''The New Centurions'' is a 1972 American

Panavision Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during ...

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

film based on the 1971 novel of the same name by policeman turned author

Joseph Wambaugh Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (born January 22, 1937), is a best-selling American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. Several of his early novels were set in Los Angeles and its surroun ...

. It stars

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...

, Scott Wilson,

Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997 ...

Rosalind Cash Rosalind Theresa Cash (December 31, 1938October 31, 1995) was an American actress. Her best-known film role is in the 1971 science-fiction film ''The Omega Man''. Cash also had another notable role as Mary Mae Ward in ABC's ''General Hospital'' ...

Erik Estrada Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series ...

, and

James Sikking James Barrie Sikking (born March 5, 1934) is a former American actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series ''Hill Street Blues''. Early years Sikking was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934 to Andy and Sue (né ...

, and was directed by

Richard Fleischer Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. Though he ...

Plot

Three rookie cops, Roy Fehler (

), Gus Plebesly ( Scott Wilson), and Sergio Duran (

), report for duty with the Los Angeles police department. Roy is married with a daughter and intends to eventually become a law student. Gus is a father of three. Serge is a native of East L.A., who never expected to end up patrolling its streets. Each is assigned a veteran partner. Roy's is the greatly experienced Andy Kilvinski (

), who has been on the force for nearly a quarter-century and has his own unique style of law enforcement. For example, he will drive a group of hookers, who he has supplied with liquor, around the city streets for hours, in a paddy wagon, simply to keep them off the streets for a night. Gus rides with Whitey Duncan (

Clifton James George Clifton James (May 29, 1920 – April 15, 2017) was an American actor known for roles as a prison floorwalker in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films '' Live and Let Die'' (197 ...

). As they answer a burglary call, at a market, Gus opens fire on a suspicious figure in a dark alley, only to discover, to his horror, that it is the owner of the store. Roy begins to frustrate his wife, Dorothy (

), by becoming obsessed with police work, neglecting his family, and dropping out of law school. He likes the life on the street. But during a convenience store holdup, Roy tells a couple in a parked car to move. Because he was careless, he does not realize that they are the get-away crew for the robbers. Without warning, the man shoots Roy with a

sawed-off shotgun A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, ...

before escaping, leaving him gravely wounded on the sidewalk. Gus and Serge discuss their fear of being shot. Serge temporarily partners with Andy, and together they handle a call involving a

slum landlord A slumlord (or slum landlord) is a slang term for a landlord, generally an absentee landlord with more than one property, who attempts to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods, and t ...

. During this encounter, Andy becomes enraged and threatens the landlord for exploiting the "wetbacks" living in the apartment, in deplorable conditions. Roy gradually recovers and quickly encounters a shootout, but doesn't flinch. As the rookies mark a year on the job, Andy reaches his 25th anniversary and mandatory retirement. He discusses the difficulties of police work with the younger men. Roy is assigned to the vice squad, where the job is anything but glamorous—mostly arresting "fruits" for homosexual behavior in public parks. Dorothy has had enough, saying she does not care about him anymore. She leaves for San Francisco (where she meets a real estate agent) and takes their daughter, Becky, with her. The young cops are delighted to get a visit, at the police station, from Andy, who has retired to Florida but misses police work. He regrets never having spent more time on his personal life. After speaking with Roy one last time, on the telephone, Andy puts his service revolver in his mouth and kills himself. Depression gets the better of Roy, who begins to drink on the job. He answers a burglary call and the victim turns out to be Lorrie (

), a nurse who helped him after he got shot. Later on patrol, a prostitute (Bea Thompkins) named "Silverpants" driving a Lincoln Continental, speeds off with Roy hanging from the car door. He barely avoids serious injury and Lorrie helps patch him up, but he draws a three-week suspension for being drunk on the job. Roy begins seeing Lorrie socially and comes to his senses, appreciating the need for personal relationships, remembering what led Andy to end his life. He goes on a shots fired call, which leads to a car chase, followed by a foot chase. Exhausted after booking the suspects, he is on the way to ending his shift, when he encounters a woman on the street who appeals for help with her threatening husband. Reluctantly, Roy, Gus, and Serge decide to investigate. As Roy takes the back stairs, the husband suddenly appears and, without warning, fires a single shot from a handgun. Roy dies in Gus's arms.

Cast

as Andy Kilvinski *

as Roy Fehler *

as Dorothy Fehler * Scott Wilson as Gus Plebesly *

as Sergio Duran *

as "Whitey" *

as Sergeant Anders *

as Lorrie Hunt *

Burke Byrnes Burke Byrnes (born December 9, 1937) is an American actor, best known as the voice for Daddy Topps in ''The Land Before Time ''The Land Before Time'' is an American animated film series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and Ton ...

as Phillips *

Charles H. Gray Charles H. Gray (November 27, 1921 – August 2, 2008) was an American television and film actor. Gray was best known for his work in the TV series '' Highway Patrol'' as Officer Edwards, trail scout Clay Forrester in '' Rawhide'' and as Wil ...

as Bethel *

Pepe Serna Pepe Serna (born July 23, 1944) is an American film and television actor and artist. Serna's first break in movies came in 1970 on the Roger Corman directed film ''The Student Nurses''. Over the years Serna has appeared in over 100 films. In t ...

as Young Mexican Man *

Ed Lauter Edward Matthew Lauter Jr. ( ; October 30, 1938 – October 16, 2013) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in more than 200 films and TV series episodes in a career that spanned over 40 years. Early life Lauter was born and ...

as Galloway * Bea Thompkins as Silverpants *

Hilly Hicks Hilly Gene Hicks Sr. is an American character actor. Early life Hicks was born in Los Angeles, California. Biography The role for which Hicks is perhaps best known is Lewis Harvey (the younger son of Alex Haley's second great-grandfather Chic ...

as Young Black Man Whose Store Is Robbed *

Kitten Natividad Francesca Isabel Natividad (February 13, 1948 – September 24, 2022), known professionally as Kitten Natividad, was a Mexican-American film actress and exotic dancer. She was noted for her 44-inch (112 cm) bust, and appearances in cult films ma ...

as Go-Go Dancer in Bar (uncredited) *

Anne Ramsey Angelina Anne Ramsey-Mobley (March 27, 1929 – August 11, 1988) was an American actress. She is best known for her film roles as Mama Fratelli in ''The Goonies'' (1985) and as Mrs. Lift in ''Throw Momma from the Train'' (1987), the latter of wh ...

as Wife of Crazy Man (uncredited) Odeon Cinema Carlton Street Toronto 1972

Production

The producers made the movie under a "first look" deal they had at Columbia. Stirling Silliphant wrote the original draft. When George C. Scott agreed to join the cast new scenes were needed for his character, but Sillipant was not available, so Towne was hired for two weeks at a fee of $200,000. The movie was filmed on location in Los Angeles.

Reception

Roger Greenspun of ''The New York Times'' wrote "Richard Fleischer's ''The New Centurions'' is an intermittently exciting, sometimes preachy, sometimes ironic, occasionally successful film about the lives of some fictional patrol-car cops on the Los Angeles police force...It is an awkwardly modern movie. Modern not so much in its attitudes toward cops (which are really pretty traditional) as in its attitudes towards fate...Fleischer's direction is technically adequate and emotionally absent. He does not so much direct actors as provide a void for them to fill — and among the principals, George C. Scott is almost shamefully good at filling voids and Stacy Keach is not."

References

External links