Agente Newman

Personal favorite Peppard film. It's such a dark flick. Newman lives in a world that is completely against his existence. It becomes abundantly clear that Newman is fighting a losing battle as the movie progresses. No matter what he does or how he moves the world is against him. The loner we know in Peppard is stuck in a word where more than anything he needs a friend. I love the way Peppard carries himself given the circumstance. Yes things are dark. Yes I wish this world was better, but I'm here and I'm going to make the best of it. I'll always love him for doing that.

A nearly blind rental, the George Peppard vehicle "Newman's Law" impressed me more than I'd have imagined. It's a solid cop flick from the great days of cop flicks, and takes place in Los Angeles. Interestingly, the downbeat approach to it made me think San Francisco, yet without the trolleys and hills. This is a testament to the workmanship of the film- it's not about the glitz of LA, it's about the hard life of an 15+ year veteran detective on the job, still plugging away though getting old.

The most difficult part of the film is that there is a vibe of television drama to it that try as it might, it cannot shake free of. This is the first film directed by Richard T. Heffron, who also directed the well known Peppard show "Banacek". Something about the seriousness of the characters, even though a good effort was put forward to flesh out their personages, smacks of period cop show. Not to insinuate that period cop shows were particularly bad, just think that this film has a little bit more "Kojak" than it does "CHiPs".

The cast for this film was excellent. Peppard is not to be outdone, as Newman he's merely reserved and serious, a man of principles who will not tolerate graft or corruption. He is not a racist nor is he the ham-fisted violent cop so popular in film following "The French Connection." Roger Robinson, a black actor who is admittedly new to me, is excellent as his loyal partner Garry, who we see developed far beyond the basic black/white buddy-film aesthetic. Garry has a child and a wife(the stately Marlene Clark) and a life that is shown to contrast with that of Newman. Newman is the loner and Garry has it more together. Eugene Roche is a superior of the police, Abe Vigoda plays an accurate mafioso, Victor Campos is a great new recruit flatfoot, and actor/jazz saxophonist Mel Stewart is a crime boss. As you can see, many TV actors abound in this production.

It's got a good, darker-than-usual tone to it, similar to the excellent "Busting" of the same time period. Dimly-lit scenes and Peppard's excellent styles (he wears some very slick jackets in this) give "Newman's Law" some real power. One of the better, lesser-known cop flicks of the early 70s.

A good action movie very well interpreted by absolutely all the actors. I immediately recognized Abe Vigoda, Tessio from The Godfather, (born to play mobsters with such a face) because most of the other actors are not well known. Except for the main role, of course, seen by me in many good films as well, Mister George Peppard: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Operation Crossbow, The Blue Max, Damnation Alley, The A-Team. I knew also Michael Lerner from a few other films, in which he always play the same type of character.

After a long waiting finally I found Newman's Law at Youtube whereof I had watched in far off 1989 aired on TV, it strangely disappears from program schedule for good, neither in VHS advent either, now my hope lies on DVD only, due I saw a restored print on Youtube therefore the next step is an upcoming release?

Newman's Law is a sort of forgotten cop flick, mixing countless black actors that reaches near of blaxploitation offering in mid-seventies where this genre was in the peak, however it essentially is a drug smuggling story operated by international boss Lo Falcone, that is the target for Newman (George Peppard) and his black partner Roger Robinson, actually Newman is off-pattern Cop due his tough behavior and not for sale whatsoever, it somehow upsets their fellows cops, nonetheless living alone in a tight house eating frozen foods, shinning his own shoes and didn't has enough money to afford the overdue bill of his sick father.

Worst when Newman catches a large amount of drugs of Falcone he becomes a ladder for the greedy district attorney Jack Eastman (Jack Pinsent) throwing him into spotlights to get later a chamber at senate, when Newman is criminally framed by the mobster Eastman forsakes him to its fate, due the his goal already consummated, now Newman out of equation perceives how dirty is system, then strikes back.

The outcome is Hollywoodian quite sure, nonetheless it doesn't erases the awesome premise carried out on first half of story, someone wrote here that it was Peppard's personal favorite picture, it isn't small feat, what great sequences Newman and Garry dealing damages to small dealer Jaycee (Teddy Wilson) at your fancy house, what a priceless acting.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1989 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 7.

"Newman's Law" is not one of classic cop movies of the 1970s but it's still a good one. The second half of this movie, when Newman goes to war, is really good. I don't know how it happened but I saw this movie in the theater (Floral Park, NY) when I was nine years old and my brother was seven. We saw it by ourselves as part of a double feature with "My Name is Nobody". I took me decades to see it again. The only scene that I remembered was the "rent a camera" scene. I wonder why? "Newman's Law" is a well acted, good looking movie. I'm glad that I caught up with it. Honorable mention: the very good DVD commentary by Peter Tonguette.