Onion Field, The

Onion Field, The

About

Wambaugh, cop turned writer, specializes in the background detail and hellish side of police work. This, the best of the movies from his books, takes a true case and bleakly documents it. Two LA policemen apprehend two hoodlums who turn the tables on them, drive them into the country and shoot Campbell (Danson), as Hetlinger (Savage) gets away. They bury the half-dead cop in the onion field of the title. The story concentrates as much on the devastation of Hettinger as on the trial and incarceration of the psychopathic Smith (Seales) and the compliant Powell (Woods).

Cast & Connections

Actor: James Woods, John Savage, David Huffman, Franklyn Seales, Ronny Cox, Ted Danson
Director: Harold Becker
Writer: Joseph Wambaugh
Producer: Walter Coblenz
Photographer: Charles Rosher

In a nutshell

Brutal, even sordid, but compulsive viewing.

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