The 1990s were a mess for Sylvester Stallone. Of the 12 movies he starred in, only four are certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Thankfully, general audiences didn’t care about the opinions of critics as much as they do now, so Stallone’s fame and influence remained unsullied. Interestingly, this is also the decade when Sly put in the most artistic effort. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, he had mostly been seen as an action star, so he diversified his filmography by starring in films such as the dystopian thriller Demolition Man and the survival thriller Cliffhanger. The money came, but critically, things didn’t work out as well as he had hoped.
Looking back at Stallone’s ‘90s catalog, there is no shortage of average-yet-fun films for Sunday afternoon viewing. However, Cop Land, stands out as his most complete work, one where he gives a grinning, snake-slick performance, aided by a few other talented names. The film was received well by experts, and performed considerably well at the box office, grossing $64 million against a budget of $15 million. Close to 30 years later, the James Mangold picture still stands tall as a moody crime drama that sheds a piercing light on corruption at the highest levels of law enforcement.
The NYPD Have a Sort of Shangri-La in Cop Land
Cop Land introduces us to Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone), who oversees a New Jersey town whose elite circle mainly consists of NYPD cops. These out-of-town lawmen have most of the locals under their thumbs, but Freddy sees them as heroes. Intrigued by their comings and goings, as well as their endless supply of ‘Benjamins,’ he turns a blind eye to everything they do. We also learn that Freddy lost his hearing ability in one ear while trying to save a woman and a child, so he can never be admitted into the NYPD. All he can do is admire the lives of those who have what he can only dream of.
But why have NYPD members installed themselves in New Jersey? This residential arrangement is inspired by a real-life trend of the ‘70s where a decent portion of officers desired to live outside the city. At the time, the only officers allowed to live outside New York were transit cops because the Transit Authority was run by both Jersey and Connecticut.
To qualify for the exemption, various officers began doing overtime at subway stations so that the city would declare them auxiliary transit cops. They thus bought land in Jersey, and created a Shangri La for themselves where the NYPD’s Internal Affairs division couldn’t monitor them.
The officers in Cop Land — played by an ensemble that includes the mob movie royalty of Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Harvey Keitel — thus munch on all the perks that come with living in this little paradise. They make deals with criminals, punish whoever looks at them the wrong way, and cover up crimes that threaten to ruin their careers.
Predictably, Freddy is later revealed to have an ounce of conscience in him, so the bad things he witnesses finally cause him to reassess his alliances and reorient himself towards a traditional give-’em-hell attitude.
Cop Land Ignores Hollywood’s “Copaganda” Narrative
Hollywood has always been known to push the “Copaganda” narrative. In most law enforcement movies, the police are the heroes who protect the good and punish the evil. This is true to some extent, but movies tend to ignore plenty of police-related sins. The real world is plagued by a problematic law enforcement-industrial complex and Cop Land blatantly reminds us of this. Not every cop is a hero, and even those inclined to be heroes often do wrong things because of the power they have.
We have our sheriff, Freddy, who is supposed to be the protagonist, yet one of the first things we see him do in the movie is take what doesn’t belong to him. He is in a bar playing pinball and when he runs out of quarters, he impulsively breaks into a parking meter to get some. Officer Gary “Figgsy” Figgis (Ray Liotta) sees him doing this and all he can do is chuckle, implying that it’s normal for the police to do things like this. Figgsy also happens to be a coke addict, yet one of his main tasks is to arrest drug dealers.
Then you have officers who have gamed the system in order to get more favorable living arrangements. These individuals happen to be in bed with the mob too.
The most glaring portrait of police corruption can be seen in the movie’s main plot. One night, Officer Murray “Superboy” Babitch (Michael Rapaport) is sideswiped by two black youths while driving and when one of them points what looks like a weapon, he shoots them both dead. Superboy’s colleagues then show up and try to cover up the incident by planting a gun in the teens’ car and advising the young lawman to fake his suicide. The cover-up later extends all the way up to the mayor, who gets pressured by the police union to cease investigations.
We never see anyone straighten up. The movie is a corruption-fest, and the evil officers remain stunted in sulking criminality because their actions often come with no consequences. Later, we are hit with even more revelations, including the fact that the 37th precinct has been trafficking drugs, and that one of the officers committed arson to benefit from insurance money. All these aren’t just part of Hollywood sensationalism, as there are numerous documented cases of real world officers doing the same things that characters in the film do.
Stallone Feels Cop Land Made Him a Dodo Bird
According to Variety, Sylvester Stallone decided to star in Cop Land because he wanted to be taken more seriously as an actor. Both riveting and melancholic, his commanding performance made us care deeply about the conflicted sheriff. The actor bulked up considerably for this role, gaining 40 pounds, and researched the inner workings of law enforcement. The effort paid off, with his performance receiving widespread praise. However, Stallone feels the movie marked the beginning of the decline of his career.
In a 2019 interview with the same publication, he explained:
“Mangold the best director I ever worked with [but the film] actually worked in reverse. It was pretty good critically, but the fact that it didn’t do a lot of box office, again it fomented the opinion that I had my moment and was going the way of the dodo bird and the Tasmanian tiger.”
Well, $64 million wasn’t a poor box office figure in the larger context, but it was dismal by Stallone’s standards. His previous effort, Daylight, had made close to $200 million but had been panned by critics. Now, here was a movie that critics loved, but didn’t bring in such big bucks.
Even worse, director James Mangold, who coaxed exemplary turns from his talented cast, wasn’t thrilled about having Stallone in the lead role. He felt the movie’s legacy would have been stronger if he had cast a little-known actor.
“I’m very proud of the movie and the ideas in it, but one of the things that was difficult for me at the time was that I’d imagined the lead being someone you hadn’t heard of before, so that their extension into a hero would be less Hollywood.”
Mangold’s opinion is surprising, considering that most filmmakers, especially those new to the industry (like he was at the time) would jump at the opportunity to work with a star. Nonetheless, the film remains relevant and timeless viewing.