Sean Connery died last year, so I decided to watch one of his lesser known movies. Sidney Lumet's 1973 thriller "The Offence" casts the man known as James Bond as cop who goes too far in an interrogation. Issues of police violence became a big deal last year following George Floyd's murder by a cop. This movie makes law enforcement look like one ugly career field. One gets the feeling that there's no such thing as a good cop when one sees what Connery's character does to the suspect.
It's not any sort of masterpiece - especially in the year when Lumet also released "Serpico" - but damned if Connery doesn't put on an incredible performance as the beleaguered protagonist, with fine support from Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant and Ian Bannen. I recommend it, but just be aware that the interrogation scenes are among the most brutal ever shown onscreen. Probably nothing compared to what they're like in real life.
Connery died, and then Alex Trebek - both of whom got depicted on "Saturday Night Live"'s spoofs of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" - died a little over a week later. Imagine that.
It's not any sort of masterpiece - especially in the year when Lumet also released "Serpico" - but damned if Connery doesn't put on an incredible performance as the beleaguered protagonist, with fine support from Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant and Ian Bannen. I recommend it, but just be aware that the interrogation scenes are among the most brutal ever shown onscreen. Probably nothing compared to what they're like in real life.
Connery died, and then Alex Trebek - both of whom got depicted on "Saturday Night Live"'s spoofs of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" - died a little over a week later. Imagine that.