The vast majority of movies about murder concentrate on the crime and / or the resolution of the case, which is quite understandable.  Few, however, go past the crime to depict with any depth the disruptive aftereffects which always follow. The Onion Field does that.

Los Angeles cop-turned novelist Joseph Wambaugh not only wrote his best-selling novel about the 1963 killing of a detective, but wrote the screenplay for the film and arranged for the film’s financing, thereby ensuring that the resulting film would remain as close to the facts as humanly possible.  The result is a movie that avoids phony Hollywood-style drama.  Harold Becker’s film is realistic and powerful because the story is true and tragic.

Truth in a film is most often subjective, but in this case it is almost completely verifiable.  Wambaugh was on the L. A. police force at the time of the events, interviewed everyone involved with the case and dedicated himself to telling the story, the whole story, in honor of the slain detective and his surviving partner.

That in itself, of course, does not guarantee a quality movie.  Truth and realism can be boring, which is why Hollywood films are so fanciful.  Twenty-five years after its initial release, The Onion Field remains engrossing.  While dated in some respects, it boasts terrific acting from John Savage, Ted Danson, James Woods, Franklyn Seales and Ronny Cox.  Woods and Seales create indelible portrayals of, respectively, psychopathic two-bit hustler Gregory Powell and petty thief Jimmy Smith.  Their relationship, before and after the murder, is fascinating.

Much of the film takes place after the murder, which I feel is what sets it apart from run-of-the-mill cop movies.  Each of the participants is followed for years afterward. The two criminals argue for — and receive — new trials and surviving cop Karl Hettinger (John Savage) battles the guilt he feels at not being able to prevent his partner’s death.  One superb sequence, triggered by a baby’s crying, reveals the depths of his despair.

The Onion Field is a rough movie in terms of subject matter, as well as an indictment of the judicial process which only served to prolong the agony of the crime’s victims and their relatives.  But it is an important film for its extended viewpoint, and an acting showcase as well.  My rating:  ✰ ✰ ✰ ½.  (7:1).