Law and Order (1969 film)

Last updated
Law and Order
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
Produced by Frederick Wiseman
Cinematography William Brayne
Edited by Frederick Wiseman
Distributed by National Educational Television
Release date
March 2, 1969
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Law and Order is a 1969 documentary film by Frederick Wiseman that shows the daily routine of officers of the Kansas City Police Department. 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 a U.S. filmmaker.

Contents

The police documentary, initially shown on National Educational Television (NET) (predecessor to the PBS Public Broadcasting System) in the United States, was directed, produced and edited by Wiseman, and the cinematographer was William Brayne. [2] It won an Emmy Award as best documentary of the year. [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 as best news documentary in 1968–1969. [3]

Related Research Articles

Rodney King 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 beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest, after a high-speed chase, for driving while intoxicated on the I-210. An uninvolved individual, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage showed an unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest. The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public furor.

Los Angeles Police Department Municipal police force in California, US

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police 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.

New York City Police Department Municipal police force in the United States

The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, United States. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest and one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The NYPD headquarters is at 1 Police Plaza, located on Park Row in Lower Manhattan near City Hall. The NYPD's regulations are compiled in title 38 of the New York City Rules. The NYC Transit Police and NYC Housing Authority Police Department were fully integrated into the NYPD in 1995. Dedicated units of the NYPD include the Emergency Service Unit, K9, harbor patrol, air support, bomb squad, counter-terrorism, criminal intelligence, anti-organized crime, narcotics, public transportation, and public housing units.

Chicago Police Department Principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, US

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. It has approximately 12,000 officers and over 1,925 other employees. Tracing its roots back to the year of 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police forces in the world.

<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.

The Orangeburg massacre refers to the shooting of protesters by South Carolina Highway Patrol officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the South Carolina State University campus on the evening of February 8, 1968. About 200 protesters had previously demonstrated against racial segregation at a local bowling alley. Three of the protesters, African-American males, were killed and 28 other protesters were injured.

"Driving while black" (DWB) is a sardonic description of racial profiling of African-American motor vehicle drivers. It implies that a motorist may be stopped by a police officer largely because of racial bias rather than any apparent violation of traffic law. It is a word play of "driving while intoxicated."

Frederick Wiseman American documentary filmmaker

Frederick Wiseman is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is "devoted primarily to exploring American institutions". He has been called "one of the most important and original filmmakers working today".

<i>Cops</i> (TV program) American reality documentary police series

Cops is an American television documentary reality legal programming television series that is currently in its 33rd season. It is produced by Langley Productions. It premiered on the Fox network on March 11, 1989. The series, known for chronicaling the lives of police officers, follows city 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 assigns television camera crews to accompany police as they perform their duties. 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 ended with one or more arrests.

Copwatch

Copwatch is a network of activist organizations, typically autonomous and focused in local areas, in the United States, Canada and Europe that observe and document police activity while looking for signs of police misconduct and police brutality. They believe that monitoring police activity on the streets is a way to prevent police brutality.

Miami Police Department Police department for the City of Miami, Florida

The Miami Police Department (MPD), also known as the City of Miami Police Department, is a full-service municipal law enforcement agency serving Miami, Florida. MPD is the largest municipal police department in Florida. MPD officers are distinguishable from their Miami-Dade Police Department counterparts by their blue uniforms and blue-and-white patrol vehicles.

Cincinnati Police Department

The Cincinnati Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency of Cincinnati, Ohio. The department has 1,057 sworn officers and 281 non-sworn employees.

Royal Thai Police National police force of Thailand

The Royal Thai Police (RTP) is the national police force of Thailand. The RTP employs between 210,700 and 230,000 officers, roughly 17 percent of all civil servants. The RTP is frequently recognized as the fourth armed force of Thailand since their tradition, concept, culture, skill, and training are relatively similar to the army and most of their officer cadets need to graduate from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School before entering the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy. Officers also undergo paramilitary training similar to the army but with an additional focus on law enforcement.

New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct Overview of misconduct and corruption in the NYPD

Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption and misconduct, and 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, taxpayers funded $68,688,423 as the cost of misconduct lawsuits, 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.

Killing of Eric Garner July 2014 killing of an African American man after an arrest by police officers in New York

On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island after Daniel Pantaleo, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, 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.

On December 20, 2014, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot and killed Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu — two on-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers — in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brinsley then fled into the New York City Subway, where he committed suicide. 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 a traffic stop for a missing front license plate and a suspended driver's license.

Buffalo Police Department Law enforcement agency serving the City of Buffalo, New York

The Buffalo Police Department (BPD) is the second-largest city police force in the state of New York. In 2012, it had over nine hundred employees, including over seven hundred police officers.

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.
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.