This tepid expose of police corruption has many elements counting against it, but foremost is the tedious performance given by its star, Brian Wimmer. Wimmer's lack of charisma initiates an artistic domino effect that makes all other aspects of this crime thriller collapse.
After a failed drug bust in which his partner is killed and he survives because a bullet is deflected off his badge--guilt-ridden rookie Dan Samson (Brian Wimmer) requires the ministrations of psychologist Dr. Doris Rice (Olympia Dukakis).
Mistrusted by veterans at his new office assignment as a stoolie for Internal Affairs, Dan is cold-shouldered by Capt. Hunt (Yaphet Kotto) and Detective Yurkies (Raymond O'Keefe). Befriended by soon-to-retire Sgt. Miller (M. Emmet Walsh), Dan ignores his friendly warnings to stop snooping into the
case history of the deceased cop Manny Torres, whose badge Dan inherited. Quizzing Torres' widow Billie (Marta Dubois) for info about Manny's death by an alleged drug overdose, obsessive Dan falls for her and becomes determined to clear Manny's name.
While nosing around this closed case, Dan takes on some of Manny's personal attributes and uncovers a conspiracy among Yurkies (who is subsequently killed), an Internal Affairs investigator named Feld (James B. Sikking), Hoskins, and Dr. Rice. It appears these crooked cops participated in fleecing
drug dealers, thus acquiring millions in cash. Knowledge of their activities cost Manny his life.
At Yurkies' apartment, Dan appropriates a log book and briefcase full of cash. Targeted at a railyard where Hoskins is dragged to his death under train wheels, Dan Samson escapes to confront the crooked cops at Billie's house, where Dr. Rice kills Feld to increase her share. After rescuing Billie,
Dan arrests the duplicitous Dr. Rice instead of dispensing vigilante justice on the spot.
As soon as DEAD BADGE shows the nurturing Dr. Rice admonishing Dan to desist from amateur sleuthing, armchair detectives will recognize that she's the one behind the conspiracy. Underestimating the audience's intelligence, this thriller points accusatory fingers at all those belligerent cops
picking on Dan while counting on Dr. Rice's motherly presence to shield her from our suspicions; the stunt is too transparent to succeed.
Far worse for the film is Wimmer's conception of a traumatized man clawing his way out of the ravine of a breakdown. Whereas his romance with Manny's widow is merely sappy and the crooked-cop dilemma is simply routine, Wimmer's rendition of Samson's angst is something for the bad-movie books.
Ranting and raving in Spanish, Wimmer becomes a super-vigilante driven to root out the drugs infecting his neighborhood and the bad cops sullying his Academy oath. At least this cosmically bad acting distracts us from the bored veterans (like Walsh), just going through the motions as various
disgraces in uniform. Their stone-faced professionalism is as debilitating as Wimmer's wrong-headed thesping.(Graphic violence, extensive nudity, sexual situations, substance abuse, extreme profanity.) leave a comment
