Movie Review | Deadly Hero (Nagy, 1975)
Compared to the other cop thrillers of the era, some of which are notably fascistic, this presents a less than unflattering view of law enforcement. From the first scene, it's obvious that our main character, a much admired cop with political ambitions tied to the mayoral campaign of a tough on crime right wing candidate, has a couple of screws loose. Seeing him practice his speech while whipping out his gun before the opening credits has echoes of Travis Bickle's mirror monologues in Taxi Driver the following year. "These are troubled times."
But when the heroine, whom he rescued from a hostage situation, comes forth with the fact that he shot her captor after the latter had surrendered, the other cops in the force don't seem too thrilled about looking into it, finding her mostly a nuisance, and only deal with him because he's too big a problem to ignore. Maybe the problem to them isn't that he has a few screws loose and an itchy trigger finger, but that he has a few more screws loose and an itchier trigger finger than the other cops. And it must be said that Don Murray, who has a certain sturdy, conservative screen presence, is very convincing as this character, especially as he begins to unravel.
The fact that this is not a particularly polished effort (aside from some nice NYC location shooting by Andrzej Bartkowiak) and not so refined in its effect adds to its effect. I watched this in the fullscreen, less than pristine transfer on Tubi, which made it play less like the 42nd Street scuzzfest the material suggests than an unhinged TV movie. The tone seems all over the place, the scenes with the other cops (among whom is a young Treat Williams, who I guess pursued a career in law enforcement before switching over to education in his later years... that's right, I'm talking about the Substitute sequels... whaddya mean they aren't the same character) and a hood for hire playing like something out of a sitcom. The opening scene with James Earl Jones as the deranged possible militant who takes the heroine hostage feels like it's not entirely sure how to play this provocation, in a way that feels extra troubling, even if Jones is very good, making as always terrific use of the weight and depth of his voice. And the fact that the heroine gets tied up multiple times feels like the product of someone harbouring a kink that hasn't fully emerged from their subconscious. I am doing some projecting, and I have only vague awareness of director Ivan Nagy's offscreen notoriety, although this is the third movie I've seen from him that heavily features a woman being menaced.
So this is probably more "interesting" than outright "good", but it plays with a certain unsettling power.
