***SPOILERS*** We the audience right away see that Pôrto Rican drug pusher Tony Vasquez's death was anything but justifiable in him getting his brains blown out by "hero cop" detective Let. Michael Brennan, Nick Nolte, at the very start of the film. It's now up to Brennan's good friend and head of the NYPD homicide department Kevin Quinn, Patrick O'Neal, to cover up Vasquez's murder and make it look like self defense on Det. Brennan's part.In order to whitewash the investigation in Vasquez's death Quinn gets Assistant District Atterony Aloysius-or Al for short-Francis Reilly, Thimothy Hutton, to take the case to the grand jury and do everything he can to get it squashed. Reilly being the good soldier, or former cop, that he is at first does everything to make sure that Bremnnan gets off. That's until a star witness in the Vasquez case his friend and former street gang buddy Roberto "Bobby Tex" Texador, Armand Assante, shows up at a pre-grand jury hearing together with his newlywed wife, whom he lived together with for some five years, the former Nancy Bosch, Lenny Lumet. It so happens that Mrs. Nancy Texador was Reilly's fiancée who dropped him like a hot potato when he flipped out when he was introduced to her father who just happened to be black! Reilly who was all business in handling the Vasquez murder case suddenly lost his cool and professionalism which soon lead to him having doubts to if "hero cop" Michael Brennan was as innocent of Vasquez's murder as his boss homicide chief Kevin Quinn said he was!Big city police and political corruption at its worst is depicted in the movie "Q & A" in grand style with almost everybody in it, police criminals and members of the city's Criminal Justic Department, ending up dirty in one way or another. Let. Brennan who likes to do things his way in creaking heads and breaking arms & legs, with a little murdering on the side, is up to his neck in what Bobby Tex and his gang of drug pushers are up to. It was in fact Tex who got the goods on not only Let. Brennan but a very high up member in the NYPD in their involvement in a murder some 25 years ago while they were, as teenagers, working for Tex's street gang as hit men in Spanish Harlem. It's now up to Let. Brennan, on orders from higher ups, to eliminate in every way possible the remanding members of Bobby Tex's street gang, together with Tex himself, in order to keep them from bringing out his and others in the NYPD participation in that 25 year old unsolved murder case! With one of the Tex gang members being the now gunned down Tony Vasquez!***SPOILERS*** Reilly soon finds out just how dirty Let. Beannan is and that leads to his life and career in the D.A's office being put on the chopping block! Brennan for his part does everything to discourage Reilly from continuing his investigation of Vasquez's murder short of murdering Reilly himself. The movie get somewhat ridicules when Brennan goes out of his way in murdering a number of witnesses who can put him behind bars including a couple of transvestites who's only crime seems to be that they know of the macho cop Brennan's secret life as a closet gay! Which Let. Brennan wants to keep secret from his friends in the NYPD who just think, in his macho and manly mystique, the world of him!With the now totally out of control Brennan on the loose, in both NYC and San Juan Pôrto Rico, murdering everyone he feels can finger him in his criminal, which includes the murder of Tony Vasquez, activities even those who were determined to get him off the hook now see that he has to be stopped and stopped for good unless, like he himself threatened, he exposes their skeletons, or dead bodies, in their closet as well! Brennan is finally tracked down in of all places his own New York City police precinct the two three, or 23rd, where he's finally gunned down by rookie cop Alfonso Segal, Gustavo Brens, when his good friend and former partner, who ended up getting shot by Brennan, Det. Sam Chappie Chapman, Charles S, Dutton, couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on him!In the end a wiser and older as well as busted up Assistant District Attorney Al Reilly finally saw the light in that corruption in the NYPD, going back to as far as 1791, is here to stay and there's nothing that he or anybody else can do to stop it. Taking a long vacation from his job we last see Al Reilly sunning himself on an island in the far off Caribbean with his former, and back again, lover Nancy Bosch at his side.

The one thing Q & A has going for it the entire time is in the form of its atmosphere; it's utterly, utterly effective atmosphere that is very much present due to one thing: we know exactly what the character of Brennan (Nolte) has done but Reilly (Hutton), who is supposed to find out exactly what the situation is, doesn't. This is an interesting idea and a bit of a spin to put on the pretty bog-standard situation of your standard, 1980s to early 1990s internal affairs cop thriller. What works is that we, the audience, have a position of power that the characters in the film do not; thus the hero (Reilly) has to work things out but we don't, however we will be with him all the way to see if he is able to crack it. Alternatively, what the audience do know is exactly what Brennan knows which perhaps lures the audience into false identification.I think director Lumet, who is certainly well accomplished; most definitely by the time this was made, wanted to make a bit of a noir out of this idea. He shoots the film in such a way that has the hero go on his own personal quest of discovery, even if that discovery is one he might not even want to discover given the truth behind it; Lumet also injects several different types of characters into the story: the hard bodied cop in Brennan who is harder than the hero himself (an interesting spin on things); a South American drug baron and his bodyguards; an old flame who is somehow connected to the baron; a homosexual singer/performer and some allies to the upstanding hero, two of whom are 'Chappie' Chapman (Dutton) and Luis Valentin (Guzmán). Q & A works as a noir-come-internal affairs crime story because it combines things we're familiar with but injects them with, arguably, an auteur's own personal approach. Reilly as a hero seems venerable but smart given his history with the female character now connected with the drug baron and the script consistently pumps out quality one-liners, the majority of which are spouted by Brennan.Adding to the noir pointers, it rains a lot in the film but it's significant as to when it rains. Reilly's reunification in the car with his old flame happens after the baron has threatened him to stay away from her thus creating tension; he has done something he shouldn't have after someone of a superior rank has told him not to. But the meeting in the car, although very well placed given the inclusion of the rain, allows us to see deeper into the past of said couple's relationship. It turns out the flame mistook (or perhaps she didn't) a look Reilly gave her father upon seeing he was black, something that obviously points to bigotry. But then again, the film is racist without ever really demeaning any race, religion or ethnic group. Certainly, the level of racism in the dialogue is rather high but when one of Reilly's friend's is in the bar telling him how much of a 'great man' the chief of homicide is, the element of hate is built up through the script and our opinions of a character alternate without him even being on screen. It's also worth saying that when you have a film which contains a character both black and homosexual, one of which is also physically weak the majority of people will have a field day going up in arms over it; but I felt the film steered away from any sort of stereotyping and thus does its best to create a realistic character without any aim to offend. It's worth saying here that director Lumet directed 12 Angry Men, a film that was all about fighting for what's right whether black, Spanish-American or whatever.So Q & A is a courtroom drama set outside the court; a noir that it in colour and made in the 1990s; your not so average, everyday cop thriller from the 1980s-90s and your entertaining, compelling detective novel stretched across 130 minutes complete with colourful characters, hate, love, regret and humorous one-liners and insults. Brennon is perhaps the star but given the audience know exactly what he knows throughout several of the scenes, it's almost as if he's the star. Yes, he's mean and spiteful; yes, he intimidates and goes below the belt but if anything, I read people saying: 'watch it for Nolte'. Good call, he's almost the hero given what we know and Reilly doesn't but that's the apparent genius of Q & A: you have your detective cordon, your love cordon and your hard bodied bully cordon. I could recommend Q & A for a number of things, including a re-watch just to clarify a few things but do not let a complicated plot at all put you off seeing it.

This movie came out in 1990 and when it was being made in 1989 a hurricane hit the island of Puerto Rico (Hugo).We were recovering and you can see it in one scene where Hutton, Guzmán,and the guy that kills Nolte are entering the Caribe Hilton. They are passing through the lobby being tailed by Nolte and you can see a tree being held by pieces of wood. They saved a very old tree from garden of the lobby. To anyone that questions movies about being fake and unbelievable let me tell you every scene that is shot in Puerto Rico is accurate even to the locations where the characters move and live. The Caribe Hilton is ten minutes from the Cangrejos Yacht Club where Roger the Dodger, Bobby Tex and one of the cuban hit men are blown up. I got to say I learned a lot when I saw this movie. Imagine a movie about a Chinese guy, a Brazilian and an American. And the American is played by a British, south African or an irish actor. You feel a little weird and question Why not hire an American actor to play an American right? Well all that went out the window when I saw Assante play the Puertorican drug lord. I couldn't believe my eyes or my ears. Assante IS one of us in that role. Everything was authentic in that performance. Also Luis Guzman surprised me in this film with his bravura acting confronting Assante in the interrogation scene. I met him in 1993 at the premiere of the movie Carlitos Way which is another movie based on the novels by the Puertorrican Judge and author Edwin Torres. It was a film festival and Guzman and Torres talked a little bit in a podium. Later I spoke with the judge and he was great. I talked to him about Q&A and how I enjoyed his work. Finally I went to Guzman and he behaved like a little ass. Maybe he was in a bad mood or something. I shook his hand and he never spoke and kept looking at the horizon or something behind you. Maybe he thought I was gonna scream and jump on his back yelling "Hollywood". I don't know I still like him and there are few of us out there working with the best to be fighting each other. Back in 1990 i believed there were gonna be a least two nominations in this movie, one for Assante and one for Nolte. Nolte continues to do great things but I get mad when I see Assante working in crap. It is such a shame that nobody uses him for something good. Tarantino should call him. And yes that song is by Ruben Blades and I cant get it out of my head. "Dont double cross the ones you love" HAHAHA. It is so cheesy and yet I cant help it but sing it every time I see the film.

Whats not to like about this movie? Well, the violent and the dark, at times manic context which prevails in a good share of the scenes, together with the perversity thats being thrown at you in the most unsubtle way. Nick Nolte's Brennan must be the most foul,intimidating and maniacal cop figure ever portrayed since Orson Welles' Captain Quinlan in "Touch of evil". He pulls off a great performance, although not very pleasant to watch (nor listen, for that matter).Whats there to like about this movie? For one thing, there is Armand Assante and what most likely is the role of his career, even if its a supporting one and he gets only a couple scene stealers. He demonstrates how great he can be if given the right part. And his role is very interesting, an archcriminal with feelings, brought out by a woman who may not even love him.Jenny Lumet was also good in her role, although I missed more interaction between her and Assante's character. Timothy Hutton, although overshadowed by Nolte and Assante in turns (inevitable really), proves again that he is a solid actor.His performance is not spectacular(as the role doesn't allow it), but its worthwhile. Another great presence by Patrick O'Neal as the sly and cunning district attorney with a criminal past and ties to Bobby Texador(Assante).Sidney Lumet is the master of socio-political drama/comedy/thriller. Here he mixes all three into an enjoyable, intriguing and satisfactory work. This film deserves more attention than I believe it got. But again, looking at its "walk on the wild side" perspective, it really couldn't have become a blockbuster hit an average person chooses to watch on video or DVD on a Saturday night.