Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981)
HBO Home Video DVD (region 1)
d. Daniel Petrie; pr. Tom Fiorello, Martin Richards; scr. Heywood Gould; ph. John Alcott; m. Jonathan Tunick; ed. Rita Rowland; cast. paul Newman, Ed Asner, Ken Wahl, Pam Grier, Daniel Aiello, Rachel Ticotin, Miguel Pinero, Tito Goya (125 mins)
In the early 1980s the Bronx section of New York City epitomized the sense of America as an urban wasteland.
It stood for the failure of the American socio-economic, legal and racial apparatus’ and was a microcosm of a collapsing society. The Bronx’s desolation (under the ironic guise of so-termed “urban renewal”) was thus the background for a number of bleak, often exploitative and violent thrillers. Cynicism and despair were rampant in these films. The sociological rather than the sensationalistic emphasis on this kind of urban despair was perhaps at its highest in Fort Apache, the Bronx, a film that diligently sought to examine the social deprivation, criminal explosion and the perceived failure of law enforcement to protect people or achieve change. In so doing, it was perhaps an influence on such television series as Hill Street Blues which also sought to explore the interpersonal dynamics of police officers in such economically-challenged areas. However, it was difficult for the Bronx-themed films to find much hope for any solution to the problems they depicted; but whilst many of them surrendered to violence, Fort Apache, the Bronx sought to contextualize the frustration that underlined the inevitable movement towards anarchy and corruption endemic in the area. It brought humanity back to a genre somewhat decimated after the sociological contempt and anti-authoritarianism of such as The Choirboys.
Fort Apache, the Bronx concerns the daily lives of several policemen at work in one of the toughest precincts in New York City. The precinct has a reputation as the bottom-end of the ladder, the place where people are transferred to for either breaking regulations or for other disciplinary reprimands.
A new police chief (Ed Asner) intends to clean up the precinct and the neighborhood and to do it by the book. It is an approach that ageing cop Paul Newman, and his younger partner Ken Wahl, do not expect to work. When two oblivious rookies are killed, all are under pressure to find the cop killers. Newman meanwhile develops a romantic attraction for a young nurse (Rachel Ticotin) but is distraught when he finds out that she is a junkie, conflicted when he is forced to weigh up the law against his lonely man’s need for female companionship. The police’s undiscriminating crackdown on all kinds of criminals precipitates a precinct siege. At a subsequent riot, Newman and Wahl observe two of their fellow officers throw an innocent kid off a rooftop. This causes further community outrage and an official investigation. When the guilty cop finds out that Newman can possibly identify him, Newman must reckon for his own safety. He is again conflicted whether to inform on a fellow policeman or to keep silent and let an injustice go unpunished. His ethical reckonings in such urban chaos form the core of this movie.
There is a decidedly bleak sense of urban determinism running throughout this provocative but loosely structured police drama. Still, it is one of the decade’s most evocative studies of the honor and suffering nobility of the policeman-humanitarian, as played by Newman with much wearied conviction.
What is thus central in Newman’s plight is his awareness of the compromises that decent people must make in order to maintain some interpersonal feeling of connection. The film thus holds Newman’s concern for his junkie girlfriend in comparison to the truly horrific amorality, corruption and inhumanity around him. Humanity and personal need must thus sometimes outweigh the law. It is also telling that the one who insists on the letter of the law (Asner) is the one most out of touch with community needs. However, when Newman sees the cops kill an innocent bystander out of pure frustrated hatred, he is faced with the ultimate crisis for a policeman – to be a rat or to compromise his humanity by keeping silent. For Newman, his humanity is all that is left him in this desolate world and he maintains his belief that acting by his conscience can make a difference, even if his fellow officers are so disillusioned as to be willing to overlook a bad cop in their midst. The important issue in the film emerges thus as the caring man’s reckoning of just how much to look the other way – hence the interplay of personal need and professional ethics.
This is, also, a film about a community in disarray and the effects this situation has on the humanity of those surviving within it. The film offers a wide cross section of inhabitants, most of whom have surrendered to despair and drugs and feed off one another.
Compassion is always tested as there is an overriding awareness of the criminal madness of sociological entrapment. There is thus a serious and solemn look at the responsibilities of police-work and how policemen relate to the community around them and in which they must also live – accepting it and hoping to better it or surrendering to their own resentment and frustration. The film raises the hopeful possibility of a kind of moral relativism in notions of criminal law enforcement. Yet there is also a horrible consequence to police immersion in such social despair for it risks breeding indifference and contempt, which are ultimately the real enemies. The film offers no easy answers to its sociological chaos, or to the paradoxes of police-work in a community so apparently intent on destroying itself. Thus, it is ironic that the precinct is called a fort in hostile territory, being both a safe refuge for many people and the first target for community resentment. Although the film is ultimately about the battle to retain one’s humanity and to thus not surrender to despair and contempt in what amounts to a sociological maelstrom, it is a multi-faceted profile.
DVD DETAILS:
Vision
The visual transfer on this DVD is in widescreen letterbox. It is from a faded print, but the drab, muted colors reinforce the urban determinism of the premise. At first it is almost black and white, broken only by dirty, ugly colors. It is truly a wasteland: after two rookie cops are killed by junkie hooker Pam Grier (in one of her best roles), people come out of the rubble like scavengers to loot the bodies and cop car. The harsh locations and realism to the precinct and environs make for a constant grim ness. Yet there is also telling humor in the running gag of Newman chasing a purse snatcher able to outrun him too easily. Equally important is the emphasis on the home life of the policeman, showing that they too have lives and an added investment in the area. Indeed, the film develops a fine sense of day-to-day interaction within the community. Interiors, though, are often shadowy and there is an overall downcast, gray look to the film. Locations add tremendous authenticity as does the vividness to the numerous sequences of Newman and Wahl at work. Desolation rather than urgency propels the plot, although there is a fine sense of the ebb and flow of incident and how these lives intertwine – the fabric of life in the Bronx as it relates to law enforcement is well-developed. The racial mix is also well captured, leading to fine work from Miguel Pinero and Tito Goya (seen together in the excellent Short Eyes).
Sound
The sound is in Dolby Digital mono only, and is plain and centered at that. Although this is a shortcoming for the excellent score it does not severely hamper the effectiveness of the film itself. Precinct atmosphere is realistic, with a multitude of competing sounds. Elsewhere, the natural street atmosphere is well captured and the film moves into more intimate moments between people to explore their need for connection amidst the inhumane madness as the community struggles to contain itself. There is a grim realism to the aural design, though finding some happiness in the tentative interpersonal friendship between Newman and Wahl and their respective romantic interests – there is hope here as the good is taken with the bad, even if it is the latter that dominates. The film is replete with dialogue allusions to Westerns (not only the Fort Apache of the title, but to Gunfight at the OK Corral). Voices are always well-pronounced and the measured determination of Newman well suits the film as he too struggles to maintain his connection with an eroding humanity. The design emphasis is on human communication and its sad, relative failure; resolving itself in a series of confrontations rather than connections – perhaps such is the fate of life in the Bronx. The aural transfer captures the mix of physical realism and personal relations although mono can allow for only minimal differentiation within it.
Special Features
In the way of special features is a cast and crew list with brief biographies. As barren as this DVD is, the film itself is more than worthwhile viewing: one of the most neglected films of the decade and quite possibly director Daniel Petrie’s greatest accomplishment.
