Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Deep Cover (1992)
Director: Bill Duke
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Fishburne, sensational in his first starring role, is a mid-West undercover cop brought in to infiltrate a West coast drugs ring whose members stretch up to the Latin American diplomatic corps. In a stunning opening sequence, we see a ten-year-old boy (who grows up to be Fishburne's John Q Hull) cradling his junkie father as the latter dies on a doomed Christmas attempt to rob a liquor store for dope money. Twenty years later, Hull is a cop with an attitude problem, a man who obeyed his father's order never to touch drugs but still has all the animal instincts of the dark side of the street. In the course of his work, Hull has to feign indifference to scenes of hideous violence, and gradually becomes embroiled with Goldblum's on-the-edge lawyer/user/dealer. Eventually, biting on a little more than it can chew, the film reverts to type. But in addition to Fishburne, it gives us a first-rate soundtrack, a clutch of splendid cameos, fine, grainy direction from Duke, and much pointed stuff about the hypocrisy behind the USA's so-called war against drugs.Author: SGr
Cast & crew
Director: Bill Duke
Producer: Pierre David
Cast: Larry Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Victoria Dillard, Charles Martin Smith, Sydney Lassick, Clarence Williams III, Gregory Sierra, Roger Guenveur Smith full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 112 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now