Ted Kotcheff, who gave us First Blood (1982) and Uncommon Valor (1983), is offering now a cheap cop movie. Charles Bronson, 73 years old, still looks and moves very well (on his face furrowed by old wrinkles, we can see the sadness of losing his wife in real life, the actress Jill Ireland, with only five years before - the film is made in 1995). The story is not great but, all the actors strive how to do it more credible: Angela Featherstone, Sebastian Spence, Simon MacCorkindale(Jesus of Nazareth and The Riddle of the Sands), John Vernon("professional villain" in so many films, Fear Is the Key, Charley Varrick, Brannigan, Chained Heat, to name just a few), Lesley-Anne Down(the beauty from Hanover Street), Daniel Baldwin, Barbara Williams, Kate Trotter. I'm a big fan of Charles Bronson but, this Family of Cops, is far below his youth level. Yet, Bronson's acting is honest and credible.

Charles Bronson's last film role was as police inspector Paul Fein of the Milwaukee,PD which he did for Family Of Cops for this and two sequels. His two sons, Daniel Baldwin and Sebastian Spence went on the job and daughter Barbara Williams became a public defender. But she's not the real rebel in the Fein family. The youngest is daughter Angela Featherstone who is out in California looking to 'find herself'. That meaning that she's taken up with any and all. She's back for a family occasion where she takes up with hotel magnate Simon MacCorkindale.So when she wakes up from an alcoholic stupor and finds MacCorkindale shot to death she has the presence of mind to call dad. So Bronson and the rest of the family put their careers on the line to save Featherstone when at first they're not sure she's even innocent.Both Bronson and MacCorkindale have made a lot of enemies. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone would shoot Simon just to embarrass the Fein family with their black sheep. MacCorkindale also has a jealous wife in Lesley-Anne Down and an ex-wife Paula Trotter who have motives.During the course of this Daniel Baldwin nearly dies, but the criminal he's pursuing and the snitch who tips off Bronson have the key to the whole case.Watching this I was of two minds. Just a small investigation would have shown this a professional hit and the Feins need not have put their careers at risk. But also in my experience the easiest answer is the one police often go with. At age 73 when he tackled this role Bronson is clearly slowing down. He lets a lot of the action go to younger cast members. He's clearly though not one to be trifled with. In fact the real main character is Featherstone whose rehabilitation as well as acquittal becomes a Fein family project.Two more films about the Feins of Milwaukee were done before Charles Bronson called it a career. A good if not great role to go out on.

Enjoyable two hours of The Great One and Featherstone,a fine old Irish Catholic name,the two of them on screen made my time.Glad,this film aficionado is for the work done.Delirious,that I was not viewing boring,untalented actors such as Kevin Costner Harrison Ford{ugh}and the two least agreeable and lazy Samuel L. Jackson and the "boor" Morg. Freeman.This work is anything but a boring ensemble.Charles Bronson's presence at any age brings respect and reality to this murder drama and work by police.Since when is growing old a crime?Charley got a late start in films due to his growing up poor in the nine county Pittsburgh area.I regard this film highly...made in America too.

This is a great T.V cop drama, I was really surprised by how emotional and intense it was, with top notch performances all around!. All the characters are great!, and the story is very good as well, plus Charles Bronson is simply amazing in this!. Charles definitely gives one of his best Acting performances in his career here, and the film has a lot of cool twists and turns as well!, plus the ending is somewhat shocking and surprising. Angela Featherstone is fantastic as Jackie(The Daughter), and Dainel Baldwin really surprised me by giving a very good performance here!, plus there is some great action in this as well!. I was really impressed on how all of the Fein's family bonded so well and its unpredictable throughout, plus the dialog is quite engaging. The only reason I decided to tape this is because it had Charles Bronson, and while I did expect to enjoy it, it was actually much more then that it's actually a great film in most aspects, as it does not feel like a T.V Movie a lot of the time!. This is a great T.V cop drama, I was really surprised by how emotional and intense it was, with top notch performances all around, I highly recommend this one!. The Direction is very good!. Ted Kotcheff does a very good! job here with solid camera work, good angles and keeping the film at a very fast pace!. The Acting is wonderful. Charles Bronson is amazing as always, and is amazing here, I was absolutely shocked by how he was full of emotion and anger, I have never really seen that from him before so it was really awesome to see that!, it's definitely one of his best acting performances!, he also brought his usual charisma!(Bronson Rules!!!!!).Angela Featherstone is especially fantastic here, I really felt sorry for her character, , as she did a fantastic job here, it was a tough character to nail but she did it perfectly!, I loved her. Sebastian Spence is really good here as Eddie Fein, he was a good young cop and had a likable character I liked him a lot. John Vernon had a small role here but looked somewhat bored, it was still cool to see him though.Barbara Williams is really good here as the other daughter, she also had some great emotional moments and was quite likable, I really liked her. Lesley-Anne Down is beautiful, and is simply put full of class!, I just wished she had more screen time!, her character was also wonderfully mysterious. Daniel Baldwin is surprisingly pretty good here as Ben Fein I actually liked him. Cynthia Belliveau is also good with what she had to do. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall i highly recommend this one!. ***1/2 out of 5 i look forward to seeing the two sequels.