Fort Apache, The Bronx

Plot summary

Police officers face many challenges in the decaying, impoverished, high-crime South Bronx region of New York City. Among these officers are NYPD officers Murphy and Corelli, who work out of the 41st precinct, nicknamed "Fort Apache" because to those who work there, it feels like an army outpost in foreign territory. The streets are filled with dangerous gangs, criminals, and drug dealers. Unemployment is very high and the neighborhood is filled with garbage and wrecked buildings. While Murphy is a hard-drinking and lonely divorced father, he has a great camaraderie with Corelli. As well, Murphy's life improves when he meets a young nurse, Isabella, and they start a romantic relationship.

The precinct is one of the worst and most dilapidated in the entire department, approaching demolition and staffed mostly by officers who are unwanted by and have been transferred out of other precincts. Additionally, the precinct's officers do not represent the large Puerto Rican community, as only 4% of the officers are Hispanic in the largest non-English speaking section of the Bronx. Corelli and Murphy attempt to maintain law and order by catching pimps and robbers, but they are having conflicts with corrupt fellow officers, officers who use police brutality as well as with a newly appointed police captain, Connolly. There is rioting due to alleged police brutality, as well as issues related to the deaths of two rookie cops, who were shot by a drug addict at the film's beginning. During the riot, Murphy and Corelli witness an officer throwing an innocent teenager off an apartment roof, who falls to his death. As Murphy becomes more intimate with Isabella, they begin a sexual relationship. While she is sleeping, Murphy notices "track marks" on her skin. She later admits that she uses heroin as a way to relax from working in such a stressful environment. She tells him that other hospital employees also use heroin.

Illustrating the hopeless futility of policing in the precinct, the killer of the two cops is never found, despite mass arrests and interrogations. The body of the drug addict, who was killed, was later shown as an anonymous bundle, dumped in the roadside trash. With nothing to link her to the deaths of the rookie officers, the police remain ignorant of the fact that she was the killer. At the end of the movie, the killer is never identified by the police. Murphy is broken when Isabella dies from a drug overdose. Murphy wrestles with the moral question of whether he should maintain the "blue code" and not inform authorities about the officer who threw the teen off the roof. Murphy decides to resign and tell the police chief about the officer killing the teen, a decision that will make all the other officers hate him and view him as a "stool pigeon". Murphy seems to be on the verge of quitting the force, when he sees a purse snatcher rob a person and flee. Murphy and Corelli chase the robber, and the image freezes as Murphy leaps to tackle him.

Cast

Reception

The film grossed over $65 million worldwide at its time of release in 1981. On release, reviews were mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, which collects both modern and contemporaneous review, the film has an 83% approval rating based on 12 reviews; the average rating is 6.6/10.

Richard Schickel, in TIME, called it "more like a made-for-TV movie". He also added, "The film is not quite up to its star" and is "somewhere between Barney Miller and the works of Joseph Wambaugh". Of the acting, he wrote, "But mainly it is Newman, now 56, who gives Fort Apache its modest distinction". Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, called it "...the most complete collection of cop-movie clichés since John Wayne played a Chicago cop in McQ". He criticized the number of unnecessary scenes and "story threads that lead nowhere". Ebert said about Newman that he is "good in his role", but called the film more of a TV show. Variety labeled the film "... a very patchy picture, strong on dialog and acting and exceedingly weak on story", and criticizes it for its lack of depth. Nick Sambides, Jr. at Allmovie calls it "...flinty but otherwise forgettable character study". The New York Post published a photo of Newman on the set with a caption that he stated was inaccurate, calling the paper "a garbage can". Because of the dispute the Post banned him from its pages, even removing his name from films in the TV listings.

Legal issues

Local community groups threatened to file suit against the producers because of the way it depicted their neighborhood in the Bronx and for the depiction of ethnic minorities (Blacks and Puerto Ricans). Because of this pressure some changes were made to the script and a note was added to the title card at the beginning of the film.

Walker v. Time Life Films, Inc., 784 F.2d 44 (2d Cir. 1986)