Today’s movie is a crime drama with a scene on March 3. I
hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.
DARK BLUE
On March 3, 1991 [00:40 to 2:01]
Rodney King is beaten by the LAPD while resisting arrest. We jump ahead to the
start of the trial of the officers involved. Darryl Orchard and Gary Sidwell,
rob a Korean convenience store, but steal a safe in a back room, killing four
customers who come in and wound another. Meanwhile Sergeant Eldon Perry and his
partner, Detective Bobby Keough face a shooting board. They are cleared and
Perry is told he is to be promoted to Lieutenant. We see that Orchard and
Sidwell work for Commander Jack Van Meter, who is Perry’s mentor on the force,
and they give him the $150 thousand taken from the safe. Van Meter asks Perry
to investigate the 4 murders. Keough has sex with a woman who is a cop but
neither reveals or knows the other’s name. We learn she is Sergeant Beth
Williamson, who works for Assistant Chief Arthur Holland, who does not believe
Perry or Keough’s testimony at the shooting board, thinks they’re dirty cops
and is determined to get them. Perry’s investigation uncovers that the Korean
storeowner also owned a strip club that made lots of cash. They learn the
bagman is missing and find him dead. Beth learns that her new sex partner is
Keough. The wounded witness says the guys were one white and one black. Perry
suspects Orchard and Sidwell, but Van Meter tells him to pin it on two other
guys. Perry blackmails a DA and a judge into signing a search warrant on two
other ex-cons. Perry gives Keough photos of Beth and Holland having sex. After
a confrontation where Beth tells him Holland is going to bring him down and that
her affair with Holland was 5 years ago, Keough delivers the photos to
Holland’s wife, who now wants a divorce. Perry raids the home of one of the
ex-cons and pressures Keough into killing the man, even though he is no threat.
Perry returns home and finds his wife is moving out. Keough is shaken by
killing an innocent man and goes to Beth and confesses to her and later
Holland. Van Meter orders Orchard and Sidwell to kill Perry. Van Meter gives
Perry their address and tells them a witness who can prove Perry and Keough
lied at the shooting board lives there. Perry learns this is Orchard and
Sidwell’s address, but goes there anyway. Keough learns that physical evidence
links Orchard and Sidwell to the Korean killings and goes there with Beth to
take them into protective custody before Perry can kill them. On the way they
hear that the officers in the Rodney King case have been acquitted. Orchard and
Sidwell end up killing Keough. Perry tracks them. The White Sidwell is killed by rioters and Perry arrests Orchard.
Perry goes to the Police Academy where he was to receive his lieutenant’s
badge. Instead he confesses his crimes and implicates Van Meter. He is arrested
by Holland. The riots sweep over LA.
A very violent film. A good
exploration of police corruption. Well worth watching.
Race and Justice:
Rodney King and O. J. Simpson in a House Divided by Jewelle Taylor
Gibbs (Jossey Boss Publishers,
San Francisco, 1996) at page 29 and the movie at 1:02 give the date of Rodney
King’s arrest.
Producers - David Blocker,
Caldecot Chubb, Sean Daniel and James Jacks
Director - Ron Shelton
Screenplay - David Ayer and James
Ellroy
Runtime – 1 hour 58 minutes
Released – December 21, 2002
Starring –
Kurt Russell as Sergeant Eldon Perry
Scott Speedman as Detective Bobby Keough
Michael Michele as Sergeant Beth Williamson
Brendan Gleeson as Commander Jack Van Meter
Ving Rhames as Assistant Chief Arthur Holland
Kurupt as Darryl Orchard
Dash Mihok as Gary Sidwell
Jonathan Banks as James Barcomb
Lolita Davidovich as Sally Perry
Khandi Alexander as Janelle Holland
Dana Lee as Henry Kim
Master P as Maniac
Kaila Yu as Asian Stripper
Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.
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