I Love a Man in Uniform

I was very surprised by just how effective this movie really was. Some of the minor storylines don't work that well, but the main plot, in which an actor playing a cop starts pretending to be a cop, is great. These scenes were generally compelling, since I was never sure when (or if) he was ever going to get caught. McCamus plays the lead very well, and the rest of the cast is good, too. Quite simply, this is a very good film that deserves to be seen.

Tom McCamus gives a haunting performance as an actor playing a policeman in a television series, who blurs the thin line between fantasy and reality. While he is good at imitating cops, he is not so good with relationships. After quitting his bank job, the death of his father, and being rejected by his imaginary girlfriend, McManus starts to put his police uniform to use out on the street, impersonating a beat cop. This leads to some uncomfortable situations, and eventually murder. The acting and intensity in "A Man in Uniform" is excellent, I just wish the story had been developed a little further. Still, watching this decent into madness is absolutely riveting. - MERK

Henry Adler (Tom McCamus) sees a cop get shot on the streets of Toronto and uses it in his acting audition. His boss wants him to quit his acting hobby and concentrate on his bank job. He lives alone. He gets a job playing hard cop Flannigan on the harsh TV show Crime Wave. Charlette Warner (Brigitte Bako) plays the hooker with a heart of gold. Henry starts walking the streets wearing the realistic costume. The bank gets robbed by a Marilyn Monroe type and Detective Itch investigates Henry. His father is hospitalized by a stroke. He starts dating Charlette who then pushes him away. After his TV job ends, he continues to walk the streets as a cop and gets involved with corrupt cop Frank.

This is a smaller budget Canadian movie. The production looks like it. It starts slowly. Tom McCamus is a skinny lanky type. He's more of a character actor. He does build up to a good creepiness. He's a wimp play acting who is pushed too far in the climatic scene. There are secondary stories that get big introductions and then abandoned. This is shooting for Taxi Driver but doesn't achieves anything quite so exceptional. It's still an admirable attempt.

This was an excellent film. The central performance by Tom McManus is very tightly controlled and well-developed. With its premise of a mild mannered man suddenly going on a violent power trip,I was expecting something more over-the-top and lurid,something closer to "Taxi Driver" or "God's Lonely Man",but"Man in Uniform" is actually under-played and, with the exception of a few scenes involving Kevin Tighe near the end, rather low-key. The protagonist at first seems like a typical well-behaved non-entity but Tom McManus, aided by David Wellington's excellent screenplay and direction, invests him with an alienated sense of sadness that I found somewhat touching. This is a film worth seeking out.

This is a film it pays to watch more than once. When I first saw it, I was tempted to dismiss it as merely bizarre. Second time around, I was absorbed by the story and thoroughly gripped by the characters and acting, particularly a superb leading performance by Tom McCamus. Fans of cop shows will also be entertained by some of the clichés we see in the fictional programme where "Henry Adler" has a role. So, if you're into cop shows, good acting and psychology, you can't do much better than this film.