In this day and age of real crime dramas on television, it’s hard to remember a time when the details of crimes were so horrific that the public was often protected from them.  The events depicted in The Onion Field are based on real events, first told in a novel by noted crime author Joseph Wambaugh.

In March, 1963, Los Angeles Detective Karl Hettinger (portrayed by John Savage) is newly partnered with veteran Detective Ian Campbell (portrayed by Ted Danson).  The two are out on what appears to be a routine traffic stop, but it turns into something much worse.

Greg Powell (portrayed by James Woods) is a hood who seems like he's on the fringes of a breakdown.  He has two pals who help him out, Billy and Jimmy (portrayed by Lee Weaver and Franklyn Seales).  The two collide one night when Hettinger and Campbell pull over Powell and Jimmy after an illegal u-turn.  Powell turns the tables on the officers and kidnaps them.  They take the two officers out into an onion field in the outskirts of Los Angeles.  Campbell is slain in cold blood while Hettinger manages to escape into the dark.

Woods seems to enjoy roles like this, where the character is definitely off-balance.  Powell is really in no way redeemable.  He’s not likeable in his home-life nor in his ideas for ways to make a quick buck.  Jimmy is a little different.  Although he’s been a petty criminal, he doesn’t seem to be off-balance the way Powell is.  His presence at the crime scene has more to do with his character’s weakness as a characteristic.  Jimmy goes along with what Powell wants and when he wants to extract himself from the situation, he’s both too afraid of Powell to do so and in a way compelled to see how everything is going to play out.  Woods’ performance is stellar and nearly flawless.  Woods could have done a lot more with Powell and made him into an over-the-top psycho, but he knows how to walk close to that line and not cross over it.  Seales seems a little less comfortable, but part of that can be blames on how overshadowed his performance was by Woods.  It does work well to illustrate Jimmy’s discomfort with the situation he’s placed himself in.

The filmmakers deliberately try to leave suspense about who the shot the bullet that killed.  Powell and Jimmy point fingers at each other.  It’s left ambivalent which might be hard to swallow in this day and age of shows like CSI that seem to get the answer to everything.  To me, it didn’t matter.  The fact that Jimmy was there and went along with Powell makes him as guilty of the cold-blooded murder in the long run.

I hadn’t seen any of Ted Danson’s work prior to Cheers.  This is a dramatic role for him, a far cry from the seemingly happy-go-lucky ex-alcoholic seen in that show.  Danson’s character is a family man who is still close to his mother, but not in a way that seems abnormal.  He spends time playing the bagpipes, and it’s shown to be an outlet for him in response to the work he does.  Danson portrays Detective Campbell as pretty level-headed and self-assured, although the times he spends with his mother seem to indicate a need for an outlet that he doesn’t feel he can show to his wife and children.

John Savage would likely be thought of as the main character.  His life is shown for quite some time after the shooting.  His life and career slowly spiral downhill.  In 1963, there was little done for police officers or anyone else who were in traumatic situations such as this.  Hettinger suffers tremendously.  There’s his own guilt at what he could have done differently.  The department chooses to use this case and what he’s done as an example of what not to do in the same situation.  His fellow officers aren’t shy about offering their opinions about what happened that night when his back is turned, even if they know he is within earshot.  The only support he seems to have is from his wife.  Predictable to those of today, he turns to alcohol.  Less predictably, he seems to deliberately sabotage his job with a series of petty thefts.  This is a time before post-traumatic stress-disorder was really understood or diagnosed, but it would seem Hettinger’s was a textbook case compounded by the way he was treated by the Los Angeles Police Department.  Savage displays the angst and the guilt quite well, particularly in a scene where he contemplates suicide in his living room only to be interrupted by his toddler.

This is a character piece, and if you’re expecting some revenge-driven action flick, you’ll be disappointed.  At the time this crime was perpetrated, it shocked everyone.  Crime might have been an issue in the cities, but those people expected to protect them seemed to be immune to being the victims of horrific crimes such as this.  In the ensuing years, much has changed, as you can see on any given night on a variety of cable stations which detail many horrific aspects of crimes.  In some ways, I wish we could return to the days when the story shown here truly shocked people.  We’ve lost a bit of what made us human since then.

The Onion Field is a good film that stays pretty close to the way the novel was written.  This is likely because Wambaugh wrote the screenplay as well, but director Harold Becker also seemed intent on keeping this sensitive to the survivors of those involved, without turning the criminals into something too muck like a cartoon character.

The DVD production is good.  Much of the crime takes place in the dark.  The scenes in the onion field itself are good as Hettinger finds his way in the dark toward safety.  I found it a bit hard to think that it’s a lot darker than is depicted here, but the way it’s filmed does seem to balance what the audience needs to see with the conditions actually experienced when the crime was committed.  There is commentary with the Director which was interesting as well as a featurette about the crime that really helps someone from a different era understand what was so different in 1963 in regard to police work and crime.

If you’ve never seen The Onion Field, I recommend it.  It’s a good study of what a crime film can be when it’s done well and the director doesn’t feel the need to make the criminals over-the-top caricatures.  The acting is superb, even if the second criminal is overshadowed a bit by Woods.  If you’re a fan of Ted Danson’s work in Cheers, I think you’ll be surprised by his subtle yet strong performance here.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Audio Commentary with Director Harold Becker
• Ring of Truth featurette
• Theatrical Trailer



© 2009 Patti Aliventi

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD