not as good as all the hype

Brilliant and touching

A lot of fun.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"The New Centurions" should have a solid 8.5 rating, rather than just a 7. This is an under- rated film about the general lives of police officers from a Los Angeles Precinct. George C. Scott and Stacy Keach lead the way as two police officers who are initially teamed up for night duty around Los Angeles. Following a few incidents, they get re-assigned different partners until Stacy Keach is transfered to the vice squad and George C. Scott retires from the force. The film wisely avoids any kind of trendy or glamorous approach to Police work. It is just shown for what it is - a dirty job that someone has to do. The police officers aren't shown to be more heroic than the average person but dedicated and good at their jobs. There is some good action along the way but "The New Centurions" works due to the acting, writing and direction. The recent British DVD release has brilliant sound and picture quality.

***SPOILERS*** From the pages of Joseph Wambaugh first and best selling novel about the men of the LAPD the movie shows how a job like a policeman can change a person into a mentally unstable individual if he lets it take over his life. There's' patrolman Andy Kilvinski, George C. Scott, a 25 year veteran of the LAPD facing retirement and breaking in young rookie cop Roy Fehler played by Stacey Keach with and without, at times during the film, a mustache. Kilvinski shows young Roy in how to do the job based on "Kivinski's Law" which worked so well for him over the years. At first only looking to be a cop until he finishes law school and become a full fledged shyster/lawyer Roy soon becomes married to his job and forgets law school as well as his wife Dorothy, Jane Alexander, who the job of being a policeman replaced.While at a stake-out that Roy get shot by peace loving two hippies, whom he caught making out in the backseat of a car, that hospitalized him from six months with a near fatal stomach wound. Back at work and with a new attitude Roy seemed to have lost his ability to do his job without his partner the wise old Andy Kilvinski guiding him in his work. By now the job as a policeman has taken over Roy's life so completely that his wife, taking their daughter along with her, left him leading Roy to drink which didn't make things that much better for him.***SPOILERS*** It's after Roy's partner Andy Kilvinski, who by then retired from the LAPD with 25 years service, came to visit his old precinct-the 25th- that Roy having better things to do like drinking and having an affair with a nurse-Rosalind Cash-who treated him for his injuries more or less fluffed him off. That feeling of rejection ended up turning Kilvinski, left alone and deserted by the men he worked with, to put a gun to his mouth and blow his brains out! Roy now on a guilt trip in feeling responsible for Kilvinski's suicide in a strange way gets his wish by getting killed on the job, by a local psycho, so he won't have to end up dying alone, by his own hand, with no one giving a cr*p if he was alive or dead like his friend and partner Andy Kilvinski. Realistic movie about police that was overlooked by the public and critics back then but has now become somewhat of a minor film noir classic.

This is less of a story than a series of vignettes which take place over several years. They are loosely based around Stacey Keach's character. Although there is some attempt to inject humour, the general tone can be summed up in one word: grim. We see cops shooting innocent people, being shot and indeed shooting themselves. Other than that there's marital breakdown, alcoholism, child abuse and immigrant exploitation among other cheery subjects.The only real comedy appears when Keach joins the vice squad. The comedy is not very successful and seems just added on. This part is notable for the appearance of James Sikking in what seems to be a trial run for his role in Hill Street Blues. HSB does seem indebted to TNC is some ways particularly the opening gathering in front of the sergeant (I almost expected him to say "let's be careful out there") and also the wide range of characters. HSB is much more successful than TNC however; there is much better character development and each individual plot strand is satisfactorily resolved. Also the comedy interludes are better.In TNC the characters are rather sketchily drawn; they drop in and out of the film and we do not think we get to know them well. The vignettes jump quickly to the next scene sometimes months later which creates a disjointed effect. Certain plot elements are left dangling. For example, when George C Scott and Keach nab a suspect early on, there is talk as to whether the case will stand up in court or not. But we do not discover if it does or not. something which HSB would have clarified.It also think that, despite the grim nature of the piece, the ending is unnecessarily downbeat and depressing. After watching this, one wonders why anyone would ever become a New York cop.

Naive, idealistic rookie cop Roy Fehler (a typically fine performance by the always dependable Stacy Keach) gets shown the ropes by wise maverick veteran policeman Andy Kilvinski (superbly played by the inestimable George C. Scott) as the intrepid duo work a tough beat in the worst ghetto areas of Los Angeles. Roy's work as a cop takes over his life and causes his marriage to his concerned, but fed-up wife Dorothy (a strong portrayal by Jane Alexander) to fall apart while Kilvinski has trouble adjusting after he retires from the force. Ably directed by Richard Fleischer, with a sharp and astute episodic script by Stirling Silliphant, an uncompromisingly stark, realistic and unsentimental downbeat tone, grainy, yet fairly polished cinematography by Ralph Woolsey, authentically gritty Los Angeles locations, a funky, syncopated score by Quincy Jones, a devastating grim and depressing ending, a powerful central message about the heavy toll being a police officer takes on a man's soul, and several strikingly vivid individual vignettes (the accidental shooting of an innocent man in a dark alley way, Roy getting blasted in the stomach while on duty, Kilvinski committing suicide in his empty house), this film packs a very potent and lingering punch to the gut. Keach and Scott display a wonderfully natural and engaging chemistry in the lead roles; they receive sterling support from Scott Wilson as earnest eager beaver Gus, Rosalind Cash as sympathetic nurse Lorrie, Erik Estrada as honest Hispanic flatfoot Sergio, Clifton James as the crusty Whitey, James Sikking as the doltish Sergeant Anders, Ed Lauter as the dim Galloway, and William Atherton as the by-the-book Johnson. Isabel Stanford and Carol Speed pop up in an amusing scene as a couple of brash hookers. Harsh and pessimistic, but well worth watching just the same.