The Onion Field
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Movie Reviews of The Onion Field
Movie Review: the onion field
Summary: 5 Stars
had just read the book and wanted to see the movie again. originally saw the movie when it came out, way back when.Movie Review: I love true stories
Summary: 5 Stars
Great movie and true for the most part. I remember the story when i was growing up. A must for my collectionMovie Review: Short of Greatness--Great Transfer
Summary: 4 Stars
If you liked Jon Savage in "Maria's Lovers," or James Woods in "Once Upon a Time in America," you'll definitely want to have a look at "The Onion Field." These two can channel tortured soul and quirky perversity like nobody's business.
Technically, I probably should not offer a critique having seen it only once. As Robert Altmann said, at the initial viewing you're in 'who-dun-it mode;' only a second look puts you in a position to appreciate how the parts fit into the whole. But since I'm recommending the film I'll allow myself this breach of etiquette.
"The Onion Field" begins promisingly enough, with James Woods' riveting creepiness and the strong performances of all involved, and it remains highly watchable through the murder. But it falls apart in the court-room scenes, which, oddly enough for a true story, strain credulity. They feel like an epilogue rather than the third act of the story. (So much for reality.) This is the dilemma of all court-room dramas and few are the directors who successfully avoid a slackening of tension. Granted, "The Onion Field" is not a thriller; its suspense arises organically out of key scenes and is not mined to keep us on the edge of our seats. It is not a manipulative film in that sense. Still, a film needs to have pulse and continuity, whether through character development or emplotment.
What keeps the film from greatness is its literalism, the true-to-actual-events quality its writer (Joseph Wambaugh) and director (Harold Becker) prided themselves on. The straight-forward, non-elliptical narration of the murder of a policeman is purely functional. And to be fair, Becker's classical approach works for the most part. So if you like your storytelling straight as a made-for-television movie, you won't be disappointed. That's a wholly legitimate approach and can be at least as effective as the splintering, hand-held and non-linear techniques that have recently crossed-over from the art film into mainstream cinema.
Becker and Wambaugh are more interested in being true to the story than in the post-production editing and scoring process necessary to make a film--and not just a story--compelling. A less by-the-numbers score might have helped. And a little stylistic panache could have glossed over the plot's failure to twist and spike. The problem with true to life stories is that they tend to fizzle out in the post-dramatic lives of their protagonists.
Rather than going deeper into James Woods' character, we're diverted into the lives of tangential ones. I see that as the main miscalculation. By trying to cover all who were impacted by the murder the film leads us down a series of (empathic) dead-ends. We are given no motivation to be invested in the lives of the bereaved, who's only dramatic function (and dimension) is to indicate traumatic loss. Atom Egoyan was able to make a mesmerizing film about the collective implication of a catastrophe ("The Sweet Hereafter"), but Becker is not artist enough to pull that off. Instead of sweep and poetry, we get a series episodes that declare: "this also happened."
So why acquire this DVD? Because it has a superior transfer--even on my HD laptop screen (somewhat of a surprise considering it's an MGM release); because it boasts strong performances by great actors, and because it's filmed with the classical restraint (no hand-held mannerisms) that invites repeat viewings. Finally, because it's a good (and well-behaved) film, which is saying something.
Movie Review: POWERFUL AND FITTING ADAPTATION
Summary: 4 Stars
The studio brass finally got it right when they let Joseph Wambaugh write and supervise the production of his (then most) powerful non-fiction masterwork. THE ONION FIELD is one of 1979's best films and it's brutality, both socially and judicially, is stunning. Harold Becker was the right director for this labor of love, an "A lister" at the time would have screwed it up and the film's intensity would have been lost under the hype. The acting is the core of THE ONION FIELD: James Woods was robbed of an Oscar nod. John Savage plays his heart out as the tortured Carl Hettinger and Ronny Cox is solid as Pierce R. Brooks (Brooks later wrote OFFICER DOWN CODE 3, which is a staple in any police library). Christopher Lloyd has a small important role as The Jailhouse Lawyer. This was justice for Wambaugh after his studio war over THE CHOIRBOYS (1977). Put this one in the win column.
Movie Review: A Family Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
This is about my family Greg Powell is my adopted Uncle that I don't know and I am glad I watched the movie to learn more about him. I hope he served his time and got the help he needed.