''Law and Disorder'' is a 1974 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Ivan Passer Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as ''Born to Win'' (1971), '' Cutter's Way'' (1981) and ...

, starring

Carroll O'Connor John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame a ...

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine (; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perfor ...

Ann Wedgeworth Elizabeth Ann Wedgeworth (January 21, 1934 – November 16, 2017) was an American character actress, known for her roles as Lana Shields in ''Three's Company'', Hilda Hensley in '' Sweet Dreams'', and Merleen Elldridge in ''Evening Shade''. She w ...

and

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portrayi ...

Plot

In the crime-infested New York City of the 1970s, two residents and friends, Willie and Cy, decide to join the Auxiliary wing of the New York City Police Department to help take back their neighborhood from criminals. Willie is a taxi driver who aspires to buy a diner, while Cy is the owner of a struggling beauty salon. They are joined on the volunteer police force by their friends Bobby, Elliot, Ken and Pete. The group are eating dinner at Cy's apartment when Willie's wife Sally phones to say that their daughter Karen has been attacked in the elevator. Karen specifies that the attacker was white just as Elliot leads a black man into Willie's apartment, believing him to be the culprit. Willie lets the man go. The auxiliary police force gets its uniforms and gathers for its first patrol. The unit is only authorized to report suspicious activity but cannot enforce the law; Cy suggests that the restriction be ignored. Willie finds his daughter in the street with her boyfriend, Chico, and sends her home for the night. Cy apprehends a young man for smoking marijuana in the street, but when he brings him to the station he is informed by an officer that he has no grounds for arrest. Later, Cy excitedly shows Willie his new car, which is painted to look like a police car and has a working siren. Willie expresses concern that Cy is inviting trouble. At a community meeting, a psychologist named Dr. Richter conducts a lecture on rape. Using Cy's wife Irene as a volunteer from the audience, Richter poses as a rapist and recommends she embrace him rather than resist, because a fear response will only provoke the attacker. That night, Irene rouses Cy from sleep for a bedroom role-playing session with Cy pretending to be a rapist. Cy impresses the other members of the auxiliary force by taking them for a joyride in his fake police car. They listen to a call overheard on Cy's police band radio and activate the siren to run a red light, thrilled with their newly found power. Willie comes home to find Karen under the influence of a drug. When confronted, Karen admits to taking a pill she received from Chico. Willie heads to the apartment of Chico's family with other members of the auxiliary force in Cy's fake police car. Willie accepts a gun from Cy but declines any further help, heading up to confront Chico himself. Willie spots Chico in the hall and chases Chico throughout the building. Meanwhile, Cy, Pete and Elliot hear a police call over the radio of an officer in trouble nearby while the car is pelted with bottles thrown from the shadows. Pete and Elliot want to leave, but Cy refuses to abandon Willie. When Cy gets out of the car, he is shot. Eddie and Pete drive off in fear. With Chico having gotten away, Willie stumbles out of the building to find Cy dead. Willie continues to work as a taxi driver. When a posh couple impatiently berates him from the back of the cab on the way to the airport, Willie pulls over, gets out of the cab and walks back toward the city on foot.

Cast

as Willie *

as Cy *

as Sally *

Leslie Ackerman Leslie Ackerman (born August 2, 1956) is an American actress. Ackerman is from Springfield, New Jersey. Her father progressed from being an attorney to serving on the Federal District Court in Trenton, New Jersey. She became interested in the ...

as Karen *

as Gloria *

Jack Kehoe Jack Kehoe (November 21, 1934 – January 14, 2020) was an American film actor appearing in a wide variety of films, including the crime dramas ''Serpico'' (1973), ''The Pope of Greenwich Village'' (1984) and Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' ...

as Elliot *

David Spielberg David Spielberg (March 6, 1939 – June 1, 2016) was an American television and film actor. Early years Spielberg was born in Weslaco, Texas, and was a resident of Mercedes, Texas. His father was a Romanian-Jewish immigrant, and his mother was a ...

as Bobby * Joe Ragno as Pete *

Pat Corley Pat Corley (June 1, 1930 – September 11, 2006) was an American actor. He was known for his role as bar owner Phil on the CBS sitcom '' Murphy Brown'' from 1988 to 1996. He also had a recurring role as Chief Coroner Wally Nydorf on the tel ...

as Ken * Anita Dangler as Irene *

Allan Arbus Allan Franklin Arbus (February 15, 1918 – April 19, 2013) was an American actor and photographer. He was the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus. He is known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the CBS television series ...

as Dr. Richter * Lionel Pena as Chico *

Rita Gam Rita Gam (born Rita Eleanore MacKay, April 2, 1927March 22, 2016) was an American film and television actress and documentary filmmaker. She won the Silver Bear for Best Actress. Background Gam was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughte ...

as Woman in Cab *

Michael Medwin Michael Hugh Medwin, OBE (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer. Life and career Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He ...

as Man in Cab

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the film "a gentle, touching, sometimes disruptively funny movie about—among other things — ignorance, prejudice, rape, larceny, the failure of small dreams, about people trying desperately to cope and often coming apart."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that the film "comes on like a comedy with the mugging countenances of Carroll O'Connor and Ernest Borgnine. Then it swings into a dirge for the death of the middle-class American Dream. Those emotions never mesh, and the film fails for a reason that has more to do with the nature of television than with 'Law and Disorder' itself." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote, "That this very ambitious film is marred by an unevenness of tone is far outweighed by Passer's ability to express with compassion and insight the blighted dreams of his beleaguered heroes, played superlatively by Carroll O'Connor and Ernest Borgnine." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote that "Passer keeps straining for laughs, often when none are justified. The would-be funny stuff is executed in a gross, overbearing style which isn't much fun to begin with, and also destroys the sense of pathos that happens to be the film's only involving and authentic quality."Arnold, Gary (November 7, 1974). "Heavy-Handed 'Disorder'". ''

''. B9.

References

External links

* * {{tcmdb title, 24037, Law and Disorder 1974 films 1970s crime comedy-drama films 1970s vigilante films American crime comedy-drama films Columbia Pictures films Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Films scored by Angelo Badalamenti Films set in the 1970s Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films about the New York City Police Department American vigilante films Films directed by Ivan Passer Films with screenplays by Ivan Passer 1970s English-language films 1970s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links