Beyond the Law (1968 American film)

Last updated
Beyond the Law
Directed by Norman Mailer
Written byNorman Mailer
Produced byBuzz Farbar
Norman Mailer
StarringNorman Mailer
Rip Torn
Mickey Knox
George Plimpton
Lee Roscoe
Beverly Bentley
Cinematography D.A. Pennebaker
Nicholas T. Proferes
Jan Welt
Edited byLana Jokel
Norman Mailer
Jan Welt
Music byFrank Conroy
Distributed byEvergreen
Supreme Mix Inc.
Release date
  • April 2, 1968 (1968-04-02)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Beyond the Law is a 1968 independent film written by and starring Norman Mailer.

Contents

Plot

Critic Bryo succinctly summarizes the plot: "Film shows a night at a Manhattan police station and then details how three of the detectives spend the remaining evening hours following completion of their shifts". [1]

The film begins with two detectives, Rocco and Mickey, meeting two young women, Judy Grundy and Marcia Stillwell at a restaurant for a date. The detectives begin to tell Judy and Marcia about their work.

They begin by describing a police lineup, and the scene cuts to the police station where several officers are shown generally mistreating their suspects. Through the lineup, the audience meets several of the suspects. The suspects are two Hispanic men named Mario Rodriguez and José Dulce, respectively, a black man in vertical stripes, Jack Scott, an unnamed man, and a kid. The next suspect is a man shown only briefly who claims to have killed his wife. He's followed by another black man named John Francis. After the lineup, the police question each suspect individually, ignoring requests to see one's lawyer and threatening most suspects. They go as far as to lay their hands many of the men being questioned.

Rocco and Mickey are shown again briefly with the women in the restaurant before we see them questioning three members of a sexual whipping party. Lieutenant Francis X. Pope is questioning one of the three, a young woman who flirts with him. Lt. Pope then questions the man who claims to have killed his wife. Afterward, Lt. Pope questions two Irish gang members who prompt him to talk about the "criminality" of mixing God and assholes.

Soon after, the Mayor of New York City comes to examine the police precinct. His inspection upsets Pope, especially when the mayor questions a few suspects who claim to have been mistreated. Lt. Pope lies and charms his way through the Mayor's questions, and the Mayor is called away on other business before he can chastise the precinct in any considerable way. Once the inspection is over, the Lieutenant and detectives leave the building to enjoy their evenings.

Lt. Pope's wife tells him that she's cheated on him with a man named "Rocky", prompting Lt. Pope to invite the "whipping party" suspect out to where Rocco and Mickey are meeting with their dates. The appearance of Lt. Pope as drunk and with a sexual criminal upsets the detectives and their dates who all leave eventually at Pope's request. Pope then spends his evening drunkenly flirting with his suspect before his wife comes and tells the woman to leave. The film ends with Lt. Pope reconciling with his wife and reflecting upon the night with his two detectives, Rocco and Mickey.

Production

Coproduced with Buzz Farbar and financed entirely by Mailer, Beyond the Law was shot over four nights with three film crews and sound professionals. [2] While Mailer is credited as writer and director, the film had next-to-no script and the actors were given little direction other than to "wing it" in-character [3] and explore some ideas that echo his literary concerns, like the psychopathic hipster, the home-grown totalitarian, complex give-and-take of lovers, [4] and the existential relationship between the cop and the criminal. [5]

In Manso's biography of Mailer, actor Tom Quinn recounts meeting Mailer and other Irish actors at Pier 52 one night for a late dinner. Mailer states, "We're making a movie tonight. It's called Beyond the Law, and you're the cops. So eat and drink all you want 'cause that's all you're gettin' paid." Mailer instructed the group that they pair off to talk about how they would approach their roles; Quinn continues: "So I got together with [Joe] Shaw. I'm a moralistic cop and he's a rape suspect, black and mean and evil. I addressed the lineup, making this little speech: 'You gotta go in there, do this, and think about what you've done!' . . . The whole night was weird". [6] D.A. Pennebaker adds "There were too many people in it, too many things happening, with everybody doing their little Christmas gig, and Norman lost control. It was funny, though". [7]

Release

Beyond the Law premiered at the University of Notre Dame on April 2, 1968, to a crowd of 3,500. [8] Mailer states that to meet this premiere, the final edits were rushed and that "we could have a film which was ready either artistically, or technologically, but could not have a picture which was ready both ways". They opted for "a film which was artistically as good as we could make it" but technically lacking. [9] In September, the film was shown at the New York Film Festival, then opened October 23 at the Art Theater. [10]

Blue version

Beyond the Law—Blue extends the public release by following the extramarital activities of Mailer's character Lieutenant Francis Xavier Pope that lead, explains Chaiken in his foreword to The Cinema of Norman Mailer, into sadism and murder. [11] This X-rated version had a limited circulation with New Line, [12] and follows Pope as he takes Lee Ray, a prostitute and dominatrix, back to her apartment where she lights candles and invokes the Powers of Darkness — her character seeming more sinister than earlier in the film. [13] They smoke pot and have sex before Xavier murders her. [14] Bozung explains that Mailer took the film out of circulation because he was displeased with his appearance and, perhaps, he was guilty about his exploitation of Lee Roscoe. The only known copy of the blue version is housed at the Harvard Film Archives in Boston. [12]

Reception

While not a commercial success – Mailer lost eighty thousand dollars on the film – Beyond the Law was generally well received. [10] Vincent Canby, reviewer for The New York Times writes that Beyond the Law "is so good and tough and entertaining so much of the time that you simply have to forgive those moments when the actors suddenly smirk self-consciously . . . and when it becomes unintelligible, as old Word Head himself does occasionally". [5] Writing for Variety , reviewer Byro states the film is "one of the most realistic and frightening studies of the policeman and his world which has ever been made"; that the "verisimilitude of dialog, acting and behavior is astonishing". [1] Of Mailer's performance, he says: "Mailer . . . provides a complex portrait of a man which has all the depth and complexity of a character in one of the author's novels". [1] Bill Siska, writing for The Observer notes: "The use of 'cinema verite' gives to the events a spontaneity and a credibility they would otherwise lack . . . [but] Mailer's film is less cinema than it could be, than perhaps its maker would wish it to be." [15] Richard Combs writes in the Monthly Film Bulletin: "But it is a measure of the flexibility and assurance with which Mailer handles the format generally that his insistent philosophical motifs jostle quite happily with more random, improvisational effects". [16] The LA Times' Kevin Thomas sees Mailer's film as not really living up to the potential of "America's Number 1 writer": "As a kind of improvised put-on, "Beyond the Law" does have its moments of black irony and humor. Also, Mailer does get pretty good performances from his friends as well as himself. . . . [but] We never really get Beyond the Law". [17]

Analysis

Byro suggests the main theme of Beyond the Law: that there's little difference between a "successful gendarme and a successful criminal". [1]

Comparing Beyond the Law to Wild 90, Maggie McKinley says that "it too is unscripted and, constructed as a series of interviews between cops and criminals during a night in a police station, also makes reference to the ideas of performance and being watched". [18] McKinley also believes that in Beyond the Law, Mailer is "more restrained" than in Wild 90. She goes on to compare it to An American Dream and Tough Guys Don't Dance, saying that Mailer's belief that "the cop and the criminal [are] closely related" is "emphasize[d]" in all three works. [18] McKinley states that Beyond the Law makes the audience "examin[e] the nature of guilt, innocence, and corruption". She continues: "In certain cases viewers are led to believe in the innocence of the accused, while in others we are asked to question it". [19] Stylistically, McKinley notices that Mailer often zooms in on the actor's faces in order to let the audience have "gleamed some insight into each of these characters" while quickly switching between characters and narratives. [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>Detective Story</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by William Wyler

Detective Story is a 1951 American crime drama directed by William Wyler and starring Kirk Douglas that tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. The ensemble supporting cast features Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell, and George Macready. Both Lee Grant and Joseph Wiseman play large roles in their film debuts. The film was adapted by Robert Wyler and Philip Yordan from the 1949 play of the same name by Sidney Kingsley. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Director for Wyler, Best Actress for Parker, and Best Supporting Actress for Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Mailer</span> American writer (1923–2007)

Nachem Malech Mailer, known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, and filmmaker. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least one in each of the seven decades after World War II.

<i>Farewell, My Lovely</i> 1940 novel by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and radio.

The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as private investigators.

<i>Exiled: A Law & Order Movie</i> American TV movie

Exiled: A Law & Order Movie is a 1998 (two-hour-format) television film based on the Law & Order police procedural and legal drama television series; it originally aired on NBC. Written by Charles Kipps, the film revolves around Noth's character, Detective Mike Logan. Kipps received a 1999 Edgar Award for his screenplay.

George Mallaby was an English-born actor and screenwriter, best known for his roles in television in Australia and in his latter career in his native England.

<i>Maidstone</i> (film) 1970 film by Norman Mailer

Maidstone is a 1970 American independent film drama written, produced and directed by Norman Mailer. It stars Mailer, Rip Torn and Ultra Violet. The film concerns famous film director Norman Kingsley, who runs for president while a group of friends, relatives, employees and lobbyists gather to discuss possible assassination plots against him. While producing his latest film about a brothel, Kingsley's brother Raoul continues to cling to him for his money.

<i>Tony Rome</i> 1967 film by Gordon Douglas

Tony Rome is a 1967 American neo-noir mystery crime thriller film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra in the title role, alongside Jill St. John, Sue Lyon and Gena Rowlands. It was adapted from Marvin H. Albert's novel Miami Mayhem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Petrosino</span> American police officer

Joseph Petrosino was an Italian-born New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. Crime fighting techniques that Petrosino pioneered are still practiced by law enforcement agencies.

<i>The White Negro</i> 1957 essay by Norman Mailer

The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster is a 9,000-word essay by Norman Mailer that connects the "psychic havoc" wrought by the Holocaust and atomic bomb to the aftermath of slavery in America in the figuration of the Hipster, or the "white negro". The essay is a call to abandon Eisenhower liberalism and a numbing culture of conformity and psychoanalysis in favor of the rebelliousness, personal violence and emancipating sexuality that Mailer associates with marginalized black culture. The White Negro was first published in the 1957 special issue of Dissent, before being published separately by City Lights. Mailer's essay was controversial upon its release and received a mixed reception, winning praise, for example, from Eldridge Cleaver and criticism from James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Allen Ginsberg. Baldwin, in particular, heavily criticized the work, asserting that it perpetuated the notorious "myth of the sexuality of Negros" and stating that it was beneath Mailer's talents. The work remains his most famous and most reprinted essay and it established Mailer's reputation as a "philosopher of hip".

<i>Fort Apache, The Bronx</i> 1981 film by Daniel Petrie

Fort Apache, The Bronx is a 1981 American crime drama film directed by Daniel Petrie. The film is about a hard-drinking, lonely veteran cop, Murphy, and his young partner Corelli, who work in a crime-ridden precinct in the Bronx. Although Murphy's life takes a good turn when he falls in love with Isabella, a young nurse, the arrival of a new, law-and-order-minded police captain commanding the precinct, Connoly threatens to tip the neighborhood's delicate balance into anarchy. Danny Aiello, Kathleen Beller, and Pam Grier play supporting roles. It was written by Heywood Gould and produced by Martin Richards and Thomas Fiorello, with David Susskind as executive producer.

Joe Lisi, also credited as Joe Lissi, is an American television actor. He appeared in the NBC television show Third Watch as NYPD Lieutenant Swersky from 2000 to 2005. He also appeared on the NBC television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Craig Lennon, a parole officer and briefly appeared in the 1995 comedy/crime film The Jerky Boys: The Movie as a construction worker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Michael Lennon</span> American academic and biographer

J. Michael Lennon is an American academic and writer who is the Emeritus Professor of English at Wilkes University and the late Norman Mailer’s archivist and authorized biographer. He published Mailer's official biography Norman Mailer: A Double Life in 2013. He edited Mailer's selected letters in 2014 and the Library of America's two-volume set Norman Mailer: The Sixties in 2018.

<i>Why Are We in Vietnam?</i> 1967 novel by Norman Mailer

Why Are We In Vietnam? (WWVN) is a 1967 novel by the American author Norman Mailer. It focuses on a hunting trip to the Brooks Range in Alaska where a young man is brought by his father, a wealthy businessman who works for a company that makes cigarette filters and is obsessed with killing a grizzly bear. As the novel progresses, the protagonist is increasingly disillusioned that his father resorts to hunting tactics that seem dishonest and weak, including the use of a helicopter and taking credit for killing a bear. At the end of the novel, the protagonist tells the reader that he is soon going to serve in the Vietnam War as a soldier.

<i>Wild 90</i> 1968 film by Norman Mailer

Wild 90 is a 1968 experimental film directed and produced by American novelist Norman Mailer, who also plays the starring role. The film is a creative collaboration based on three friends, Norman Mailer, Buzz Farbar and Mickey Knox, who are seen drinking, braying, and fighting in a run-down apartment in lower Manhattan. Pretending to be gangsters, the trio plays with props such as pistols and machine guns. Mailer's first effort into filmmaking, the film was shot on a 16-millimeter camera and recorded on magnetic sound tape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superman Comes to the Supermarket</span> Essay by Norman Mailer

"Superman Comes to the Supermarket" is an essay by the American novelist and journalist Norman Mailer about the 1960 Democratic convention. Originally published in Esquire as "Superman Comes to the Supermart," this essay was Mailer's initial foray into political journalism. It characterizes John F. Kennedy as a potential "existential hero" who could revitalize the US after eight years under Dwight D. Eisenhower to rediscover its lost imagination. "Superman" further develops and emphasizes Mailer's concern with the importance of the individual's will and creativity that must challenge conformity and obedience in American life to fully realize a genuine life. With "Superman", Mailer extends New Journalism by taking an active role in the narrative, which would characterize much of his subsequent journalistic style and lead to his Pulitzer Prize for The Armies of the Night in 1968.

Justin Bozung is an American biographer, author, and editor of several cinema books and articles.

The Norman Mailer Society is a non-profit literary society dedicated to American author Norman Mailer. The Society promotes the legacy of its eponym by holding an annual meeting of scholars and enthusiasts, publishing The Mailer Review, Project Mailer, and The NMS Podcast, awarding the Robert F. Lucid Award for the year's best scholarship, and encouraging continued interest in his work through all forms of media.

<i>The Take</i> (1974 film) 1974 British film

The Take is a 1974 British-American action neo noir crime drama film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Billy Dee Williams, Eddie Albert, Frankie Avalon, Sorrell Booke, Tracy Reed, and Albert Salmi. It is based on the 1970 novel Sir, You Bastard by G. F. Newman. The film was released by Columbia Pictures in May 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Mailer bibliography</span>

This Norman Mailer bibliography lists major books by and about Mailer, an American novelist, new journalist, essayist, public intellectual, filmmaker, and biographer. Over a fifty-nine-year period, Mailer won two Pulitzer Prizes and had eleven books spend a total of 160 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Mailer's output included fiction, non-fiction, poems and essays. Biographer J. Michael Lennon called Mailer the chronicler of the American Century, and a talent whose career has "been at once so brilliant, varied, controversial, improvisational, public, productive, lengthy and misunderstood".

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Byro 1968, p. 24.
  2. ↑ Lennon 2013, pp. 379–380.
  3. ↑ Lennon 2013, p. 379.
  4. ↑ Jurkiewicz 2017, p. 79.
  5. 1 2 Canby 1968, p. 60.
  6. ↑ Manso 2008, pp. 445–446.
  7. ↑ Manso 2008, p. 446.
  8. ↑ Lennon 2013, p. 398.
  9. ↑ Mailer 1968.
  10. 1 2 Dearborn 1999, p. 234.
  11. ↑ Chaiken 2017, p. xiv.
  12. 1 2 Bozung 2017, p. 18.
  13. ↑ Jurkiewicz 2017, p. 96.
  14. ↑ Bozung 2017, p. 17.
  15. ↑ Siska 1968, p. 6.
  16. ↑ Combs 1975, p. 195.
  17. ↑ Thomas 1969, p. A8.
  18. 1 2 McKinley 2017, p. 60.
  19. 1 2 McKinley 2017, p. 61.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.