Featuring George Peppard in the sort of
maverick-cop role one normally associates with Clint Eastwood, Newman’s Law delivers an adequate dosage
of mid-’70s crime-and-punishment melodrama, hitting all the usual notes of
corruption, double-crosses, and rugged individualism. Working with a director
and writer culled from the creative ranks of his short-lived TV show Banacek, Peppard renders typically bland
work, though he’s quite believable when conveying the nastier aspects of his character. (Few actors channel icy cruelty quite as smoothly as Peppard did.) Newman’s Law benefits from extensive
location photography and slick production values, so even though the picture
comes across very much like an extended episode of a cop show, it’s a got a pleasing feature-film sheen. What it doesn’t have is a fresh or interesting
story. Instead, writer Anthony Wilson churns through a familiar cycle in which
our tough-guy hero, Detective Sergeant Vince Newman (Peppard), gets caught in a
conspiracy wrought by crooked cops and nefarious drug dealers. Vince also
wrestles with troubles in his private life, such as the rising costs of keeping
his deteriorating father in a nursing home.
Nonetheless, fans of ’70s cop
cinema will have an easy time digesting this flick, which has just enough in the way of chases and fights and shootouts to
satisfy undiscerning palates. What’s more, a couple of scenes are relatively
vivid. In one, Peppard climbs atop a water tower and points a sniper rifle at a
criminal’s hilltop mansion—themes of police driven to “righteous” illegality by
the restrictions of the legal system are always inherently interesting. Another
choice bit features Peppard questioning a stripper (played by nubile B-movie
stalwart Pat Anderson) while she gives a private performance. Although
forgettable and lurid on its own merits, the scene parallels a sexy vignette in
the 1986 John Frankenheimer thriller 52
Pick-Up, which was penned by the great Elmore Leonard. Did Leonard see Newman’s Law and later mimic one of its
scenes? In any event, Newman’s Law generates
a sufficient degree of low-ebb excitement, in fits and starts, to get the
no-nonsense job done. Plus, it’s got Abe Vigoda as a courtly gangster, so
there’s that.
Newman’s
Law: FUNKY
