A Policeman's Lot

By J.C.

THE NEW CENTURIONS

Directed by RICHARD FLEISCHER Screenplay by STIRLING SILLIPHANT

Dawn breaks over Los Angeles. A reluctantly retired cop called Kilvinsky, who is quietly going crazy now that he is off the force, phones his friend Roy, a still-active patrolman. Kilvinsky (George C. Scott) launches into a rambling, nearly pointless anecdote about a batty old lady who kept seeing a man hovering around her front-porch swing. Friend Roy (Stacy Keach), mostly asleep, listens with polite tolerance. Kilvinsky hangs up, pulls the hammer on his Police Special and blows the back of his head off.

Director Fleischer and Scenarist Silliphant are clearly interested in pulling off a neat surprise. What they sacrifice for the sake of a dramatic punch is any adequate depth or understanding of the loneliness, aimlessness and deadend desperation that might drive such a man as Kilvinsky, portrayed as a good cop and a decent human being. Like The New Centurions itself, the scene is efficient, proficient, even exciting, but so glib it finally becomes false.

Before he pulls the trigger, Kilvinsky tells Roy that he believes policemen are "the new centurions, holding the line against the barbarians." The film is in no way at odds with such an elaborate, self-righteous view of the constabulary. None of these centurions are on the take, none corrupted or vicious or even cynical. To be sure, Roy's wife leaves him and he hits the bottle for a while, but he, like the other cops, is portrayed as a lonely battler against iniquity, mostly unloved and generally misunderstood.

The movie has several excellent scenes, most prominently an attempted bank robbery staged with deadly precision, and fine performances by Scott and Keach, much more effective here than in Fat City. Smaller roles have been cast with a fine eye for character detail. Clifton James as a gruff old police pro, Stefan Gierasch as an indignant slum landlord, and the ravishing Rosalind Cash as Keach's black girl friend are especially memorable. Jane Alexander portrays Keach's wife, however, as if she were a prune intended for medicinal use only, and Scott Wilson's rookie cop is totally consumed by actor's hysteria. qedJ.C.

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