The very first police novel of Joseph Wambaugh is the subject of this film. Although George C. Scott is top billed the story is carried through all the way by Stacy Keach. In this Scott's role is similar to the one he played in Taps.
In fact The New Centurions also has a classical analogy as well. Scott as Julius Caesar who dies midpoint in the Cleopatra saga and Stacy Keach as the Mark Antony figure who carries on to the end to meet the same fate.
The title comes from the fact that these cops see each other as the forces of law and order holding back a tide of anarchy. That kind of pressure to be the force of order certainly puts a lot of pressure on those who enlist to serve. The old centurions failed and the Roman Empire they protected eventually failed as well.
Scott is the old timer ready for retirement and whose last partner is rookie Stacy Keach. Keach is married to Jane Alexander and has a young daughter. As Keach gets more into his job he and Alexander drift slowly apart.
It's a cliché in police dramas that death is ever present with those who take up this work. But this is one cliché that is tried and true. You'll see some examples of that.
Wambaugh's cops here and in other of his work are deeply flawed human beings and there's no exception here. Keach is completely unraveled when Alexander walks out on him and starts drinking on the job. He has an incident which I won't describe, but believe me it shows what can happen to a policeman who is abusing and not focused on the job.
Ironically Keach does meet another woman Rosalind Cash and with this The New Centurions marks one of the first interracial romances ever shown on the big screen. But death snatches him with rapid suddenness and it makes the tragic ending all the more poignant.
Down in the cast is James Sikking who went on to play many a cop most notably in Hill Street Blues. Keach does some time with the Vice Squad and Sikking who is perfect as an ambitious cop looking to rise by running up a score of arrests for victimless crimes.
Devotees of police dramas and serious ones will like The New Centurions. Fans of the stars will be impressed.
In fact The New Centurions also has a classical analogy as well. Scott as Julius Caesar who dies midpoint in the Cleopatra saga and Stacy Keach as the Mark Antony figure who carries on to the end to meet the same fate.
The title comes from the fact that these cops see each other as the forces of law and order holding back a tide of anarchy. That kind of pressure to be the force of order certainly puts a lot of pressure on those who enlist to serve. The old centurions failed and the Roman Empire they protected eventually failed as well.
Scott is the old timer ready for retirement and whose last partner is rookie Stacy Keach. Keach is married to Jane Alexander and has a young daughter. As Keach gets more into his job he and Alexander drift slowly apart.
It's a cliché in police dramas that death is ever present with those who take up this work. But this is one cliché that is tried and true. You'll see some examples of that.
Wambaugh's cops here and in other of his work are deeply flawed human beings and there's no exception here. Keach is completely unraveled when Alexander walks out on him and starts drinking on the job. He has an incident which I won't describe, but believe me it shows what can happen to a policeman who is abusing and not focused on the job.
Ironically Keach does meet another woman Rosalind Cash and with this The New Centurions marks one of the first interracial romances ever shown on the big screen. But death snatches him with rapid suddenness and it makes the tragic ending all the more poignant.
Down in the cast is James Sikking who went on to play many a cop most notably in Hill Street Blues. Keach does some time with the Vice Squad and Sikking who is perfect as an ambitious cop looking to rise by running up a score of arrests for victimless crimes.
Devotees of police dramas and serious ones will like The New Centurions. Fans of the stars will be impressed.