Copland [DVD] [1997]

The reserved critical acclaim which 'Cop Land' received on its cinematic release was somewhat obligatory given that Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta were all sufficiently impressed with the film's script to take only nominal fees for their participation. Yet one cannot help but feel that critics withheld the genuine accolades this movie deserves on the basis of a bias against one of the movie's principle stars- none other than Sylvester Stallone. Such bias is critical snobbery of the worst order and entirely unjustified as Stallone's performance is first-rate; the best (if not the only) genuine acting he has undertaken since 'Rocky'.

A bloated Stallone -he put on 30 pounds for the part -takes the part of Sheriff Heflin and reminds the audience of the not inconsiderable talent he squandered on a decade and a half of acting out the mindless fantasies of America's right-wing. Heflin has a penchant for Bruce Springsteen records and the affinity is well made. Sheriff Heflin epitomises the middle-aged-bad-luck-white-working-class-male-of-simple-integrity who populates Springsteen's laments to the American underclass. The primitive pathos innate to Stallone's acting is ideally suited to such a role and provides tremendous dramatic contrast to the conniving menace of police Lieutenant 'Uncle Ray' Dolan (Keitel), the sophisticated manipulations of Internal Affairs lieutenant Moe Tilden (DeNiro) and the cocaine induced neurosis of Officer Gary Figgis (Liotta). Writer and director James Mangold declared that his real ambition with the film was to create a modern-day Western, but by emphasising the contrast between Sheriff Heflin and the characters who vie for his spiritual allegience, Mangold executes his 'Western' by extending it into the conventions of another cinematic genre. The handicapped, semi-alcoholic, beleaguered, besieged and morally simple sheriff is indeed an obvious allusion to the lawmen who populated the Westerns of Howard Hawks, yet the venal nature of the ancillary characters (together with an abundance of nocturnal scenes) entails that the Western element becomes enfolded witihn a terrain distinctly neo-noir. Mangold sustains such original genre fusion even up to the inevitable climactic shootout where he uses Heflin's (by now symbolic) deafness to create a memorable gunfight sequence that is Peckinpahesque save its absolute silence.

The strength of Mangold's script and the innovation of his direction also create a destabilisation in the moral orientation of the film. 'Cop Land' is no crude paen celebrating the supposed 'gold' of the American common man hidden beneath the dross of America's officialdom. Quite the contrary, the film serves to interrogate such mythology. By simultaneously sustaining several complex central characters, 'Cop Land' manages to constantly disperse the empathy of the audience. Are we to side with the gentle yet ineffectual naivete of Heflin, or with one of the several characters orbiting around him, all of whom offer eloquent and credible explanations as to how their Machiavellian actions are justified by way of being in service to the realisation of the American dream? The question of whether justice has been done -or indeed can be done -is one left to the interpretation of the audience.

'Cop Land' is a thoughtful movie, magnificently scripted and very well acted. It's a shame that critics have not been able to concede that much of its quality is provided by, rather than in spite of, the contribution of Mr. Stallone.