Thursday, March 09, 2006
The Offence (1973)
Stars: Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant
Director: Sidney Lumet
When we first meet Detective Sergeant Johnson (Connery) he has just punched out several of his fellow officers and what appears to be a suspect. He’s obviously a distressed man (director Sidney Lumet puts this first sequence in slow motion, just in case we missed its import) but we don’t know exactly why.
Cut back to a couple of days earlier. Johnson is one of the British coppers trying to track down the latest victim of a serial paedophile. He finds the unfortunate girl in the underbrush, terrified, dazed and violated. After she is brought in, a city-wide sweep is instigated and a probable suspect brought in for questioning. No one is getting anywhere, but Johnson manages to wangle some alone time with the man, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen), and in the course of his interrogation, beats him to death.
Sent home, Johnson has an ugly row with his wife, then is brought back to the station to be the subject of a one-on-one enquiry into the suspect’s demise. Through a series of non-linear flashbacks, we learn the source of the rage that finally made this hard-as-nails detective snap.
The Offence is a drama that examines the day-to-day pressures put on homicide police and also delves into the darker areas of the human heart. Trouble is, anything resembling a storyline has been kidnapped. If not for Connery’s intense, perfectly weighted performance, this would be nothing more than what it is – a talky, melodramatic stage play written by John Hopkins.
VERDICT: 3/5 stars
Director: Sidney Lumet
When we first meet Detective Sergeant Johnson (Connery) he has just punched out several of his fellow officers and what appears to be a suspect. He’s obviously a distressed man (director Sidney Lumet puts this first sequence in slow motion, just in case we missed its import) but we don’t know exactly why.
Cut back to a couple of days earlier. Johnson is one of the British coppers trying to track down the latest victim of a serial paedophile. He finds the unfortunate girl in the underbrush, terrified, dazed and violated. After she is brought in, a city-wide sweep is instigated and a probable suspect brought in for questioning. No one is getting anywhere, but Johnson manages to wangle some alone time with the man, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen), and in the course of his interrogation, beats him to death.
Sent home, Johnson has an ugly row with his wife, then is brought back to the station to be the subject of a one-on-one enquiry into the suspect’s demise. Through a series of non-linear flashbacks, we learn the source of the rage that finally made this hard-as-nails detective snap.
The Offence is a drama that examines the day-to-day pressures put on homicide police and also delves into the darker areas of the human heart. Trouble is, anything resembling a storyline has been kidnapped. If not for Connery’s intense, perfectly weighted performance, this would be nothing more than what it is – a talky, melodramatic stage play written by John Hopkins.
VERDICT: 3/5 stars
# posted by The Fearless Writer @ 9:01 PM 
