The Onion Field
This film is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen John Savage and Ted Danson routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types. Unexpectedly, one of the men kills Danson in cold blood. Savage manages to escape and the men are arrested. But that is not that.
22 October 1938, Stamford, Connecticut, USA
9 January 1936, Dallas, Texas, USA
18 May 1924, New York City, New York, USA
8 June 1941, The Bronx, New York, USA
2 January 1930, New York City, New York, USA
23 February 1921, Los Angeles, California, USA
15 July 1952, Kingstown, St. Vincent, British West Indies [now Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]
10 January 1944, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
November 08, 2002
Ranks among the best crime films of the late 1970s...and that puts the flick among some rather impressive company.
January 26, 2006
It's the usual heavy Wambaugh brew: police procedure closely observed without a trace of romanticism, suggesting simply that life in the force is psychological hell.
September 10, 2011
Brutal, even sordid, but compulsive viewing.
March 26, 2009
James Woods as the near-psychotic Powell is chillingly effective, creating a flakiness in the character that exudes the danger of a live wire near a puddle.
September 10, 2011
Good acting and careful direction by Becker make it worth seeing, but the violence and the language may be too graphic for some tastes.
May 09, 2005
The film is generally crisp and at times exciting, but it's also full of incidents that are only sketchily explained, and minus the all-important narrative thread that might have provided a clear point of view.
January 01, 2000
Thoughtful trial movie with a disturbing edge.
September 10, 2011
The Onion Field is a serious and most uncompromising movie. It lacks, however, the sort of disciplined craft that might have made it a powerful and affecting one.
