Netflix ... Daleks! The Offence Synopsis. The film was in some ways spoiled but not ruined by the pretentiously arty way it was directed by Sidney Lumet. This week's films. Coppers have power and they use it.If you have a problem with that go away and try to work out another way to regulate human behaviour that doesn't involve the exercise of power by one group of people over another.I won't hold my breath. Gritty police programmes are now so much a part of the TV landscape that it is hard to realise that a feature like The Offence once packed quite a punch. "Peeping Tom" was certainly creepy and disturbing, but in all the wrong ways. he plays a British policeman who interrogates a man arrested on suspicion of a crime against a child, we see the character played by connery exposing his own frailties while exploring his past. Sean Connery gives arguably the best performance of his career in this dark and exceptionally disturbing thriller from director Sidney Lumet (with whom the big Scot had already made The Hill and The Anderson Tapes). The third collaboration between Sean Connery and the director Sidney Lumet is an unsettling glimpse into the toxic mind of a policeman who has been polluted by the horrors witnessed over the course of his career. and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. Price Match Guarantee. Not to forget the photography, which is brilliant as well, so deservedly I give it 10 out of 10. Grim but rewarding character study with a great Connery performance. As the interview progresses, Baxter can clearly see the illness and pathology in Sergeant Johnson, and each push the other's buttons, closer and closer to the edge, and beyond. The Offence is at core three dialogues featuring Connery - with Bannen, wife Vivien Merchant and superintendent Trevor Howard - compellingly verbose, John Hopkins adapting from his own play, and adroitly managed by actors' director Sidney Lumet. The Offence. Best movies. Remarkable, dark, disturbing film. He gets somehow alone in an interrogation room with the man (Ian Bannen) and, in what seems like no time at all, the man is dead and Johnson (Connery) is half-shocked and half-not-surprised at himself for what he's done. The point is to capture my instant thoughts about a movie and my overall film diet for 30 days, as well as post interesting links to the film in question. Some do it reasonably well like Hitchcock's 1960 thriller, "Psycho", for instance. The Offence review by Delysid D - This is a pretty cool old forgotten picture. Read full review. The thing that has so fascinated me about Sidney Lumet, and the reason I think he doesn't get the credit others would get for his high points, is the fact that, in a sense, he is the anti-auteur. | All in all this one is highly ranked among the first five of Lumet's films. Reviews in chronological order (Total 0 reviews) Post a review. Connery's character is also struggling with his own paedophile tendencies. SEE DETAILS. Read Full Synopsis ... Load More Features Movie Reviews Presented by Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Powell also released "Peeping Tom" in 1960, a movie about a psychopathic photographer/cinematographer who kills women and films them as they're dying. Streaming Now Movies Showtimes Videos Made In Hollywood News The Offence Cast and Crew "After 20 years, what detective-sergeant Johnson has seen and done is destroying him." sean connery is a cop who gets so pissed off that he kills the suspect. A fascinating character study (***½ out of ****), Bleak but powerful forgotten gem from Sidney Lumet, An Intoxicating Film Marked With Little Hopefulness. The treatment of evil in most other films is either too underplayed to make us think hard about what evil really is, or is a typical Saturday afternoon cinema thriller like "The Exorcist" and its myriad of clones which are generally steeped in outward physical manifestations that all too often seem more of an excuse for showing off their latest special effects arsenal than anything. It is essentially a two-hander for the most part with Connery and Ian Bannen (as the paedophile) trying to get the better of one another in the interrogation room of a police station. It is an adaptation of John Hopkins play "This Story of Yours." He beats a rape suspect (Ian Bannen) to death. its a hell of an… Cinafilm has over seven million movie reviews and counting … This doesn't dissuade a director like Sidney Lumet, however, who feeds the fire that actors crave, which is freedom to take some risky material anywhere it needs to go. Based on a play by John Hopkins, "The Offence" stars Sean Connery as a violent policeman on the hunt of a child molester, played by Ian Bannen. User Ratings The murderer was treated as a poor, misunderstood man whose upbringing molded him into the villain he became instead of recognizing and acknowledging the self-will that must always be involved in the transgressions of man. The Offence is directed by Sidney Lumet and adapted to screenplay by John Hopkins from his own play titled This Story of Yours. You don't go to see a film like this if you're seeking jolly weekend entertainment. 60. Sean Connery is as brilliant as in Lumet's masterful prison drama "The Hill". A rigorous and gruelling ascent to the furthest echelons of bleakness, Sidney Lumet's The Offence is a uniquely disturbing crime drama based on the stage play 'This Story of Yours' by John Hopkins that boldly explores the psychology of police officer … The Offence is regarded as a favourite of Sean Connery but hardly anyone saw it on its cinema release. Connery was allowed make this film as part of the MGM deal for DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1972) Not a single one of his films has the style or tone of any of his other works, a quality chalked up less to versatility than simple unevenness. In that time, the number murders, rapes, and other felony crimes he's investigated has left a terrible mark on his psyche. A powerful and complex performance by Connery is somewhat weakened by Lumet's typically stiff and stagey direction. "The Offence" (1973) is well-photographed by Gerry Fisher (who also did the cinematography for two other Lumet films: "The Sea Gull" and the great "Running on Empty"). Included is the aftermath of a gory car crash, a baby’s bloodied arm hanging out of its crib, dead entwined lovers, and a body hung from a tree. All rights reserved. FAQ This is not a fun film, but its truths about the fragility of the human psyche are eloquently conveyed. THE OFFENCE is an adaptation of a stage play 'This Story Of Yours',written by John Hopkins,about a senior police officer who eventually cracks under the strain of experiencing and witnessing horrific crimes and inhumanity over many years. Receive a $6 Movie Rental. Awards Metacritic Reviews. Copyright © Fandango. Rated the #57 best film of 1973, and #3196 in the greatest all-time movies (according to RYM users). A series of sex attacks on children is just the latest in a long line of horrors to be dealt with on a daily basis. This unrelentingly somber policier inaugurates a newfound force in Lumet's work. Gerry Fisher's cold, muted photography perfectly captures the sterility and bleakness of post-modern England. Lumet's eye for these soul-sucking landscapes is brilliant - better than that of most English directors. The Offence is definitely one of Lumet's darkest, most broodingly distressing films. The Offence is a 1973 British crime neo noir drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, based upon the 1968 stage play This Story of Yours by John Hopkins. SEE DETAILS. When is The Witcher season 2's Netflix release date? Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 Top Critic I've seen many movies that undertook the subject of evil. Directed by SIDNEY LUMET Screenplay by JOHN HOPKINS. In my experience,police officers who beat up suspects do it because they can,some of them evidently enjoy it.They are selective about who gets a slap.Few bank robbers or professional crims of that calibre are victims of police brutality;and here we must differentiate between being hitting somebody out on the street to effect an arrest and beating them up in the safety of the Custody Suite or in the cells. at worst it's dated, at best it may include Connery's most phenomenal lead performance, "I'm hearing the words, but...they're not making any sense...". The same man can make a lurid, trashy potboiler like Guilty as Sin, and fire back with a lugubrious British police procedural, namely 1972's The Offence. It was … The Offence is based on a play, and it shows. Offers. It stars Sean Connery, Ian Bannen, Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchant. Cast, plot and latest news 09 Nov. It stars Sean Connery, Ian Bannen, Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchant. THE OFFENCE. It is a rather hard film to watch, and is definitely not a film that encourages repeat viewings, but there's no denying Connery's mesmerising presence nor the horrifying, probing nature of the story. Offers. Not an entertaining film by any stretch, but as an intentionally challenging study of a tortured policeman's mind it certainly packs a punch. Open for comments. The Offence is directed by Sidney Lumet and adapted to screenplay by John Hopkins from his own play titled This Story of Yours. | Instead, Lumet stays on Connery calming the girl till she submits to care, and takes his time with it, too. This is without a doubt Sean Connery's finest screen performance.Sidney Lumet conducts the whole affair with his usual precision and expertise. Unlike Billy Wilder, where every one of his films is a different type of classic, Lumet is as varied in quality as vibe, and it's baffling that the same man could make a dry, satirical masterpiece like Network and an awkward, ignorant mystery like A Stranger Among Us. "The Offence" (1972) was a well-acted Sidney Lumet directed story that kind of misfired for me because the film told its story too ambiguously, while leaving one with a lot to think about, but it is, upon second and third viewings, cloudy. However, if anything, "Psycho" tried a little too hard to be frightening, so that, in the end we came away feeling that the subject was one of fear itself more than of the thing that made us fearful. It remains cloudy about things that should be … Lumet has a maternal instinct that comes through in his films that make them awake and moving. A wet gray chilly England is the setting. Rated R X. Connery is in one of his best roles, here, Bannen too. A filmmaker who somehow opened up Murder on the Orient Express, a film entirely set on a train, but couldn't take Long Day's Journey Into Night off the stage. The Offence is a film he felt passionately about and the only reason he got it made was he made a deal with United Artists if he did another Bond film he could get 2 any films made but due to the financial failure of The Offence, UA pulled out of the deal. But it is as powerful as a keg of nitroglycerin. Cinematography is by Gerry Fisher and music by Harrison Birtwistle. The Offence is Sean Connery's best performance in a major motion picture, the problem though is that the film bombed and was rarely seen in the cinema, probably due to the material content of this very dark and dramatically compelling story. This is a searing film, which creeps up on you, and stuns you with sudden realizations. Directed by: Sidney Lumet. In "The Offence," he plays a stressed-out police officer on the verge of a nervous breakdown who is in a physical and psychological battle with a paedophile suspect he has in custody. Connery's cop has seen too much in his 20 yrs on the force. Staff (Not Credited) There's a powerful confrontation of authority and accused between police sergeant Sean Connery and suspected child molester Ian Bannen in Sidney Lumet's The Offence. The interrogation scenes between him and an excellent Ian Bannen, as the prime suspect in a child molestation case, are riveting. The Offence Movie Review & Showtimes: Find details of The Offence along with its showtimes, movie review, trailer, teaser, full video songs, showtimes and … After returning to save the James Bond franchise with "Diamonds Are Forever," Sean Connery made a complete left-field choice for his next role. | However,there is still much to admire about THE OFFENCE.Sidney Lumet occasionally struggles with the theatrical origins of the piece,and some of the scenes drag on a little tediously,but,like his best film TWELVE ANGRY MEN,he still manages to produce some striking images despite the claustrophobic settings abound.Aside from the opening scenes,Lumet sets the film at nighttime and in a brutally … Therein lie the answers. The writer of this moving and disturbing film, John Hopkins, once said that to understand the nature of human evil one must first look inwards at oneself. There's a powerful confrontation of authority and accused between police sergeant Sean Connery and suspected child molester Ian Bannen in Sidney Lumet's The Offence. Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchantappear in major supporti… External Reviews Don't have an account? When Connery first finds an abducted child in the woods early in the film, the scene isn't punctuated with the search's success. And Ian Bannen, Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchant are excellent as well. when you purchase a new Edible Arrangements movie-themed Edible Box. | The Offence (1972) Synopsis: In Sidney Lumet's harrowing portrayal of police brutality, Detective Sergeant Johnson has been with the British Police Force for 20 years. Read full review. A London police sergeant (Sean Connery) goes too far questioning a suspected child molester. This film shows that there's something awkward in any man, and that the mind of a serial rapist can sometimes be less burdened than the mind of an ordinary decent man, who should protect the society from those, but can't handle it. 'The Offence' is one of the few films which accurately captures the bleak, estranged architecture of the many English New Towns that sprang up in the 50's and 60's. The Offence certainly exists in a world far away from the glamour of the Bond movies; here the clouds are grey and so is just about everything else. With 'The Offence', Hopkins took this philosophy to the limit and created a stunning portrayal of latent evil emerging from the wrecked personality of a good man. Viewing The Offense is not a pleasant experience. The Offence was a box office bomb, not because it is a hopelessly weak film but because the grim subject matter and the relentlessly bleak tone were too challenging for general audiences. 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