The Onion Field

Let me begin by saying that 1979's THE ONION FIELD, director Harold Becker's realization of Joseph Wambaugh's novel, has one of the best trailers I've ever seen. If I could find a link for it I would certainly post it (the only one I could ferret out is a partial HBO advertisement when it played on the pay channel in 1980). The trailer is brilliant: still frames only, forboding narrator, a chilly atmosphere, an ominous typewriter punching out the names of the actors. It scared the hell out of me way back when (almost as much as the one for MAGIC, but that's for another time), and it remains pretty scary. The still shots are grainy, like the photo lab underexposed them. It adds a certain quality that fits. This is a dark, tragic story, all the more troubling because it really happened. You watch the trailer, and think the film itself will be a knockout.

Not quite, but a game effort from the filmmakers. Wambaugh was a Los Angeles cop who eventually became a best-selling author in the 70s. He had more than enough material, having walked the mean streets, witnessed the corruption for so many years. His novels rang with authenticity. Inevitably, Hollywood began adapting. The horrendous THE CHOIRBOYS from '77 almost precluded Wambaugh from allowing any further filmizations (he took his name off the credits of that turkey, and rightfully so). However, he was able to script (and Becker was able to direct) his next piece free from any studio interference.

A terrible, bleak tale of murder and the labyrinthine elements of the criminal justice system, THE ONION FIELD follows criminals Jimmy Smith (Franklyn Seales) and Greg Powell (James Woods) in 1963 as they scheme and make a very wrong turn, a bad decision that will write the course for the rest of their days. This mistake involves L.A. cops Carl Hettinger (John Savage) and his partner Ian Campbell (Ted Danson). They pull over Smith and Powell after an illegal U-turn. Powell panics and pulls a gun on the cops, eventually deciding that he will force them both to a remote field of the title. Smith reluctantly assists. Powell's plan is to leave the cops there, but then in further panic (and blinding ignorance) he recalls the Lindburgh Law, the one he misinterprets as a capital crime that carries the death penalty for merely the kidnapping (recall the Lindburgh baby case). So, in a flash of confusion and stupidity, he shoots Campbell; Hettigner manages to escape after 4 more slugs are pumped into Campbell's lifeless body. Which of the duo pulled the trigger four more times? Becker frames this in long shot so we're not quite sure. In fact, no one ever was sure and proof was never found either way.

Hettinger lives with the horror of the event, and the subsequent guilt of survival, for years to come. He also lives with the disdain and disrespect of his fellow police officers. His home life suffers. After the criminals are apprehended, the policeman harbors hope that the courts will swiftly send them to the gas chamber. Perhaps then he will be able to sleep again. Instead, Powell and Smith continue to dog the system, staying alive for many years on taxpaper subsidy. Hettinger continues to fall apart.

THE ONION FIELD, yes, tells a sad story. It's sad because we witness the senseless killing of a good man. It's sad beacuse we watch another good man suffer, while the perps manipulate the system. Sure, they are incarcerated but Hettinger wants the score settled. Would the deaths of these two really assauge his soul? Wambaugh wonders. His book is a shattering delve into the lawman's psyche, and a very well told piece of journalism, too.

The movie, while admirably born of the author's creative freedom, is too scattered. After the effective opening scenes and the onion field sequence, this movie becomes a real mishmash, with a lot on its plate and a lack of focus as to how to digest it all. If the emphasis had remained on Hettinger, we could have had a real gripping vise of a movie. But every time we get involved in his plight, the film cuts to the antics of Powell and Smith, the former of whom especially transforms from simpleton to alarmingly knowledgeable about the law. And, we also get courtroom scenes that play like outtakes from the same year's ....AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, the legal system satire that starred Al Pacino. Scenes of absurdity involving neurotic attorneys and an almost surrealistic air. The sequences are entertaining, but don't belong here. I got caught up in them and then had to remind myself what this film was about. When we rejoin Hettinger, the earlier drama is sadly diluted.

All that said, the actors are excellent. Danson was just starting out, and in his brief screen time he makes an impression. Seales plays a small-time ex-con who makes a bad association and pays for it with his life; he conveys a sadness that is almost as tragic as the Hettinger's. As that cop, Savage demonstrates quiet pain, a real discomfort and nausea. Woods, of course, is just great as the wily Powell, a very dangerous viper whether he is knowledgeable or not. It is one of his many dynamic early performances. It is written that the real Powell saw this movie and was impressed with Wood's take.

Back to the trailer. I could (and have) watched it a dozen times. It outlines the story in a scary slide show that could play on its own. We are given snippets of visuals, all of which look washed out and unclear, like remnants of a nightmare in our mind's eye as we groggily wake up. Much like what Hettinger probably suffered over and over. See this movie if you like, but download the trailer and read the book for true poetic justice.