This week we celebrate movies that in the 60’s would have been booed out of the cinema. We turn our attention to the narc, a character often portrayed as a guns-a-blazing, wise-cracking, shotgun-toting stud that always finds a way to shoot his way out of a situation.
We will examine a few different angles on the narc movie genre, with a selection of films that span from gritty and realistic, to glorified action heroes. These films portray a variety of law enforcement agents and their tactics t0 clean up the streets. This week’s contenders:
The French Connection – 1971 (104 mins)
A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.
Rush – 1991 (120 mins)
Two small town Texas cops go undercover to catch a major drug dealer and are sucked into the drug culture, compromising their assignment.
Internal Affairs – 2002 (101 mins)
A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
Lethal Weapon – 1987 (110 mins)
A veteran cop, Murtaugh, is partnered with a young suicidal cop, Riggs. Both having one thing in common; hating working in pairs. Now they must learn to work with one another to stop a gang of drug smugglers.
Marked For Death – 1990 (93 mins)
Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher has just returned from Colombia, where his partner was killed in the line of duty by a drug dealer who has since been taken down. As a result of his partner’s death, John has decided to retire, but his retirement may not be permanent.
Bad Boys – 1995 (118 mins)
Two hip detectives protect a murder witness while investigating a case of stolen heroin.
Hollow Point – 1996 (102 mins)
Livingston is trying to merge the Russians, Chinese and Italian gangsters into one group with huge amounts of money and power. FBI agent Susan and DEA agent Max are trying to stop them.
A Scanner Darkly – 2006 (100 mins)
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.