Protagonists of police films come in various shapes and forms, but hardly any of them resembles protagonist of The Good Policeman, 1991 thriller by Peter Werner. Isaac Seidel (played by Ron Silver) is not an ordinary cop - he is actually commissioner for New York Police Department. Despite his lofty position he stayed in touch with the lower echelons, thanks to the semi-private unit of "Paladines" who help him sort out the trouble both within and without his organisation. As a result, almost everyone in the Big Apple - media, mayor, politicians, church and even some elements of the organised crime - either loves him or respect him, and he even has time to coach children's baseball team. However, as usual in such circumstances, there are those who aren't particularly satisfied with the current state of affairs, namely some members of Mafia and FBI agents who feel uncomfortable with close relations between Seidel and organised crime. When Seidel tries to prevent mafia war, his own life becomes endangered.
Despite somewhat preposterous concept (official burdened with every day responsibility of running tens of thousands of policemen has enough time for detective work of his own), The Good Policeman looks a fine film at first glance. Ron Silver and Tony Lo Bianco play their roles very well, and the musical soundtrack by Stephen Endelman is very effective. Unfortunately, the script by David Black and Jerome Garyn seems unfinished - many important characters are only fleshed out and not sufficiently explored, creating impression that The Good Policeman is nothing more than the pilot for rejected TV-series. The ending is predictable and cliched, and the romantic subplot involving Seidel's childhood love is too distracting. The Good Policeman is nevertheless watchable, but disappointing film which again reminds us that the good films rely on something more than original concepts alone.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 28th 2000)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/293635-the-good-policeman?language=en-US Critic: AA
