Cheap Internal Affairs (DVD) (Richard Gere, Andy Garcia) (Mike Figgis) Price

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Customer Reviews of Internal Affairs

Terrific Film, Great Story and Action
What makes thsi movie so good is the mind war going on between Andy Garcia and Richard Gere's characters. Garcia is tryign to unravel the labyrinthe of villainy and insanity that Gere has created as a corrupt cop. Gere is actually at first tickled that he's under investigation (thru his young partner Billy Baldwin) because he controls so much of his life. Multiple women/wives all living together, lots of kids, drug money, police power. But when Garcia of Internal Affairs starts getting too close Gere actually sets up a seduction of his wife that looks like one thing, is another thing and leads up to a very erotic, emotional scene between Garcia and his wife. Laurie metlcalf also plays a lesbian cop who Garcia briefly butts heads with as they team up. The nice thing about this movie is how everyone makes sense as a character and no one is entirely comfortable with the other characters. Loyalty is shown as a natural growth and betrayal a likely outcome. Very mature, strong film from gere, who makes an effort it seems to choose characters that have an internalworld going on that the watcher has to fathom about as he slowly lets possibilities, concepts slip out of what the motivations may be. Garcia is fantastic too. An incredible actor himself who chooses movies that allow his sublte, slightly repressed intensity to boil to the surface. Garcia, I hate comparisons, is very much like Al Pacino of the 70's.

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One Bad Cop
Why is it that some of our best actors give their best performances when they are playing bad guys? Maybe it's the change of pace; one probably gets tired of being the hero in film after film; but they clearly seem to revel in the opportunity of playing a straight-up jerk once in a while. In "Internal Affairs", we have Richard Gere coming down off his movie idol pedestal and giving a devastating performance as Dennis Peck, a cop who gives corruption a whole new definition. This guy makes Satan look like a boy scout. He carries on a brazen affair with his partner's wife; arranges to have his partner whacked when the police department's internal affairs bureau begins investigating his partner's extracurricular activities a little too closely and his partner is about to implicate him in the mess; agrees to execute a wealthy businessman's elderly parents who are taking too long to die so that he can come into his inheritance (meanwhile seducing the businessman's wife as part of his fee for service); and tries to seduce the wife of Raymond Avila, the internal affairs cop played by Andy Garcia, when Avila starts to suspect that Peck isn't the poster-boy cop his precinct command has made him out to be. The movie tries to show us what Peck thinks is his softer side; he's a devoted father to his offspring, but we can see that to Peck his children are nothing but trophies; he's still in his thirties but he already has 8 by three former wives and his fourth wife is expecting his ninth. Peck's children are extensions of himself; his wives are baby-making machines, and his partners and co-workers are pawns to be used for his own nefarious purposes. When Avila realizes that Peck has tried to destroy him as a cop and as a man by attempting to seduce his wife, the battle lines are drawn; Avila, of course, will be Peck's nemesis, but it's fascinating to watch each of them try to bring the other down. There are excellent performances by the supporting cast, particularly Nancy Travis as Avila's wife; Laurie Metcalf as Amy Wallace, Avila's partner who proves she's a tough a cop as any man, and William Baldwin as Van Stretch, Peck's hapless and ultimately gutless partner, brave enough to beat up on his wife but not strong enough to stand up to Peck and the venality he represents. Peck is one of the more intriguing anti-heroes on film; just when we think he's hit rock bottom, he takes a shovel and starts to dig himself in even deeper; he sees Avila's decency as a weakness he can manipulate just as he has played and destroyed everyone who crosses him. Some people, especially those who don't like to see law enforcement portrayed in a negative light, are going to be offended by this movie, but the film doesn't tar all policemen with the same brush; it's a fascinating and disturbing voyage into the mind of one very bad cop.

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Going Toe To Toe
Fresh off his supporting roles in Black Rain and The Untouchables, actor Andy Garcia teamed with Richard Gere, in a thriller for director Mike Figgis. The end result is a solid film, that is able to rise above its cliches, thanks to its cast.

Raymond Avila (Garcia) works for the internal affairs division of the LAPD and has been assigned to investigate Dennis Peck (Gere), a corrupt officer. The two men circle each other, like hunter and prey, certain that each will take the other down. It's discovered that the stakes get more personal when Peck uses Avila's wife Kathleen (Nancy Travis), and his partner Amy (Laurie Metcalf), as a way to get him off the trail.

Figgis plays the movie like a boxing match as the two leads go head to head. Gere plays it Peck like a total scumbag. He's a smooth operator--who happens to have a God complex. He is so sure of himself that he's bold enough to have 4 wives and eight kids. But as horrible as the character is, he plays it so well that, despite that, he's also quite magnetic. Also, by now, Garcia has come into his own as an actor and is able to hold his own. Some of the script suffers a bit from a stale smell. Thankfully, Gere and Garcia keep your attention throughout the movie, to soften those issues.

The DVD may not have any extras, but it is overflowing with enough of everthing else--all in all--for me to recommend this film.