Jack Reed: A Search for Justice (1994)

Best movie ever!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE is one of many films in the JACK REED police procedural series, starring Brian Dennehy as a bull-headed cop determined to get the bottom of various murders and police corruption. I'd not seen any of these before so I wanted to find out what they were like, and my first experience has been a good one.Dennehy wrote and directed A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE as well as taking the lead role so he obviously put his heart into the production. It works well as a cop drama even though there's little mystery in the story of a murdered stripper. It plays out exactly as you'd expect, but where this film really works is in the characterisation of the main players. Even Miguel Ferrer, as the antagonist of the piece, gets a well-rounded role. Charles S. Dutton has always been a favourite of mine and plays a warm and likable role in this, but the film belongs to Dennehy throughout and he never disappoints.

Brian Dennehy directs, co-writes and stars ins this mix of urban and homely television movie. Sergeant Jack Reed, a veteran Chicago homicide detective is once again passed over for promotion because he is deemed to be too honest and the job may go to a black cop (Charles Dutton)which leads to a lot of affirmative action comments.This case involves the murder of a pregnant stripper where the main suspect his her boyfriend (Miguel Ferrer.) Reed and the black detective despite their difficulties work well together to solve the crime but there is very little insight regarding any police procedural, drama and I never even got an insight to the motive.I have seen a later Jack Reed film that was rather violent, this one was more tame as if it was hemmed in by TV censorship conventions. Its an inoffensive piece there is a bit of humour with Reeds friends and family but its bland.

An unsettled blend of action with drama marks this movie, the third endeavour by Brian Dennehy performing as Sergeant Jack Reed, a veteran Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff's Department homicide detective, with Dennehy additionally making his first directing stint while being credited as well for having written part of the screenplay, all in the service of a work that will frustrate a viewer who is biased toward intelligent cinema due to its ongoing lapses into hackneyed episodes, in spite of some moments of notably insightful as well as naturalistic dialogue. The first Jack Reed feature, DEADLY MATRIMONY, establishes the character as a Sheriff's Department freethinker who, in that picture, singlehandedly brings about the downfall, due to corruptness, of a high-ranking Department official, and in A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE, Reed discovers to his keen displeasure that he has been blocked from promotion to the rank of Lieutenant as a result of his honesty (considered as disloyalty by his peers), with his Detective partner being advanced over him because of "race norming", but the two nonetheless work effectively together as they attempt to solve a homicide, the victim a pregnant stripper (Marjorie Monaghan) whose day-time job is as a successful, albeit rather unbelievable, day care center operator, based at her trailer park home. In his initial directorial outing, Dennehy provides an able effort, in the face of a script that is heavily laden with cliché, not an unusual condition for a film produced expressly for television. Miguel Ferrer utilizes his lines to capably create his role of a man who desires more from life than he is likely to ever obtain from his comfortably established business and domestic relationships. A more inventive and less bromidic scenario, one that would have included a realistic approach to law enforcement procedures, would have been needed to lift this piece a notch.

***Small Spoiler*** regarding the initial plot set-up. This movie is your average tv-movie that sometimes tries to be more, but is generally interesting. Amber Benson (known from playing Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has a small role as the daughter of the title character. The plot, revolving around the murder of stripper Lorelei Carter, is basic, but Brian Dennehy is as good as usual as the tired cop who keeps trying even when his co-workers want to let it go.