![]() ![]() There’s a lot I like about the film, and I think it there’s a good chunk of the film where it has a sort of easy-going energy to it. Then once they’ve been brought together, it’s all about how they apply the pressure to Cohen. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Max Kennard (Robert Patrick), Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena), and Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), all with their own particular skill set that they contribute to the cause. First, there’s the putting together of the team, which includes Sgt. John O’Mara, the honest cop who is put in charge of putting together his team of trustworthy men to help him.Īs with “The Untouchables,” the fun of the film comes in two distinct halves. Basically, this is a stripped down and slicked-up version of “The Untouchables,” with Josh Brolin starring as Sgt. He looks like a “Dick Tracy” villain, exaggerated and feral, and the film focuses on a period at the end of the ’40s when Police Chief Parker (played by a Henson Muppet Studios version of Nick Nolte that is remarkably lifelike) decided to authorize a group of his officers to set aside strictly legal methods to bring down Cohen’s operations. In “Gangster Squad,” Cohen’s been promoted to the main protagonist, and Sean Penn attacks the part with a manic energy that I found wildly entertaining at times. And in “LA Confidential,” Cohen makes a small appearance with Paul Guilfoyle playing the part. Harvey Keitel played him in Barry Levinson’s “Bugsy” and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for his work. Gangster Mickey Cohen has been portrayed on film a few times before. “Gangster Squad,” liberally adapted from the non-fiction book by Paul Lieberman by real-life-LA-cop-turned-screenwriter Will Beall, is never going to be considered a classic of the genre, but the film has a certain pop cartoon charm that makes it enjoyable, if slight. When you list the very best of what’s out there, you have to include “Chinatown,” a canny piece about the way water and blood were used to build what we think of as modern LA, as well as the books by authors like Walter Mosely and James Ellroy. In particular, the history of law enforcement and its failures here is something that I’ve been obsessed with for years. ![]() I am fascinated by Los Angeles and its history, and chances are if there’s a book or a film about the city, I’ve read it or watched it. ![]()
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