Cop Land

James Mangold – 1997 – USA

Exceptional and often overlooked and underestimated crime drama featuring a huge cast of some of the best actors around.  I suspect it is sometimes dismissed because it seems downright modest next to the high number of crime masterworks also made in the 90s, such as GoodFellas (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Heat (1995), among others.  Director Mangold probably doesn’t help the situation by casting so many Scorsese veterans more shamelessly than anyone until The Sopranos; including Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Cathy Moriarty, Frank Vincent and Tony Sirico; (only Joe Pesci seems to be missing).  Also on hand in major and minor parts alike are Anabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg and Michael Rapaport.  But the film really belongs to Sylvester Stallone, turning in one of his very few performances as a realistic human being, not a muscle-bound superhero.  He allows himself to be seen as slow and pudgy, and he has no big speeches, nor does he ever raise his voice that I can remember; and in the process he proves that he really is an actor, not just an action star.  The central premise is intriguing and admirably not over-explained; in essence, organized crime has sponsored a safe suburb in New Jersey for NYPD cops to live in peace away from the hustle of New York, all in exchange for… who knows what?  One corrupt cop, Ray (Keitel), is the public face of this seemingly benign arrangement, and he’ll resort to almost anything to protect it, including sacrificing his own friends and family if they pose the slightest threat.  Stallone plays Freddy, a simple, decent and lonely guy who has been chosen by Ray to be the requisite town sheriff since he is so malleable and can be counted on to look the other way while Ray and company do as they please.  Mangold wisely doesn’t attempt to compete stylistically with the likes of Mann and Scorsese, maintaining a sure but quiet approach that makes way for the formidable cast to do its thing.  There are echoes of High Noon (1952) and Rio Bravo (1959) as Freddy summons the strength to take a stand against the dirty cops virtually alone.