The Offence

1973

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 71% · 14 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 72% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 7916 7.9K

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Plot summary

A burned-out British police detective finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester.


Uploaded by: OTTO
November 19, 2014 at 01:44 PM

Director

Top cast

Sean Connery as Detective Sergeant Johnson
Peter Bowles as Detective Inspector Cameron
Trevor Howard as Lieutenant Cartwright, Detective Superintendant
Ian Bannen as Kenneth Baxter
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
815.65 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 4
1.65 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 52 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

A chilling psycho-drama with tense moments and high-lighted by top-notch interpretations

A burnt-out British police detective investigates some astonishing crimes but after 20 years what Inspector-Sergeant Johnson (Sean Connery) has seen and done is destroying him. Things go wrong when eventually snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester called Baxter (Ian Bannen) . During the course of the interrogation takes place several surprises , twists and unexpected consequences.

Interesting and grim picture with tight editing , magnificent acting , thrills , plot twists , emotion and intense drama . It was originally conceived as a tense as well as thrilling flick about a complex interrogatory . It results to be an adaptation of a stage play titled : ¨This story of yours¨ by John Hopkings about a claustrophobic and strange duel betwen a suspicious child molester and a police officer obsessively convinced of his guilt , both of whom find themselves subtly changing places . Gripping and exciting picture about a cop who wants to investigate a grisly killing with unexpected consequences , outstanding the great Sean Connery playing very well a London detective who explodes at a police interrogation reacting against a child molester . Embedded in a realistic police procedure , thorny dialog and peculiar situations nowadays have a ring of arty melodrama ; nevertheless, riveting at times. Support cast is really excellent , such as: Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant as starring's wife , Peter Bowles and especially Ian Bannen as prime suspect in a series of brutal attacks on young girls.

The motion picture was compellingly directed by the splendid US director Sidney Lumet , though here he failed at box-office. After starting an off-Broadway acting troupe in the late 1940s, he became the director of many television shows in the 1950s. Lumet made his feature film Adaptation of directing debut with 12 Angry Men (1957), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and earned three Academy Award nominations. The courtroom drama, which takes place almost entirely in a jury room, is justly regarded as one of the most auspicious directorial debuts in film history. Lumet got the chance to direct Marlon Brando in The Figitive Kind (1960), an imperfect, but powerful adaptation of Tennessee Williams'. Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema , best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York . He made over 40 movies , often complex and emotional , but seldom overly sentimental . He achieved great successes such as ¨Serpico¨, ¨The Veredict¨, ¨Fail safe¨ , ¨ Morning after¨, ¨The hill¨ , ¨Dog day afternoon¨, ¨Murder on the Orient Express¨ , ¨Network¨ , ¨The Anderson tapes¨and his best considered one : ¨12 angry men¨ . In 2005 , Sidney Lumet received a well-deserved honorary Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to filmmaking. Rating . 6.5/10 . Above average . Well worth watching .

Reviewed by hitchcockthelegend 9 / 10

Something Like the Truth

The Offence is directed by Sidney Lumet and adapted to screenplay by John Hopkins from his own play titled This Story of Yours. It stars Sean Connery, Ian Bannen, Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchant. Cinematography is by Gerry Fisher and music by Harrison Birtwistle.

Detective Sergeant Johnson (Connery) has been with the British Police Force for two decades, in that time he has been witness to countless murders, rapes and other serious crimes. The images, the people he has had to deal with, have left a terrible mark on him. When suspected child sex attacker Kenneth Baxter (Bannen) comes up for interrogation by Johnson, his mind starts to fracture and he loses control, unleashing a dark side that comes out both physically and mentally.

You wouldn't think it possible for Lumet and Connery to have a hidden gem in their respective career outputs, but The Offence is very much just that. An unnerving skin itcher with an upsetting narrative core, The Offence was a commercial flop. It barely got released across the globe and only found its way onto home format release in the last 10 years. The film only got made after Connery struck a deal with United Artists, he would only return as James Bond for Diamonds Are Forever if they backed him for a couple of projects. One of which was The Offence, so with free licence to play Johnson, and his choice of Lumet in the directing chair, Connery got the film made.

Set with a bleak concrete back drop of a "New Town" (cheaply built monstrosities the government knocked up to ease the housing issues), The Offence is a fascinating blend of police procedural and psychological drama. It poses many questions, and thrives on ambiguity to the point repeat viewings are a must, but in the main what shrieks out is the thematic point of one mans harrowing employment taking its toll on he himself. Is it possible that you can only chase and be amongst monsters yourself for so long before you become one of that number? It's invariably hard to recommend the film as high entertainment, a comfy night in by the fire this film is not. But as film art, a searing character study and acting supreme, it scores impressively high whilst tantalisingly tickling the cranium.

It's fair to say it's very dialogue heavy, and Lumet as polished a director as he is, keeps it grainy, revelling in the bleakness of the story. Connery has never been better, utterly compelling, a brooding force of nature and as committed to role as he has ever been. Nor, too, arguably, has Bannen, the scenes shared between the two men are lessons in acting as they portray two warped minds bouncing off each with an unsettling force that grips us round the throat and refuses to let go long after the credits have rolled. Howard steps in to add a touch of mature quality, he too bringing the best out of Connery in the scenes they share, while Merchant as Johnson's "on the outside" wife, is raw and heartfelt.

You can't pigeon hole The Offence, it's very much one of a kind and it demands to be tracked down by serious film fans. From the low key score and foreboding 70s setting, to the gripper of a denouement, The Offence is an essential piece of British cinema. 9.5/10

Reviewed by Prismark10 8 / 10

Hard questions

The Offence is regarded as a favourite of Sean Connery but hardly anyone saw it on its cinema release. It did find an audience on television where it was regularly repeated.

The film was made by American directing legend, Sidney Lumet. Yet the film is set in a new town outside of London.

It is an urban environment that is very British, more at home to an episode of the TV series The Bill and not likely to be made by the person who did 'Dog Day Afternoon' or '12 Angry Men.'

This town is under siege. There is a child attacker and parents are worried and the police are out in force protecting the streets.

Connery is a detective on the edge of sanity. He has seen a lot of horror in his work and it has got too him. His home life is a wreck and he has found the body of one of the girl's that was attacked but she is still alive.

When the police arrest a drunken suspect (Ian Bannen.) Connery thinks he has found the right man and interrogates him, brutally if necessary.

Connery who brought an animal swagger to his James Bond and was a former bodybuilder, hulks over Bannen in the police room scenes.

Yet there is a lot of psychological cat and mouse games between Bannen and Connery. Bannen is a little man who has always been bullied throughout his life by men like Connery. Somehow he came through such bullies and made a success of his life.

When the red mist gets the better of Connery, Bannen dies in custody. We never find out if he was the actual culprit although I always regarded Bannen as innocent. The wrong man at the wrong place.

We then see Connery getting interrogated by a superior office (Trevor Howard) and it is in these scenes we realise how out of control Connery is as we see the flashbacks.

The film is terrifically acted by Bannen and Connery. The film with its early 70s, British urban setting and a host of familiar British character actors gives it a unique as well as now a historic look.

It is still uncomfortable viewing but the film deserves your time.

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