Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

if we call this artwork, Film, so what we have to call these recent movies? what this movie has that others has not? the answer is Form and content. this movie all made in a police quarter. its all happen there. the movie based on Characterizations. each character has individual spirit . the story comes out from the characters. that is the cinema. it means story is character and character means story. that is the key pro of this film. other thing that we cant find in recent movies( specially we cant find nearly from 1980 up to now) is evolution of character. it means character in the point of A must have differences from point B. for example kark douglas in the beginning of film is different from the kirk douglas in the end of film. its is not just kirk, all the characters have evolution process. God bless william wyler the great.

Cutting edge for its time. Events never really leave the station house in what's supposed to be typical day for the detectives. More importantly, the cops bear little resemblance to Dragnet's fast-talking (1951-59) Joe Friday, which came along at about the same time. The movie's a clear attempt to inject more realism than usual into urban policing. The characters come and go as expected in a city station house. By and large, the cops are reasonably efficient but none too friendly as could also be expected. On the other hand, the arrestees range from a helpless shoplifter to savvy thieves to a big time doctor with influence.Of course, the drama centers on Detective McLeod (Douglas) who's got personal problems that mean not giving suspects an inch, no matter how sympathetic they might be. Surprising for the time are hints of his sometimes brutality in treatment of prisoners. Also unusual are circumspect hints that Dr. Schneider (MacReady) is an abortionist grown wealthy from his practice. Both topics were generally shunned by Production Code Hollywood in the Code's effort to protect audiences from reality.Can't help noticing the movie features two of Hollywood's sweetest innocents, Cathy O'Donnell and Lee Grant. O'Donnell is again redeeming a heck-bent boyfriend as in the transcendent They Live By Night (1948), while Grant registers as the helplessly naïve shoplifter, shortly before being blacklisted. I guess my one reservation is with the contrived nature of Douglas's histrionic downfall. It's theatrical nature contrasts strongly with the film's generally low-key realistic approach. Nonetheless, Wyler keeps things moving on the single set, while the characters continue to hold audience interest. The movie may have lost much of its edge over time. Still, the characters remain cross-generational in their appeal.

Skillfully written and directed, as well as played by a superb ensemble of actors, DETECTIVE STORY barely opens up from the three-act play it is based on. By keeping the action cramped in a New York City precinct house, director Wyler succeeds beautifully in drawing the audience into the vice-like grip of this complex, tightly woven drama.The trouble is, the story is too much a product of its time. I never use the phrase "good for its time," because it doesn't allow for the works of genius that transcend time. But this movie is stuck in 1951, which muddles a key part of the plot: the abortionist is treated as evil, but the woman who went to him is someone we sympathize with. That's a double standard now, and it was then. It also treats religion with period awe.From that flaw, others follow. The one person who cannot forgive her is her own husband (Kirk Douglas), an Irish cop with zero tolerance for even the pettiest of crimes. He dispenses Manichaean justice-- good vs evil, no shades of gray. First-time offenders are nothing more than guys who finally got caught. He's cop, judge, and jury with everyone he arrests-- and he's punisher, too, at one point saying he wants the doctor in the electric chair and he'll throw the switch. He also has a violent temper; indeed, even after being warned by his Captain, he beats a suspect badly enough to hospitalize him. Therein lies another flaw: we're supposed to believe that a man with this uncontrollable temper never crossed the line with off-duty assault against a neighbor, a relative, anybody? He's presented as pure, except for his passion for (his own definition of) justice.The film ends with his confession, and here it is, transcribed verbatim: "Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell." It's a fairly standard Christian text for the Act of Contrition. I kept waiting for him to add that he was sorry for any human being that he hurt, or offended-- a nod to the Golden Rule, if you will-- but no. His contrition is canned Christianity. Never mind what individuals you actually hurt, just address an apology to the Being who promises to hurt you if you don't. That, as must have been observed before, is the brutal opposite of the Golden Rule. It isn't morality; it's fear, and it's self-serving. Including the Act of Contrition pandered to the Catholics in the audience, but even Catholics would have appreciated him expressing heartfelt remorse toward the people he hurt.It's worth seeing, it's so well done. But the playwright, Sidney Kingsley, did not look beyond temporary mores {sic}, and the two screenwriters, Robert Wyler (the director's brother) and Philip Yordan, settled for that. Too bad.

Detective Story feels like a contemporary interpretation of one of Shakespeare's plays. Most of the action takes place in the NY Police 21st Precinct Building. Indeed the film is based on a stage play. Douglas is very convincing as McLeod, a moralising, black-or-white policeman, a lonely crusader in world of big-city, 24-hour crime. We get a snapshot of some of the characters that pass through his world. One of the engaging aspects to the film is that you wonder if and how one or more of these characters is going to interact with the main story. Bringing McLeod happiness during his crusade against corruption is his wife Mary, played by the graceful Eleanor Parker, who would later go on to play the spurned countess in The Sound of Music. This is the story of what happens to McLeod as he makes the painful discovery in a most personal way that his black-or-white approach to life and work is unsustainable.