Word: freidkin
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...with this in mind, along with fond memories of A Few Good Men that I went to see William Freidkin's new film, Rules of Engagement. Remember in A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson finally confesses, uttering the immortal lines, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" Imagine a similar scene. On the stand is Samuel L. Jackson portraying Col. Terry Childers. The fresh-out-of-law school idealistic and handsome prosecutor who replaces Tom Cruise is Guy Pearce of L.A.Confidential fame. Don't ask what accent this Australian is trying to imitate. Jackson's confession...
...conceived with the intention of combining action with thought provoking plot complications. But only one part of this plan is executed-the action scenes are flawless, the cinematography fits the mood. But where is the complexity? The only deep question that we can possibly ask? "What on earth was Freidkin thinking...
...original novel, written by coscreenwriter Gerald Petievich (a former Treasury agent) was an absorbing tortoise-and-he-hare yarn about two separate teams of T-men on the trail of the same master counterfeiter. But Freidkin kills off the tortoise (a sympathetic older cop on the eve of his retirement) in the first reel to provide Chance, his amoral anti-hero, with a stock revenge motive; yet he then fails to develop this element of the story. He cut out the emotional heart and balance of the book, and you can only assume that this is exactly what he wanted...
...BOTH FREIDKIN'S picture and Penn's boast elaborate set-piece car chases. Friedkin's French Connection- style wrong-way run on the L.A. freeways may be more spectualar, but Arthur Penn's chase scene, dismissed by most critics, is exciting in a precise, stripped-down way. It gets an equal measure of audience applause in the theatres, presumably because of rooting interest in the father-son duo at the heart of the film...
...play loses very little in transition from stage to screen-and often gains a great deal. Director William Freidkin ( The Night They Reided Minsky's and The Birthday Party ) has wisely chosen to "open up" the play very little. What scenes there are outside of Michael's claustrophobic east Sixties apartment work well with Crowley's conception. And Friedkin's superb eye for seine detail and character groupings greatly augment the power of the screenplay...
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