The New Centurions (1972)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely Fantastic

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

THE NEW CENTURIONS is a trend-setting police procedural thriller based on a best-selling novel that was itself written by a Los Angeles cop. It's a gritty and grimly realistic portrayal of the unrewarding life of a cop, where murder and alcoholism are just around the corner and the best thing a guy can hope for is not to be killed outright on the street that day. It's clear that this film was hugely inspirational, inspiring countless TV shows up to the present day, like the reality show COPS. I just wish the overrated END OF WATCH could have been more like this. Still, I digress: THE NEW CENTURIONS is blessed with an excellent cast that really brings the episodic storyline to life.Headlining the cast is the ever-tough George C. Scott playing, you guessed it, a real hard-ass of a cop who takes rookie officer Stacy Keach (young, thin, and handsome) under his wing. The pair spend their time busting drug dealers, hookers, and armed robbers, all the while interacting with other officers in the precinct. These include an impossibly young Scott Wilson (THE WALKING DEAD), playing alongside Clifton James (LIVE AND LET DIE) and an equally youthful Erik Estrada. THE NEW CENTURIONS is a well made production, and I appreciated the excessively downbeat and pessimistic tone which is no surprise given director Richard Fleischer had recently shot 10 RILLINGTON PLACE.

Whether it's an exploitive early 70's crime flick with an underlying mainstream influence, or a mainstream cop movie that sporadically delves into a gritty no-nonsense peripheral, THE NEW CENTURIONS is an entertaining piece of cinema…After an opening credit montage of rookies – including Stacy Keach's Roy Fehler, Scott Wilson's Gus and Erik Estrada's Sergio – training at the police academy, we skip right to the chase… well, almost. Your typical gruff sergeant (Dolph Sweet) is barking orders to a group of world-weary police officers…And with a fresh rookie partner in tow, they enter into the dark Noiry streets of downtown Los Angeles.At first, the centerpiece is George C. Scott's veteran cop Kilvinski, who, with his own implied "laws" aka philosophies of life, provides Roy exposition through random busts including bickering prostitutes and, cutting back and forth from Clifton James's Whitey paired with Gus, and Ed Lauter with former gang member Sergio, domestic dispute calls that wind up humorously reminiscent of a television cop show.But there's a point where CENTURIONS, compared by Kilvinski as a new brand of Roman guard – equally hated and needed by that society like our own – kicks into second gear. Standout scenes include Scott Wilson's Gus gunning down an innocent man… The IN COLD BLOOD actor's shocked/life-altering expression, as well as Estrada's Sergio explaining his backstory as a gang member reluctantly brought back to his hellish home town, make this more character-driven than action-packed.Although noted as a vehicle for the Oscar-winning Scott, remaining the wise mentor till a gloomy retirement, the story truly belongs to Stacy Keach, whose character-arc from an idealistic rookie to a seasoned cop to a reluctant vice squad officer to a hopeless drunk is underlined by the dwindling relationship with his wife and child: the domestic scenes border on melodrama but never take away from the gritty mainline… We always promptly return to the streets. Based on a novel by former lawman Joseph Wambaugh, insightful glimpses outshine the sporadic cinematic clichés, and a few scenes would be considered politically-incorrect to modern audiences. But underrated director Richard Fleischer… whose eclectic hit/miss career labeled him more of a talented hired hand than creative auteur… using his signature grainy film stock makes even the lighter moments look and feel completely intense and (despite a tacked-on conclusion) jarringly unpredictable.

This is the ONLY movie about police work I've ever seen which is as close to the real thing as it gets. I know, I worked the street as a policeman for 20 years.It's not all coffee and doughnuts wearing that blue uniform. People you are supposed to serve and protect spit at you and shoot at you. As the movie depicts, policework as a uniform officer goes from the routine theft to a gun fight.Casting and acting for this film was first rate. Although produced nearly 40 years ago it still holds true today. Anybody who wants to be a cop should see this film first. Mike Palmiter, Williams IN [email protected]

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