Tragico errore

Every once in a while you rent something you've never heard of with the off chance that you'll discover an unheralded masterpiece. This one comes awfully close. This tight thriller concerns two cops who decide to get their hands dirty and profit on one of their drug busts. When the dealer is accidently killed and turns out to be an undercover DEA agent, the cops are assigned to the case. They must bury the trail leading to them as they create new evidence to pin the crime elsewhere. This movie sucks you in. Great performances by James Russo, Eddie Velez and Jack Scalia.

While the low budget is apparent in every scene, and the acting isn't quite up to par sometimes, overall this movie achieves very much with very little. Most importantly, it keeps up the tension. You want to know how it ends. The plot is engaging. It's not great cinema, but a fine example of how far a good plot can carry a film.

I don't know about you, but I've seen so many hard boiled cop thrillers I've lost track. That includes the type with an unfair world as otherwise good men are tempted to the dark side for cold hard cash. 'Under Oath' obviously belongs to this genre and while it's story beats are very stale a solid cast amongst some palpable tension make this low budget dtv flick a better watch than it should be.

Veteran detective Hollit (Jack Scalia) and partner Ramírez (Eddie Velez) are getting tired seeing scumbags skate on technicalities. Then the city puts a freeze to any cop raises. Hollit gets the notion to ripoff one to even the playing field, but the target they choose flashing big sums is undercover ATF and he's accidently killed. Assigned the case gives them breathing room, but evidence left and right means time is running out.

"We're supposed to be the good guys ..."

You get known faces James Russo as a police captain, Richard Lynch & Robert LaSardo putting in rare good guy roles as ATF as does Abraham Benrubi. Lastly a blink and you'll miss it bit part for Clint Howard as a corrupt cop. The main characters might go down in predictable fashion, but Scalia & Velez ultimately hold everything together. Both feel real.

"It's just you and me now ... all we got is each other."

'Under Oath' is a flick with a tale that's a dime a dozen. However this familiar morality play hits better than some ones who did it with bigger budgets, casts, directors etc. Genre fans might want to check this one out and it's certainly head & shoulders above most pics New Concorde and legendary shlock producer Roger Corman put out.

My expectations were pretty low when I sat down to watch "Under Oath", since it was a Roger Corman production, and in the '90s Corman produced a lot of cheapie stinkers. But I was surprised by this movie. While it's clearly low budget, it doesn't look as cheap as other Corman movies of the period; director Dave Payne clearly squeezed every last penny from the budget. But the real strength of the movie is the screenplay. It is far from predictable, with several good surprise twists, and until the end I kept wondering if the central figures would get away with their scheme or not. The acting is also pretty decent, and you get to see Richard Lynch in a rare good guy role. If you want to see a movie that overcomes its low budget to become genuinely compelling, this sleeper is a good bet.

I saw this movie last year on cable and being an Eddie Velez fan for many years (18 yrs. and growing!) and recently, a Jack Scalia fan from his 'All My Children' run and a Robert Davi flick, I thought that the movie deserved much more publicity and a much wider audience!

It had to of been the best I've seen Mr. Velez do as far as acting goes since his scenes on the UPN defunct show, 'LiveShot' as 'Ricardo Sandavol'. He was very good on 'LiveShot' that was yanked too early before anyone had the chance to really actually catch on. And his work here was much more better!

His conflict was original and absolutely believable and I pray that one day soon that someone will discover or should I say 'rediscover' the find in Eddie Velez that his fans see.

Sharon R.