The New Centurions

1972 "The nationwide bestseller about cops - by a cop!"
7| 1h43m| R| en| More Info
Released: 03 August 1972 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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An idealistic rookie cop joins the LAPD to make ends meet while finishing law school, and is indoctrinated by a seasoned veteran. As time goes on, he loses his ambitions and family as police work becomes his entire life.

Genre

Drama, Action, Crime

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Director

Richard Fleischer

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

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The New Centurions Audience Reviews

Konterr Brilliant and touching
MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
Cheese Hoven This is less of a story than a series of vignettes which take place over several years. They are loosely based around Stacey Keach's character. Although there is some attempt to inject humour, the general tone can be summed up in one word: grim. We see cops shooting innocent people, being shot and indeed shooting themselves. Other than that there's marital breakdown, alcoholism, child abuse and immigrant exploitation among other cheery subjects.The only real comedy appears when Keach joins the vice squad. The comedy is not very successful and seems just added on. This part is notable for the appearance of James Sikking in what seems to be a trial run for his role in Hill Street Blues. HSB does seem indebted to TNC is some ways particularly the opening gathering in front of the sergeant (I almost expected him to say "let's be careful out there") and also the wide range of characters. HSB is much more successful than TNC however; there is much better character development and each individual plot strand is satisfactorily resolved. Also the comedy interludes are better.In TNC the characters are rather sketchily drawn; they drop in and out of the film and we do not think we get to know them well. The vignettes jump quickly to the next scene sometimes months later which creates a disjointed effect. Certain plot elements are left dangling. For example, when George C Scott and Keach nab a suspect early on, there is talk as to whether the case will stand up in court or not. But we do not discover if it does or not. something which HSB would have clarified.It also think that, despite the grim nature of the piece, the ending is unnecessarily downbeat and depressing. After watching this, one wonders why anyone would ever become a New York cop.
Steve Skafte 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.
Woodyanders Naive, idealistic rookie cop Roy Fehler (a typically fine performance by the always dependable Stacy Keach) gets shown the ropes by wise maverick veteran policeman Andy Kilvinski (superbly played by the inestimable George C. Scott) as the intrepid duo work a tough beat in the worst ghetto areas of Los Angeles. Roy's work as a cop takes over his life and causes his marriage to his concerned, but fed-up wife Dorothy (a strong portrayal by Jane Alexander) to fall apart while Kilvinski has trouble adjusting after he retires from the force. Ably directed by Richard Fleischer, with a sharp and astute episodic script by Stirling Silliphant, an uncompromisingly stark, realistic and unsentimental downbeat tone, grainy, yet fairly polished cinematography by Ralph Woolsey, authentically gritty Los Angeles locations, a funky, syncopated score by Quincy Jones, a devastating grim and depressing ending, a powerful central message about the heavy toll being a police officer takes on a man's soul, and several strikingly vivid individual vignettes (the accidental shooting of an innocent man in a dark alley way, Roy getting blasted in the stomach while on duty, Kilvinski committing suicide in his empty house), this film packs a very potent and lingering punch to the gut. Keach and Scott display a wonderfully natural and engaging chemistry in the lead roles; they receive sterling support from Scott Wilson as earnest eager beaver Gus, Rosalind Cash as sympathetic nurse Lorrie, Erik Estrada as honest Hispanic flatfoot Sergio, Clifton James as the crusty Whitey, James Sikking as the doltish Sergeant Anders, Ed Lauter as the dim Galloway, and William Atherton as the by-the-book Johnson. Isabel Stanford and Carol Speed pop up in an amusing scene as a couple of brash hookers. Harsh and pessimistic, but well worth watching just the same.
Nazi_Fighter_David George C. Scott is a cool, uniformed policeman who employs his own unique methods of dealing with petty crime – once again, it's the character who knows his beat and knows how to keep it under control…Faced with the task of rounding up prostitutes in the local Red Light district, Scott is well aware that dragging them into court will result only in nominal fines and a great deal of wasted time… So he packs them into a patrol wagon and drives them around the streets for the rest of the night, thus losing them a night's earnings and at the same time keeping the streets reasonably tidy...Scott isn't in the least vindictive; he is merely keeping the peace in accordance with his own law… He even takes the trouble to stop the truck and buy them a bottle of Whisky with which to while the night away… Yet this cop is a fast man with a gun… He is also the kind of policeman who is capable of administering a beating to the wrongdoers