Law and Order (1969 film)

Last updated
Law and Order
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Written byFrederick Wiseman
Produced byFrederick Wiseman
CinematographyWilliam Brayne
Edited byFrederick Wiseman
Production
companies
Distributed by National Educational Television
Release date
  • March 2, 1969 (1969-03-02)(NET)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Law and Order is a 1969 documentary film directed, written, shot, produced and edited by Frederick Wiseman. It was Wiseman's third film after Titicut Follies (1967) and High School (1968). [1] The films were among the earliest examples of direct cinema by an american filmmaker.

Contents

It follows the daily routine of officers of the Kansas City Police Department, and was initially shown on National Educational Television (NET) (predecessor to the PBS in the United States). [2] In 1969, Wiseman was awarded with the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming. [3]

Synopsis

The film follows the members of the Kansas City Police Department, who are largely white, as they engage in daily patrol activities, interacting with members of the public. The scope of their activities is broad, ranging from bringing a lost child to the police station to making arrests. In one scene, a white plainclothes officer puts a black prostitute in a chokehold, doing so with such force that her tongue juts out of her mouth. [4]

Production

To create the film, which was shot in 1968, [1] the filmmakers accompanied police officers in patrol cars as they responded to a variety of calls, ranging from domestic incidents to an armed robbery and a lost child. The film documents racial tensions between the police and local residents, and also records the officers complaining to each other as well as engaging in brutality. [2] Wiseman spent over 400 hours accompanying officers in the patrol cars in making the film. The New York Times said that "his 'method,' as he might very well describe it, is simply to 'hang around.'" [5]

Wiseman began work on the film a few weeks after the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, in which there were violent clashes between Chicago police and demonstrators. He originally intended it "as a chance to do in the pigs." But in a 1970 interview he said that "after about two days of riding around in police cars, I realized my little stereotype was far from the truth, at least in Kansas City. The cops did some horrible things but they also did some nice things." Wiseman said that "we liberals frequently forget that people do terrible violence to each other, against which the police form a minimal and not very successful barrier. I understand now the fear that cops live with. When we got back to the car after the last scene, where one cop disarms three holdup men, his hand was shaking as he lit a cigarette." [3]

Wiseman did not believe that being filmed had an impact on the behavior of the people being filmed, saying that "If it did, the camera would become the great behavior‐change instrument of our time." [3]

The film was broadcast on March 2, 1969, by NET's Public Broadcast Laboratory (PBL). Prior to the telecast, NET president John F. White, overruling PBL executive's decision, ordered that obscenities be cut from the audio track. The order resulted in a split between PBL and NET. Wiseman protested the decision. [6]

Critical reaction

At the time of a 2017 re-rerelease, the New York Times described the film as "harrowing" and as being among the films that show "brutal and blunt" power. In such early Wiseman films, the newspaper said, "the black-and-white images are sometimes matched by a startling Manicheanism." It described the chokehold scene as a "dreadful, terrifying moment and, for this filmmaker, unusual in its viciousness. Generally, violence in Mr. Wiseman's work remains implied and attenuated, and more a matter of ordinary domination." [4]

In a review of Law and Order, Pauline Kael wrote: "Many of us grow to hate documentaries in school, because the use of movies to teach us something seems a cheat – a pill disguised as candy – and documentaries always seem to be about something we're not interested in. But Wiseman's documentaries show what is left out of both fictional movies and standard documentaries that simplify for a purpose, and his films deal with the primary institutions of our lives." [5]

Awards and honors

Law and Order received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney King</span> African American victim of police brutality (1965–2012)

Rodney Glen King was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated on the I-210. An uninvolved resident, George Holliday, saw and filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage, which showed the unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest, to local news station KTLA. The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public uproar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Police Department</span> Primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Police Department</span> Municipal police force of New York City

The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest and one of the oldest, municipal police departments in the United States.

<i>Titicut Follies</i> 1967 American documentary film

Titicut Follies is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from that of a talent show put on by the hospital staff. Titicut is the Wampanoag name for the nearby Taunton River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Wiseman</span> American documentary filmmaker

Frederick Wiseman is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is primarily about exploring American institutions. In 2017, The New York Times called him "one of the most important and original filmmakers working today".

Cops is an American reality legal television documentary programming series that is currently in its 36th season. It is produced by Langley Productions and premiered on the Fox network on March 11, 1989. The series, known for chronicling the lives of law enforcement officials, follows police officers and sheriff's deputies, sometimes backed up by state police or other state agencies, during patrol, calls for service, and other police activities including prostitution and narcotic stings, and occasionally the serving of search/arrest warrants at criminal residences. Some episodes have also featured federal agencies. The show's formula follows the cinéma vérité convention, which does not consist of any narration, scripted dialogue or incidental music/added sound effects, depending entirely on the commentary of the officers and on the actions of the people with whom they come into contact, giving the audience a fly on the wall point of view. Each episode typically consists of three self-contained segments which often end with one or more arrests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copwatch</span> Activist network monitors law enforcement officers for misconduct, especially police brutality

Copwatch is a network of typically autonomous activist organizations, focused in local areas in the United States, Canada, and Europe, that observe and document police activity looking for signs of police misconduct and brutality. They believe that monitoring police activity on the streets is a way to prevent police brutality. They also propose theoretical and practical approaches to security and justice structures to replace the police. They criticize capitalism and see crime as a consequence of social problems that cannot be fought by surveillance and punishment.

<i>Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol</i> 1987 film by Jim Drake

Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol is a 1987 American comedy film. It is the fourth installment in the Police Academy franchise. It was released on April 3, 1987 and is the sequel to Police Academy 3: Back in Training.

The killing of Timothy Stansbury Jr. occurred in New York City on January 24, 2004. Stansbury was an unarmed 19-year-old in New York City who was shot and killed by New York Police Department Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. Officer Neri and a partner were patrolling the rooftop of a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn at about 1 a.m. Officer Neri, with his gun drawn, approached a rooftop door to check the stairway inside. Neri testified to a Brooklyn grand jury that he fired his standard Glock 19 pistol unintentionally when he was startled as Stansbury pushed open the rooftop door. Stansbury, a resident of an adjoining building, died from one shot in the chest. The grand jury found the shooting to be accidental.

Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York Police union for NYPD police officers

The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) is the largest police union representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. It represents about 24,000 of the department's 36,000 officers.

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cincinnati Police Department</span> Law enforcement agency in Ohio, U.S.

The Cincinnati Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency of Cincinnati, Ohio. The department has 1,053 sworn officers and 119 non-sworn employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct</span> Overview of misconduct and corruption in the NYPD

Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption, misconduct, and other allegations of such, have occurred. Over 12,000 cases have resulted in lawsuit settlements totaling over $400 million during a five-year period ending in 2014. In 2019, misconduct lawsuits cost the taxpayer $68,688,423, a 76 percent increase over the previous year, including about $10 million paid out to two exonerated individuals who had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Police Department</span> Law enforcement agency in Kansas City, Missouri

The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving Kansas City, Missouri. Jackson County 16th Circuit Court Circuit Court Judge Jen Phillips swore in Stacey Graves as the 46th chief of police of the KCPD on December 15, 2022. Graves, who served as head of the KCPD's Deputy Chief of the Patrol Bureau, became the city's 46th police chief on December 15, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Eric Garner</span> 2014 police killing of a black man in New York City

On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American man, was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island by Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, after the latter put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Video footage of the incident generated widespread national attention and raised questions about the use of force by law enforcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Tamir Rice</span> 2014 police killing of an African-American boy in Cleveland, Ohio

On November 22, 2014, Tamir E. Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white police officer. Rice was carrying a replica toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately upon arriving on the scene. Two officers, Loehmann and 46-year-old Frank Garmback, were responding to a police dispatch call regarding a male who had a gun. A caller reported that a male was pointing "a pistol" at random people at the Cudell Recreation Center, a park in the City of Cleveland's Public Works Department. At the beginning of the call and again in the middle, he says of the pistol "it's probably fake." Toward the end of the two-minute call the caller states that "he is probably a juvenile", but the dispatcher did not relay either of these statements to Loehmann and Garmback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 killings of NYPD officers</span> Murders of two police officers in New York City

On December 20, 2014, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot and killed Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liutwo on-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officersin the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brinsley then fled into the New York City Subway, where he killed himself. Earlier in the day, before he killed Ramos and Liu, Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Baltimore after initially pointing the gun at his own head.

On July 19, 2015, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Samuel DuBose, an unarmed man, was fatally shot by Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer, during an off-campus traffic stop for not having the front license plate on the vehicle.

Cariol Holloman-Horne is an American former police officer who was fired from the Buffalo Police Department and lost her pension after she physically stopped a fellow officer from chokeholding a handcuffed suspect in 2006. In October 2020, Buffalo adopted "Cariol's Law," to require police to intervene if a fellow officer uses excessive force. In 2021, a New York court awarded her the pension and back pay she earned.

References

  1. 1 2 Stempel, Tom (May 1996). Storytellers to the Nation: A History of American Television Writing. Syracuse University Press. p. 76. ISBN   9780815603689.
  2. 1 2 Aitken, Ian (18 October 2013). Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film 3-Volume Set. Routledge. pp. 775–777. ISBN   9781135206208.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Berg, Beatrice (1970-02-01). "'I Was Fed Up With Hollywood Fantasies'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  4. 1 2 Scott, A.; Dargis, Manohla (2017-04-06). "Frederick Wiseman: The Filmmaker Who Shows Us Ourselves". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2017-04-17. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  5. 1 2 Eames, David (1977-10-02). "WATCHING WISEMAN WATCH". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  6. Gent, George (1969-02-27). "MOVIE ON POLICE CENSORED BY N.E.T.; 'Law and Order' Program Cut to Remove Obscenities". The New York Times. p. 83. Retrieved 2017-04-19.