GANG RELATED

US, 1997, 102 minutes, Colour.
James Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, Wendy Crewson, Gary Gole.
Directed by Jim Kouf.

Gang Related is much better than it might sound. It is a film about two corrupt cops who kill drug dealers, take their drugs and money, say that the crimes are not able to be solved because they are gang related. However, when they finally set up another target and kill him, and they are put in charge of the investigation, it emerges that the dealer was actually a DEA officer. They panic, choose a derelict man to pin the crime on and get their stripper girlfriend to testify against this man. Ironically, he turns out to be a wealthy man who has disappeared and has been on the streets for seven years with loss of memory. He is played by Dennis Quaid. James Earl Jones and David Paymer play his lawyers.

The film could be seen as a kind of Lethal Weapon film, only in reverse, with the police the villains. James Belushi and Tupac Shakur are good as the two police. Tupac Shakur was shot in a drive-by murder soon after the completion of this film. He can be seen in such films as Gridlocked but was best known for his rap music. He is the subject of Nick Broomfield’s documentary Biggie and Tupac and of the fiction film, Notorious.

Director Jim Kouf is better known as a screenwriter from the 1980s, creating the characters in the two Stakeout films, writing the screenplay for Rush Hour as well as creating the story and the characters for the National Treasure films.

1.The popularity of police films? Buddy police? Fighting drugs, gangs? How original this film?

2.The New York settings, the grimy streets, the police beats, the police precincts? The streets and the homeless? The uglier side of the city? The musical score?

3.The introduction to Divinci and Rodriguez? Their work as police, their tracking down the drug dealer? Killing him and stealing? Audience surprise? The irony of their panic when they discover the identity of the dead man? Their scheming and planning, getting Cynthia Webb to testify against the man? Calling him Joe Doe? The further panic when they discover who he is? His lawyers taking charge? Their means for covering up? Falling out? The clash between the two, the final crisis? How well delineated was each character? One white, one black? Their backgrounds, ethnic? Their work in the police precinct in New York?

4.Cynthia Webb, stripper background, girlfriend, her agreeing to testify, her testimony, her beginning to feel unease, her giving up on the police?

5.Joe Doe, in the streets, Dennis Quaid as Joe Doe, bearded and unrecognisable? Being framed for the crime? Taken in, prison? The discovery of his true identity? His family? His rehabilitation?

6.Lawyers, Arthur Bailer, Elliot Gough? Their taking on the case? The defence, discovery of the truth? The confrontation with the police?

7.The authentic feel of the thriller, the various police in the precincts and departments, on the streets? The background of the law, the courts?

8.A satisfying crime thriller? With twists?