Word: precincts
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...that is a shame, because Carpenter is talented (Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13), and because the idea of New York as penal colony has so much potential. Carpenter, though, simply wastes the possibilities. Manhattan, with its mounumental architecture on every block, has an abundance of magnificent locations for titanic, evil struggles. Why then did Carpenter choose to set Escape mostly in the anonymous alleys and burntout storefronts of other cities? And why does he employ location shots for a meaningless wrestling match (featuring a performer who bears an admirable resemblance to that titan of professional wrestling. George "The Animal" Steele...
...technical infraction of one of the city's many complex regulations can always be invoked, and a bust may follow: "If you're unlicensed, the motorcycle cop holds you till the truck comes. Then they take your stuff and hold it all day long at the precinct, until business hours are over. On top of going to court and paying the fines, you get charged $65 for gas and fees for the truck...
...rescue plans because they would have forced him to spend funds only as overseen by the city council. Last month he admitted assembling a secret "black book" on the political loyalty of thousands of city employees. A city union claimed he gave average raises of about $3,500 to precinct captains and ward leaders, compared with $300 for the "politically inactive...
Then again, Murphy is a poorly concieved, poorly written character. He's the Last Honest Cop, supposedly appalled by the corruption in the precinct and the squalor in the streets, an ancient cliche. Murphy might have been utilized as the liberal mouthpiece for the film-makers' ideas on urban blight--but Petrie and Gould blow it again. Murphy tells his Puerto Rican girlfriend that he stays in the Bronx because he wants to help the victimized citizenry, he says he understands them: "You see Puerto Ricans are really no different from us Irish. We both like to dance and drink...
...like the film-makers, probably thought the movie would come off sounding like a humane plea to America to save the South Bronx. Asner's convictions and intentions make his scene with Newman--where Connolly tries to persuade Murphy not to leave the force--all the more ironic. "The precinct must be a house of law," Asner says passionately. "Damn it, there're people out there who are trying to build something and we have to let them know that the law is here to serve them...