Almost forgotten nowadays, "Fort Apache, the Bronx" it's an interesting, but somewhat flawed, cop drama about a Police Precinct in the problematic South Bronx located right in the middle of a "war zone" where taking a life became gratuitous and cheap. Hordes of street gangs, hookers, pimps, drug dealers, heroin addicts, winos & bums roams the over-populated slums ready to explode by racial mixtures and a common war against the authority. When 2 rookie cops are killed at cold blood, the newcomer Commissioner demands results and drastic changes in the police procedures starts to appear, it clashes with the ideals of one of the veterans in the Precinct... Released around the same time with the now legendary TV Show "Hill Street Blues", this Daniel Petrie directed movie, shares the same themes about the day-to-day life in a Police Precinct with several sub-plots related to the main one in a gritty, depressing atmosphere of a decadent South Bronx realistically photographed by the camera of John Alcott. On a high note, even if the movie flows at a slow pace, it catch the viewer much because of Paul Newman's excellent performance as the veteran Irish-American cop, Murphy, himself an outsider in the Precinct, a loner who doesn't like to follow rules by the book, but with a sense of fairness & dignity which makes him a respected individual in the streets. Ken Wahl (the underrated star of Philip Kaufman's "The Wanderers") plays his loyal partner, a daring rookie full of freshness with a will to be promoted soon to start a life with his fiancée. The main plot follows, almost in a documentary style, the lives (in and out of service) of the two protagonists offering a character study of both worlds and their relation to the common values of justice, integrity and the healthy balance between authority and the civilians that lives upon the troubled streets. On a lower note, there's too many subplots (some of them cliché-ridden ) that provides unnecessary loose ends & a certain restriction of a 'made for TV' makes this movie experience not at all satisfactory as a more ambitious (& serious) film on the subject matter (needed a Friedkin, Scorsese, De Palma or Cimino on the helm), but still a watchable piece of work for fans of late 70's / early 80's gritty / raw flicks with attitude & a 56 years old Paul Newman in top form.

"I liked this movie!." Kristl said while she leaned back into the couch as the credits rolled. She laid her black combat boots on the raised woodwork that Henry recently had made in front of the screen to enhance the mood of them being in a regular movie theater.It was part of Henry's ongoing project to turn their garage-turned- cinema into a movie theater for real. That is why the walls had people like Katherine Hepburn, James Coburn and Humphrey Bogart staring into the room from old movie posters that adorned the walls. Kristl had remarked something about being subjected to the scrutiny of dead people.Behind them were lines of those folding movie chairs, which were non functional, as that had made them cheap, but still gave the feel that at any one time the room could be filled with a throng of people carrying big bags of popcorn and soda pops."It was an engaging movie. I mean I sort of could connect with Paul Newman. And it gave me a feeling that what you saw was real. Not embellished or made to look heroic or just distorted for the sake of getting a message across.""Hmm." Henry said."Are you going to say…. that you did not like it?" Kristl said."I feel pretty depressed." Henry said."Well, it seems to have been a depressing place. The south Bronx.""There isn't really anything heroic. Not even the main lead is. I mean.. where does this all go? I feel a bit like when we watched The Road. Utter bleakness.Grey on grey.. and nothing is going to get better.""Well, there is this human story of Paul Newman. Who as a veteran cop, still remains a cop, even after all what happened.""Yeah.. but it felt like: you are no good for anything else, so what else are you going to do but be what you already are: a loser cop stuck in a dead end job, with an attitude and mostly shady colleagues for friends. And most of them are no good, being racist, scumbags, lazy shifts and so on. At some point that new commissioner remarks how many of them are not doing their jobs. It is a dead end place. It is where the dirt is gathering because it can't slide deeper.""The new commissioner. That was Ed Asner. I think that it was around that time he played Lou Grant. It was nice to see him act.""Never heard of him.""It was before your time.""It definitely was. That's a movie from 1981.""I was a teen then.""No less. And did you already have those white spikes for hair?""Not exact, they were blue or pink at the time.""Geesh. You did not change much overtime.. except for getting older..." Henry wisely avoided in saying: more portly.."Actually I did. I got older and I changed back to what I was.""I see. A trip to nostalgia.""Perhaps.""Most of what you see in the movie I did see before. I think they call that a cliché. The good cop - bad cop thing. The new commissioner that wants to clean up the precinct. The bad cops killing people. The cocky bad guy." "Perhaps that is true, but maybe it is because much of those ideas became cliché in hindsight?""Maybe..""It does seems to focus on the cops..if there are any other people those are either criminals or dope-heads. When you say that the police station is called Fort Apache because it is like a fort in the wilderness that protects the 'good' citizen, it would be nice if you got an idea of who they are protecting..""I think I would rather see an action movie in which the good guys win and the bad guys lose." Henry said, "Much more uplifting.""But in a way it is uplifting. I mean the end is that the bad cop is arrested. The good cop stays on. There is even a sort of understanding between the commissioner and the main guy. And finally his colleague says he will stick with the good cop when he 'rats' on the bad cop.""Hm.. I still feel depressed. I feel like I am in a sinking ship and the only thing I can do is to bail out the water with a paper cup. You could say: cool.., a paper cup is better than nothing, but I think it is not much better. It does not make you feel very happy.""Is that the purpose of a movie? Make you feel happy?""You don't mean to say it should make you feel unhappy?!""uhm.. I mean it can be meant to make you think or give you insight into the life of someone else. A glimpse of their life.""A dim glimpse."Kristl nodded."I go for a beer." Henry said.www.meritcoba.com

I think of this movie as something of a portrait. It paints a picture of life in the 41st Precinct of the NYPD, in the centre of a run down 40 block neighbourhood in the South Bronx, full of drug addicts and prostitutes and pimps and various and sundry other undesirable elements, mixed together with poverty and racial prejudice. In that sense it paints a pretty good picture, although I have to concede that I've never been in the South Bronx, and certainly not in 1981, when this movie was made, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the portrait, but the movie has a gritty, hard edged realistic feel to it that certainly pulls the viewer in. Saying that this is a portrait, however, points also to the inherent weakness of the movie: it lacks a consistent narrative structure; there really isn't any particular "story" being told. To the extent that there's a plot holding this together it revolves around the killing of two rookie cops, and the desire of the police to track down the killer. That lacks suspense for the viewer, though, because we know from the beginning who the murderer is. It's not a secret. There are other "stories" - but again they have a "portrait" feel to them. There are stories of corrupt cops, the story of Murphy's girlfriend, the killing of the kid who got thrown off the top of the building, the story of Captain Connolly trying to establish some order as the 41st's new commander. The movie sometimes seemed jumpy; it lacked flow.What it did have were good performances from Paul Newman as Murphy and Edward Asner as Connolly, and memorable performances as well from Rachel Ticotin as Murphy's girlfriend Isabella, and Pam Grier as the cop killing prostitute. I remember seeing this movie many years ago when it first was released, and enjoying it very much, and then only recently coming across it again quite by accident (even though I had looked for it from time to time) in a bargain DVD bin at Wal-Mart! It must have done something right to hold my interest for so long, and the strong performances and realistic feel really more than make up for the lack of a consistent storyline. 7/10

Some movies can rely on atmosphere and acting skills alone. This is one of them. The plot is flimsy, and the setting and most characterizations a bit unlikely (but extremely well acted), and the film might recycle many cop-series clichés, but why carp? I expected little more than a gritty urban cop-flick, which it is, but it also proves to be very successful as a heart-felt human drama, thanks in large part to a prime cast with Paul Newman, Edward Asner, Ken Wahl, Rachel Ticotin, Danny Aiello and Pam Grier in a small but extremely creepy part as a deranged homicidal hooker. Paul Newman is excellent as a tough tired Officer Murphy and his partner, Ken Wahl, at least 30 years his junior, is one of the very few characters in the film blessed with an almost unbendable optimism, but he is in no way naive. He has a strong sense of realism and pride and, in many ways, represents Newman's moral conscience and ratio.The world here is without glamour. It's all very raw and real - not necessarily a realistic setting, but with believable characters - and that makes the whole thing work. It's not formulaic, and never seems to go where you expect it. The film has a downbeat neon-lit dark photography by John Alcott. Depressing, but perfectly matching the mood. It's simple, straightforward, unpretentious, and s basically a portrait of human tragedy. Don't expect flashy car chases or fast action. There's plenty of violence, but it seems to be a way of life, rather than serve as sensationalism, but proves to be a all the more effective. Worth seeing.Camera Obscura --- 9/10