'' (
1997 ) is an
American dramatic
Film , written and directed by
James Mangold , with an all-star cast, including
Sylvester Stallone ,
Robert De Niro ,
Ray Liotta , and
Harvey Keitel .
The film takes place in fictional Garrison,
New Jersey , a small town across the
Hudson River from
New York near the
George Washington Bridge where a large number of residents are
New York City Police Department officers. Stallone plays the
Hearing-impaired Police Chief of Garrison Freddy Heflin, whose injury keeps him from his goal of joining the NYPD. Despite being sheriff, Freddy is simply a figurehead authority figure and spends most of his days listening to his vinyl records and longing for his high school sweetheart, for whom Freddy sacrificed his hearing to save from drowning, who dumped him for a disfunctional relationship with another cop (played by
Peter Berg ).
De Niro plays an NYPD
Internal Affairs Lieutenant , investigating
Mafia -connected corruption among the officers living in Garrison. His investigation gets a break when one of the cops (played by
Michael Rapaport ) kills two unarmed motorists and is caught trying to plant a weapon on the dead man to justify the shooting. So his fellow corrupt cops (played by Harvey Keitel and Robert Patrick) fake his death to prevent him from giving up evidence to Internal Affairs in exchange in order to get a reduced sentence for murdering the motorist.
Stallone's character is asked to provide Internal Affairs with information on his fellow cops but his reluctance to narc on his friends derails the investigation. When Freddy finds that Rapaport's character is alive (and that his friends now want him dead so as to ensure their scam isn't exposed) Heflin is forced to confront the truth about his childhood friends and must try and bring them to justice. Ultimately, Freddy is faced with the decision of upholding the law or exposing the men he admires for the badge.
''Cop Land'''s themes center on corruption, lost dreams, and personal resolve. Two melancholy songs from
Bruce Springsteen 's ''
The River '' album, along with an effective
Howard Shore score, help set the atmosphere.
The film was written and directed by
James Mangold . Stallone's understated performance against type was praised by critics and he received the Best Actor award for it at the
Stockholm Film Festival .
De Niro and Keitel worked together on two previous films, ''
Mean Streets '' in
1973 and ''
Taxi Driver '' in
1976 . Numerous supporting actors in ''Cop Land'' would later appear in ''
The Sopranos '', including
Annabella Sciorra ,
Edie Falco ,
Frank Vincent ,
Robert Patrick ,
Frank Pellegrino ,
John Ventimiglia , and
Tony Sirico .
Despite it's heavy promotional campaign and critical praise for Stallone's acting, the film was a commercial flop. However, the film found second life on home video and DVD and is considered to be one of Stallone's best perfomances.
