing in one ear saving a drowning woman Annabella Sciorra is the police chief. Other than rescuing cats and issuing speeding tickets, but never to the NYPD residents of his town all Stallone does is stand in awe of the people who have the career he wanted.

This whole set up comes tumbling down during a shootout at the George Washington Bridge where Michael Rappaport shoots two black teens, two stupid ones I might add who point something at him he mistakes for an automatic weapon. The NYPD citizens of Cop Land do what they can to cover up the incident, but it all blows up in their faces.

Robert DeNiro who is an internal affairs detective has been looking into the cop residents of Garrison for some time. He tries to recruit Stallone, but Stallone has to see for himself what his 'friends' are really like.

Stallone does one of the best acting jobs in his career. He most assuredly is not playing super hero Rambo or even working class hero Rocky in this. He's a flawed man physically and emotionally and the Garrison NYPD colony don't take him seriously at all. That's part of their downfall.

Besides those already mentioned I would single out Harvey Keitel as the unofficial head of the Garrison cop colony. The more the story unfolds the more frightening Keitel becomes. Cathy Moriarty-Gentile as Keitel's abused wife, Ray Liotta who develops a conscience about what is going on and Frank Vincent as the police union head who is the ultimate target in the Cop Land probe from Internal Affairs.

But it's Stallone who is the real revelation here. It's a different Sly than fans of Rocky and Rambo know.

I can see this one with a little bit better ratings than it has. At least it deserves it imo. It was definitely worth its 2 hours of time.

To start off, Liotta and Stallone are the stars of this one....Hands down. Keitel and Deniro aren't in it enough to get high praise. Ray Liotta got all the lines and Stallone played..well...Stallone...in a dramatic role. To me Stallone has 3 films he can stand by when he gets done with acting...Rocky...Rambo...Cop Land. Why Cop Land? Well...cause it's easily his best dramatic role and it's in a darn good film. Not everyone was ready to see Stallone in a dramatic role but I think by this time his career was on fumes. I read somewhere where he said this film ruined his career for 8 years. Couldn't get any roles. I think at this time eh was pretty much washed up to film goers and this was a last gasp. To blame this film on his lack of roles, I think he should re-watch it and see that he did a good job.

Ray Liotta is one of those actors that's criminally overlooked. He's done so many good dramatic roles that I think that he just mixes in with what's out there now and you don't get to see him anymore. With anything worthwhile anyhow. His lines are the best in this film. His hyper personality and down on his luck persona in this one just flat out works.

Don't see this one just for the all star cast. See it for Liotta and Stallone's performances. They really are stellar in this little gem.

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.

Freddie Heflin is a sheriff in a New Jersey suburb mainly populated by NYPD cops seeking a break from the big city. Freddie lives in awe of the cops, unable to join due to deafness in one ear. However he is forced to confront Donlan and his colleagues when an IA officer Tilden begins to investigate the killing of two unarmed black men by, and subsequent suicide of Donlan's nephew Murray Babitch.

This `independent' thriller boast a deep cast and certainly had a lot to shout about in the run up to it's release. The problem is with the actual story that the film has to work with. The start is exciting with Babitch's killing of two black motorists but it is also quite stretched. Similarly the denouncement is exciting but is quite easy to see it coming. However the middle section is good, as it relies on the characters and the actors to develop the story - although there is probably too much history to squeeze into a short time.

Stallone proves that he can act, being excellent in a particularly unglamorous role, carrying extra weight for the part and looking like he took lessons from De Niro. The rest of the cast would find it hard to be bad - De Niro and Harvey Keitel rekindle their Scorsese partnership and both are good here. Liotta, Rapaport, Patrick and Sciorra are all excellent in smaller roles. Even small roles are played by heavyweights - Emmerich, Moriarty, Spencer, Vincent and Garofalo (who only seems to have 2 scenes!)

Overall the film benefits from a fantastic cast but needed a much stronger plot to justify the depth of the performances.

Sylvester Stallone is excellent in this slow-moving, absorbing film about cops on the take. Sly goes through what must be one of the longest slow-burns in movie history as the dumb, passive sheriff who only has his job thanks to the grace of crooked cop Harvey Keitel and protects him and his gang because of it. When it finally dawns on him, as it was inevitable it would, that he's been played for a fool, the results are explosive. It's well written, with a strong storyline, great dialogue and excellent performances all round (especially from Robert de Niro, Keitel and Ray Liotta). But it stands or falls on Stallone's portrayal of the central character, and he rises surprisingly majestically to the occasion. A very restrained, sensitive performance in a cracking good film.