Cop land

Movie
German title	Cop land
Original title	Cop land
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1997
length	Theatrical version: 105 minutes ; Director’s Cut : 116 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	James Mangold
script	James Mangold
production	Cathy Konrad , ; Ezra Swerdlow , ; Cary Woods
music	Howard Shore ; Bruce Springsteen
camera	Eric Alan Edwards
cut	Craig McKay
occupation
	Sylvester Stallone : Freddy Heflin, Sheriff; Harvey Keitel : Ray Donlan; Ray Liotta : Gary "Figgsy" Figgis; Robert De Niro : Lt. Moe Tilden; Peter Berg : Joey Randone; Janeane Garofalo : Cindy Betts, Deputy; Robert Patrick : Jack Rucker; Michael Rapaport : Murray "Superboy" Babitch; Annabella Sciorra : Liz Randone; Noah Emmerich : Bill Geisler, Deputy; Cathy Moriarty : Rose Donlan; John Spencer : Leo Crasky; Frank Vincent : Vincent Lassaro, ; PDA President; Malik Yoba : Detective Carson; Arthur J. Nascarella : Frank Lagonda; Edie Falco : Berta; Victor Williams : Russell; John Ventimiglia : Officer V; Method Man : Shondel; Alexandra Adi : the young Liz Randone; Tony Sirico : Toy Torillo; Robert John Burke : Officer B; Frank Pellegrino : Mayor;

Cop Land is a 1997 melodramatic thriller directed by James Mangold , who also wrote the screenplay. Sheriff Freddy Heflin, played by Sylvester Stallone , lives and works in Garrison. Because he is deaf in one ear, he was denied entry to the New York Police Department . Some NYPD police officers like to damage his authority. When he noticed the corrupt machinations of these officials, he tried them together with Lt. Moe Tilden ( Robert De Niro ). Other leading roles include Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta .

action

The film is set in the fictional town of Garrison in the US state of New Jersey, located on the Hudson River across from New York City , where many of the officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) live. The local sheriff , Freddy Heflin, would actually rather be a "real" New York cop, but was not admitted to the NYPD due to his one-sided deafness. In practice, Sheriff Heflin has little real authority; the real power in the city rests with the corrupt NYPD cops. Single Heflin often thinks of his former love Liz. He had once saved her from drowning and suffered his hearing loss in the process, but later she left him for another policeman, Joey Randone.

Moe Tilden is an NYPD Internal Affairs officer , while Gary Figgis and Ray Donlan are ordinary NYPD officials who are unclear as to whether they are corrupt or not and which side of the law they are on really stand. Tilden should investigate whether there is anything to the corruption suspicion against the NYPD officials.

The policeman Babitch, nephew of Ray Donlan, drives over the George Washington Bridge one evening from a party , where a car brushes him on the side. As he follows it, an inmate holds out the rod of a steering wheel lock in the manner of a rifle - shortly afterwards a tire bursts on his car. Babitch interprets the iron rod as a rifle and the bang as a fired shot, whereupon he draws his weapon and shoots the two inmates, two black youths. When his colleagues arrive at the scene, they want to justify the fatal shots by placing a gun on the dead. The corrupt colleagues fear that Babitch could testify as a witness about the corruption in the district, so they fake his death by claiming that he jumped off the bridge and hide him in Garrison.

Investigator Tilden asks Sheriff Heflin for assistance in his investigation into corrupt police officers in his district, where he has no authority as an investigator from New York. Although Heflin knows that there are corrupt colleagues in the NYPD, he regards such behavior as treason and therefore refuses to work with Tilden.

When Heflin learns that Ray and his people tried to kill Babitch to silence him, and that the mafia is behind the cheap home equity loans for policemen in Garrison, he changes his mind and offers Tilden his support . In the meantime, however, it has been decided by the highest authorities to discontinue the investigation into the Babitch case. So Heflin searches for Babitch, who has gone into hiding, and finds him too. When there is a bloody gun battle between him and the corrupt New York officials, Gary Figgis takes Heflin's side and saves his life. But not only that, he also manages to get Babitch to New York. Tilden is waiting there for him to take his testimony.

Production and Background

Filming took place in the United States from July 11 to October 7, 1996. Edgewater and Fort Lee in New Jersey were primarily used as the filming location for the fictional Garrison location . Care was always taken to preserve the character of a small place. Other locations were Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge . The cost of production has been estimated to be between $ 10 million and $ 15 million .

Deborah Harry , known as the singer in the band Blondie , was hired to play the role of Delores. The scenes filmed with her were not used and her role was completely deleted from the final version of the film. Her role and her name appear in the credits anyway.

Numerous actors from Cop Land , such as Annabella Sciorra , Arthur J. Nascarella , Edie Falco , Frank Vincent , Robert Patrick , Frank Pellegrino , John Ventimiglia and Tony Sirico played later in the television series The Sopranos with whose action also in New Jersey plays .

For the role of Sheriff Heflin, director Mangold wanted someone with an average body. Sylvester Stallone should therefore gain 15 kg in order to be able to fulfill the role. Mangold also found Stallone too heroic with his slim face. As a for his role reshoots was necessary, he had already abtrainiert the weight back. The role of Robert De Niro also had to be re-shot when he was already working on his next film project, Jackie Brown . The much longer mustache that he had to wear for his role there can also be seen in the scene that was shot towards the end of the film.

In order to be cast for the more demanding character role in this film and to get away from his previous determination as an action actor, Stallone waived his usual multi-million dollar salary and contented himself with the minimum salary set for contract actors by the actors' union SAG .

According to the film, in the 1970s the New York City police officers wanted to live outside of the city, but they had to live within the boundaries of New York state. Only the railroad cops would have been allowed to live outside, since the state of Connecticut and New Jersey also operated the transportation network. Therefore, many police officers worked overtime in the train stations, which meant that they were declared auxiliary railroad police officers and were able to live in New Jersey. The film title refers to the place where numerous police officers ( cops ) live, which is also addressed in the film: When Tilden tells Heflin in one scene that so many police officers live in his district, he says: “It is as if you were the Copland Sheriff ”.

Publication, box office results

The film premiered on August 6, 1997 in New York, and was released in the United States on August 15, 1997, and in Germany on January 29, 1998. In German-speaking Switzerland, the film opened on February 27, 1998 and was in Austria he can also be seen under the title Cop Land.

It was also screened in Canada, Italy (Venice Film Festival), Taiwan, France (Deauville Film Festival), Spain, the Netherlands, Singapore, Portugal, the United Kingdom (London Film Festival), Sweden (Stockholm International Film Festival), Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland , the Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Turkey, Uruguay, Australia, Kuwait, Iceland, Denmark, Mexico, Japan, Greece, Hungary, Estonia, Finland, Slovenia, South Korea, Bulgaria, Georgia, Peru, Poland, Romania , Serbia, Russia and Venezuela.

The film was directed by VCL 30 June 1999 on DVD releases, the Blu-ray was released on June 23, 2008. A new release, including the approximately 11 minutes longer director's cut and as "Remastered Edition" was released on January 5, 2012 by StudioCanal on DVD and Blu-ray. On November 5, 2015, Studiocanal released the film again, this time as part of the "Thriller Collection".

The film grossed approximately $ 44.8 million in United States theaters and approximately $ 18.8 million in theaters outside the United States. In the German cinemas around 443,000 visitors were counted and revenues of around 5.1 million German marks were achieved.

Reviews

James Berardinelli described the portrayal of Sylvester Stallone as "believable" and said it would offer him more opportunities for serious roles in the future. The film is "energetic", although the story has some problems. Berardinelli continued to praise the dialogues and supporting actors, and concluded that the film was "captivating," if not perfect.

Roger Ebert saw in Cop Land a film with a "promising concept, which was implemented so poorly that it calls for a remake".

Mick LaSalle said that Cop Land initially looked like an ensemble film , but was in fact Stallone's film. This one delivers his best representation in years.

“A dramatic crime film with a top-class star ensemble that falls short of expectations. Although he entertains with some tense sequences, in the end the story remains too simple, and the leading actor sometimes seems implausible. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The only 33 year old director James Mangold tells his story like a veteran: intelligent, action-packed and at the same time admirably thoughtful. [...] Conclusion: Exciting thriller with a great stallone. "

- Cinema