Jack Reed: A Search for Justice (1994)

Brian Dennehy stars as tough-as-nails South Chicago police officer Jack Reed, who must battle corruption and apathy in his own department. When a grisly murder is discovered, the tension ratchets up as all roads lead to a well known bigwig likely to be protected by the city’s elite.

In a tour-de-force performance, veteran Dennehy faces insurmountable obstacles, both inside and outside the department to bring the perpetrator to Justice.

Following Its Beginning As An Engaging Crime Melodrama, The Film Droops Into A Tired Rehash Of Socio-Cultural Themes.

An unsettled blend of action with drama marks this movie, the third endeavour by Brian Dennehy performing as Sergeant Jack Reed, a veteran Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff's Department homicide detective, with Dennehy additionally making his first directing stint while being credited as well for having written part of the screenplay, all in the service of a work that will frustrate a viewer who is biased toward intelligent cinema due to its ongoing lapses into hackneyed episodes, in spite of some moments of notably insightful as well as naturalistic dialogue. The first Jack Reed feature, DEADLY MATRIMONY, establishes the character as a Sheriff's Department freethinker who, in that picture, singlehandedly brings about the downfall, due to corruptness, of a high-ranking Department official, and in A SEARCH FOR JUSTICE, Reed discovers to his keen displeasure that he has been blocked from promotion to the rank of Lieutenant as a result of his honesty (considered as disloyalty by his peers), with his Detective partner being advanced over him because of "race norming", but the two nonetheless work effectively together as they attempt to solve a homicide, the victim a pregnant stripper (Marjorie Monaghan) whose day-time job is as a successful, albeit rather unbelievable, day care center operator, based at her trailer park home. In his initial directoral outing, Dennehy provides an able effort, in the face of a script that is heavily laden with cliché, not an unusual condition for a film produced expressly for television. Miguel Ferrer utilizes his lines to capably create his role of a man who desires more from life than he is likely to ever obtain from his comfortably established business and domestic relationships. A more inventive and less bromidic scenario, one that would have included a realistic approach to law enforcement procedures, would have been needed to lift this piece a notch. January 6, 2008

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