Let me tell you right up front:
The Offence (1972) is not an easy film to watch, which is why I'm not putting it under a Film Buff Friday recommendation. I still do recommend it, but you really have to prepare yourself: this is a movie about a suspected child rapist (Ian Bannen) severely beaten during an interrogation by a no-nonsense cop (Sean Connery).
Now if that seems like a spoiler, it's not. We find most of this out within the first five minutes or so. The rest of the film is about how it got to that point and the aftermath, and if you think that it's a straightforward police procedural, you're in for a bit of a ride.
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| "Moneypenny? Never heard of her." |
Sidney Lumet directs, and while he may not be as popular a director as, say, Martin Scorsese, I do feel that he's every bit as masterful. If you're a Sean Connery fan - and I mean a real fan of his work as an actor, not just his wise-cracking brogue - this just might be his best work. Again, though, this film may not be for everybody.
Ian Bannen was one of those actors who showed up in dozens of movies, but American audiences didn't take much notice of him until
Waking Ned Devine, one of his last films. I haven't seen a lot of his work myself, but this is the best I've seen him, too. Throw in Trevor Howard as the interrogator who has to grill Connery after the beating, and you've got one bloody good drama.
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