BY JOHN M. WHALEN
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood there was a writer who was something
of a living legend. Between 1955 and 1975, screenwriter Stirling Silliphant
wrote hundreds of television scripts and over his lifetime of 78 years, was
credited by the Writers Guild with 200 movie scripts. He created and wrote over
150 teleplays just for “Route 66,†and “Naked City,†alone – two TV series that
are considered arguably among the best written television dramas of this or any
time. In a 1963 article, Time magazine quoted a producer who said that Stirling
Silliphant was “almost inhuman . . . a writing machine . . . the fingers of
God.†He was not only prolific, he was good. He won an Academy Award for adapting
“In the Heat of the Night†(1967), starring Sidney Poitier; was one of the
creative forces behind the production and writing of the Shaft movies; gave
Bruce Lee his first role in an American feature film (“Marlowe†1969); wrote
the classic disaster movies “The Poseidon Adventure (1972),†and “The Towering
Inferno†(1974); turned to novel writing; and eventually expatriated to
Thailand, where he said he felt a spiritual connection, and eventually died. But
by that time—and such is the fate of the writer in Tinseltown—he had almost become
a forgotten man.
Silliphant’s early writing had a distinctive quality. He
wrote stories that used to be described as the kind that “hit you where you
live.†When he was writing at his best, his created characters that had a
strong impact on you and his dialogue was a powerful mixture of poetry and
gritty realism. The same year he wrote “The Poseidon Adventure,†he was hired
to adapt “The New Centurions†(1972) from a novel by Joseph Wambaugh. In an
interview, Silliphant said by that time he wrote this script his whole approach
to screenwriting had changed. He dropped the poetry and wrote more realistic
dialogue. He said he used to write paragraphs of almost novelistic description.
But when he wrote “The New Centurions,†when describing a room in one scene he
used just one word: shitty.
“The New Centurions†follows five years in the lives of
three Los Angeles cops, starting with their days in the academy and ending with
a grim finish for one of them. Stacy Keach plays Roy, a married man serving on
the force while he attends law school. He and his wife Dorothy (Jane Alexander)
are looking forward to the day he can quit being a cop and become a lawyer. Gus
(Scott Wilson) is a less complicated man; all he wants in life is “to be a good
cop.†But his aspirations get tossed in a trash can when he accidentally shoots
the owner of a dry cleaners, mistaking him for one of the perps robbing the
place. The third recruit, Sergio (Eric Estrada) is a Latino, a former gang
member, who has risen from the ghetto, and faces a challenge when riots break
out in his old neighborhood.
But towering above these three, is Sgt. Andy Kilvinski
(George C. Scott), a seasoned veteran who serves not only as a mentor to the
new recruits but is also a kind of spiritual force holding the whole precinct
together. Everything is done according to “Kilvinski’s law,†which could be
summed up as follows: “If a guy comes at you with his fists, use your night
stick,†Kilvinski tells Roy. “If he come at you with a knife, use your gun.
Cancel his ticket right then and there.â€
On night shift Kilvinski reveals his secret for keeping
hookers off the streets. Instead of arresting and booking them, he picks them
up in a paddy wagon, buys them some vodka and milk, and lets them get drunk
while he drives them around listening to the wild tales they have to tell about
their latest tricks. “It’s illegal as hell,†Kilvinski says, “but nobody’s hurt
and it saves a lot of paperwork and time spent in court rooms.â€
“The New Centurions†is basically plotless, following the
careers of Roy, Gus, and Sergio as they face incidents ranging from comical to
life=threatening. The film’s main focus is on Roy, whose life follows a
downward trajectory after he drops out of law school. He likes being a cop and
enjoys life out on the streets. His wife Dorothy can’t handle it and leaves him
and then he’s seriously wounded by some liquor store robbers. He recovers but
becomes an alcoholic, finding temporary redemption in the arms of a nurse
(Rosalind Cash).
The real turning point in the story comes when Kilvinski
decides to retire from the force. The scene where he says goodbye to the men in
the precinct is handled in a flat, understated manner. But the silence in the
day room after he leaves says more than a paragraph of emotional dialogue ever
could.
“The New Centurions,†was directed by Hollywood veteran Richard
Fleischer (Among is diverse credits: “Soylent Greenâ€, “Tora! Tora! Tora!â€, “Doctor
Doolittleâ€, “The Vikings,†“Armored Car Robbery,†and “His Kind of Womanâ€) and
filmed entirely on the streets of Los Angeles. Some of the scenes shot by cinematographer
Ralph Woolsey are reminiscent of the semi–documentary style of Silliphant’s “Naked
City†episodes. Quincy Jones provides the Latin-flavored street-scene music,
but there is no theme music for the opening credits, which is presented with
the bare soundtrack of the new recruits going through their paces at the police
academy.
Twilight Time’s limited 3,000-copy edition of “The New
Centurions†is presented in 1080p High Definition in its theatrical 2.35:1
aspect ratio. The picture has a grainy film-like quality to it and the colors
are somewhat muted, giving the movie a cinematic look. The disc has three
separate supplemental audio tracks, including one with an informative and
interesting commentary by actor Scott Wilson and the late Nick Redman, founder
of Twilight Time. There may be some controversy, however, regarding Wilson’s
memory of working on the film. He states that Silliphant’s original script had
completely cut the Kilvinski character from the story, putting the focus on the
three recruits. Wilson said at
Fleischer’s request the script was revised by Robert Towne, to put more
emphasis on Kilvinski. But in Nat Segaloff’s biography, “Stirling Silliphant: The Fingers of God,†Silliphant said he wrote
14 drafts of the script before he refused to do any further work on it and Towne
took over. In his discussion with Segaloff, he talks about writing the key
scene in which Kilvinski makes his final appearance. Kilvinski calls Roy and
tells him about the time a citizen called him to get a man out of his house. He
complied, to the citizen’s satisfaction. But then he tells Roy in reality, nobody was there. What happens after he hangs up the phone is shocking and tragic
and apparently Silliphant wrote it.
The disc has a second audio track with commentary by
Cinema Retro founder Lee Pfeiffer and film historian Paul Scrabo. Pfeiffer’s
father was a Jersey City cop and he attests to the authenticity and realism of
the film. “It really shows what a cop’s life is like,†he observes. Scrabo
provides some good background information on cast members and crew.
There is a third isolated music track. Quincy Jones’s
score is lean and mean, but I thought the use of Carol King’s “It’s too Late,â€
in a scene showing the breakup of Roy’s marriage was way too “on the nose.†Not too cool, Quincy.
As usual with Twilight Time releases, there’s a
theatrical trailer and a well-written eight-page booklet by Julie Kirgo, providing
further information and stills from the film. Kirgo points out that “The New
Centurions†set the pattern for TV cop shows ranging from “Police Story†to “NYPD
Blueâ€. I’d say it continues to be the inspiration for shows like “The
Rookie,†“SWAT†and “Chicago PD,†as
well.
This may not be Silliphant’s best writing. He often said
his best scripts were all written before 1964 for the “Route 66†series, when
he had complete creative freedom. But there is enough here in terms of good
characterization, emotional impact, and story structure, plus all the extras
that Twilight Time has provided, to highly recommend “The New Centurions.â€
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John M. Whalen is the author of "Tragon of Ramura". Click here to order from Amazon.