Les flics ne dorment pas la nuit

I recently bought the Season One DVD set for "Police Story"--the cop show from the 70s that was inspired by Joseph Wambaugh's film "The New Centurions". So far, I've really enjoyed "Police Story"--and am sad that only the first season is on DVD. So, in consolation, I decided to at least see "The New Centurions".

Like "Police Story", "The New Centurions" does not whitewash police work. The language is very earthy, to say the least--especially since it didn't need to worry about television audiences and was rated R. It shows the interesting side as well as the downside--and all through the perspective of a rookie cop, Fehler (Stacy Keach), as you follow his through the years. There is a HUGE price to pay for loving a job like this--as his marriage falls apart and he pretty much gives his life for the department.

I have noticed that other reviewers talk about Fehler's partner, Kilvinski (George C. Scott). He was a HUGE presence in the film, though he's only in about half the film. Apart from that, Fehler had other partners and a variety of experiences that all pushed him almost over the edge. Dealing with drinking, PTSD and more is what makes this cop film quite unusual--and well worth your time. Exceptionally well made and a film that revels in NOT being like cop films of the 30s, 40s and 50s!! Exceptional acting and writing make this a standout film.

Roy Fehler (Stacy Keach), Gus Plebesly (Scott Wilson), and Sergio Duran (Erik Estrada) are rookie police patrolmen. Roy hopes to become a lawyer and his police work inevitably causes friction with his wife Dorothy (Jane Alexander). He's paired with experienced cop Andy Kilvinski (George C. Scott) who expounds his Kilvinski's Law on the tough streets of LA. Gus is by-the-book with 3 kids. He's paired with Whitey (Clifton James) and accidentally kills an unarmed man.

This is episodic in nature and is more TV than cinema. It fits a lot better as an ongoing TV show. It has a fun early moment of a fake impromptu divorce of a battling drunken couple. It's sardonic and crass. George C. Scott is operating at the top of his game. His performance fills his scenes. This would work better as a movie if it has a definitive central case or villain or incident. This is the opposite of slick. I can certainly see many later TV cop shows using this movie as a template.

Stacy Keach and George C. Scott star in this very gritty, very honest portrayal of early-70s police life. It's directed by Richard Fleischer, who usually worked on much flashier material than this. I've seen a lot of films that dug in and tried to paint a clear image of police life, but this story brings a level of realism that is somewhat missing in most cases - it was written by a cop (Joseph Wambaugh).

"The New Centurions" is a title that hints at a much deeper perspective into familiar territory. Even though all the suspected clichés are still somewhat in place, they're there out of reality rather than just filling space in a movie plot. George C. Scott's character is on his way to retirement, but instead of him not making it, he takes a much darker path. It's that darker path, and the sense of hope behind it, that informs both Scott and Keach in their fantastic performances. They're as good as they'd ever been here - deep, powerful, and incredibly personal. There's a real emotional vulnerability on display that can't be denied.

Wanting a better life for his family, Keach enlists with the LAPD to supplement his wife's meagre income while he attends law school. But the job soon becomes all consuming leading to the breakdown of his marriage to Alexander whose support wanes in the face of constant neglect playing second fiddle to the force. In turn, Keach loses touch with reality whereby he questions his motivations for remaining in situ, but the job compels him to endure. After a litany of setbacks, alcoholic and facing ruin, he's briefly resurrected by Cash, taking pity on his misguided loyalty, and helping him to re-discover the purpose he once idealised. Rich, rewarding tale of an everyday struggle is told in a rather grim but entertaining fashion by accomplished director Fleischer.

Despite solid performances from Keach and Alexander in particular, this is George C.Scott's movie, as the maverick older statesman with nothing but the badge to define his identity. His character is a scene stealer, and is at times, fierce, frightening, benevolent and ultimately, very bleak. The highly emotional scene in which Scott telephones Keach and relays the metaphor of the old man and his burglar, resonates throughout the remainder of the film, and beyond.

There's not the synergism that you'd expect and if it weren't for the distinction that Scott, Alexander and Wilson as the modest rookie, each bring to their respective characterisations, "The New Centurions" would be just another police story, and this is evidenced to a degree when their characters are no longer in focus. A very capable and vast supporting cast bring a gritty reality, and the story ebbs and flows toward a sudden and unexpected climax. The anguish experienced by the characters is palpable, and every time the mood brightens, there's another catastrophe waiting. Probably not the movie to watch before joining the academy, but highly entertaining and thought-provoking nonetheless.

This film, aside from its very special status mentioned above, is quite worthwhile and entertaining. It is an excellent George C. Scott vehicle, well-directed, well-scripted and well edited!

Like other quality police dramas, it has several intertwined seamlessly integrated storylines, none of which is left unresolved, or most of which are left unresolved, when the end credits begin to roll...depending on your point of view! At times, onscreen events resonant with such realism that it lends a dimension of docudrama to the overall production.

CENTURIONS clearly transmits the boring nature of most of the daily, moment to moment activities that permeates police work, while, at the same time, emphasizing that this aspect of the job must be tempered by a heightened awareness intrinsic to survival owing to the ever-present possible reality of life-threatening scenarios on a one second event horizon! These "Men In Black" would, undoubtedly, prefer to live in a world where all their on-the-job decision options were delineated by a simple Black or White distinction. The reality of the New Centurions is that they clearly come in every imaginable shade of gray! Scott's cynical, scarred, veteran, Kilvinski, nearing retirement, has constructed a reality where his quasi-legal technique of locking up street-walkers in his paddy wagon and driving them around all night to keep the streets "clean and decent" is a necessary evil with which he feels, at least, reasonably comfortable!

Keach's enthusiastic and idealistic rookie, Fehler, oozes frustration from every pore, as he perceives the lifeblood of his initial optimism being drained, drop by drop, by the cold, hard cement indifference of L. A.'s Mean Streets! Viewing, impotently, as both his marriage and his upbeat rookie positivism flounder in an ocean of problems, he finds consolation and support in the arms of a sensitive and empathetic nurse, played by Rosalind Cash.... Here is where I will reference the "Unheralded Epic First in Cinema History": I suppose that today´s world, or in a perfect world.... we are not supposed to notice or mention a good number of things because we must be "P. C.", right?

But CENTURIONS wasn't made in 2024...It was released in 1972! To the best of my recollection, in the early 70's, whenever we saw a bi-racial onscreen couple, which was really not all that frequently to begin with, their racial difference was always a focal point of the relationship. Usually because of the problems they encountered because of this difference from friends, from relatives or parents, from those in authority or simply from others in society! How briskly refreshing that in CENTURIONS they were just a police officer and a nurse who cared very dearly for one another...Absolutely no mention whatsoever of their racial difference! Isn't that exactly the way it should be? The way it is now...?????

(Well, almost, anyway!).

Hope to get some feedback from someone, anyone on this aspect of the movie...9********* Stars!

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!