Internal Affairs (1990)

Director:

Mike Figgis

Writer (WGA):

Henry Bean (written by)

Release Date:

12 January 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Trust him... he's a cop.

Plot:

Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Internal Affairs | Adultery | Music Score Composed By Director | Psychopath

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Dennis Peck
Andy Garcia	...	Raymond Avilla
Laurie Metcalf	...	Amy Wallace
Nancy Travis	...	Kathleen Avilla
Richard Bradford	...	Grieb
William Baldwin	...	Van Stretch
Michael Beach	...	Dorian Fletcher
Katherine Borowitz	...	Tova Arrocas
Faye Grant	...	Penny Stretch
John Kapelos	...	Steven Arrocas
Xander Berkeley	...	Rudy Mohr
John Capodice	...	Chief Healy
Victoria Dillard	...	Kee
Pamella D'Pella	...	Cheryl
Susan Forristal	...	Lolly

Also Known As:

Affaires privées (France) [fr]
Affari sporchi (Italy) [it]
Asuntos sucios (Spain) [es]
Epäilyttäviä suhteita (Finland) [fi]
Gizli iliskiler (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Internal Affairs - Trau' ihm, er ist ein Cop (West Germany) [de]
Justiça Cega (Brazil) [pt]
Ligações Sujas (Portugal) [pt]
Misstänkta förbindelser (Sweden) [sv]
Sospecha mortal (Argentina) [es]
Sprawy wewnetrzne (Poland) [pl]
Vromikes ypotheseis (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Canada:A (Ontario) | USA:R (Certificate #29892) | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Out of the Town Films

Goofs:

Continuity: The first time Avila is following Peck, Peck is in his Corvette convertible with the hardtop on. After driving for several miles, the top is gone. Corvette hardtops do not fold down and there is no room to carry them on the car unless they are in place.

Quotes:

[conferring in private after Raymond offered immunity to Van Stretch]
Amy Wallace: You are not authorized to make this deal. It's a violation even to *offer* it!
Raymond Avila: Look at him. He wants to talk. If Peck were clean, there'd be nothing to talk about.
Amy Wallace: I am the senior partner. *Your* mistakes go on *my* file! Either you retract the offer to Van or *I will*!
[Raymond shakes his head]
Amy Wallace: All right. How about this then? Why don't you and Dennis Peck both *pull them out* and I'll decide which one's bigger!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spin City: Internal Affairs (#3.16)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

LO QUE ME GUSTA DE TI

Figgis blurs the lines between good and bad in this dark thriller

Dennis Peck is a street cop who seems happy to stay at that level, and yet he spends significantly more money than he makes on his cops' pay. When IA officers investigate Peck's partner Van Stretch for planting drugs on a suspect and using unnecessary force, they decide to look into Peck more. However Peck knows how to exploit weakness in those around him and begins to clear up the loose links around him while pushing all Raymond Avila's buttons.

This was Figgis' first American film and he made an excellent start. The dark plot is pretty simple in terms of beginning, middle, start. What makes it so much more than that is the characters are so well drawn. Peck and Avila both become like each other the more we know about them, their methods, their thoughts and their weaknesses are all similar. It makes it harder to fit everyone into the mould of good guys and bad guys and keeps everything more interesting. The various twists don't always make sense but the film is forceful enough to keep everything moving.

Gere is on best form here, playing a character against type he is the embodiment of corruption, deceit and murder. Garcia is also excellent as Raymond, who blends his actions well from good into bad. Metcalfe is excellent as Garcia's partner who may or may not be motivated by the hatred of Gere's macho personae. It's also good to see Baldwin, Travis and Xander Berkley have good roles.

Overall this is a dark thriller that blends characters into one mess of corruption in the police. It is an excellent film with great characters.