One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

.............................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA and ORLANDO, FLThis film, aside from its very special status mentioned above, is quite worthwhile and entertaining. It is an excellent George C. Scott vehicle, well-directed, well-scripted and well edited! Like other quality police dramas, it has several intertwined seamlessly integrated story lines, none of which is left unresolved, or most of which are left unresolved, when the end credits begin to roll…depending on your point of view! At times, on screen events resonant with such realism that it lends a dimension of docudrama to the overall production.CENTURIONS clearly transmits the boring nature of most of the daily, moment to moment activities that permeates police work, while, at the same time, emphasizing that this aspect of the job must be tempered by a heightened awareness intrinsic to survival owing to the ever-present possible reality of life-threatening scenarios on a one second event horizon! These "Men In Black" would, undoubtedly, prefer to live in a world where all their on-the- job decision options were delineated by a simple Black or White distinction. The reality of the New Centurions is that they clearly come in every imaginable shade of gray! Scott's cynical, scarred, veteran, Kilvinski, nearing retirement, has constructed a reality where his quasi-legal technique of locking up street- walkers in his paddy wagon and driving them around all night to keep the streets "clean and decent" is a necessary evil with which he feels, at least, reasonably comfortable! Keach's enthusiastic and idealistic rookie, Fehler, oozes frustration from every pore, as he perceives the lifeblood of his initial optimism being drained, drop by drop, by the cold, hard cement indifference of L.A.'s Mean Streets! Viewing, impotently, as both his marriage and his upbeat rookie positivism flounder in an ocean of problems, he finds consolation and support in the arms of a sensitive and empathetic nurse, played by Rosalind Cash.…Here is where I will reference the "Unheralded Epic First in Cinema History": I suppose that today, in 2015, in a perfect world, we are not supposed to notice or mention a good number of things because we must be "P.C.", right? But CENTURIONS wasn't made in 2015…It was released in 1972! To the best of my recollection, in the early 70's, whenever we saw a bi- racial on screen couple, which was really not all that frequently to begin with, their racial difference was always a focal point of the relationship. Usually because of the problems they encountered because of this difference from friends, from relatives or parents, from those in authority or simply from others in society! How briskly refreshing that in CENTURIONS they were just a police officer and a nurse who cared very dearly for one another… Absolutely no mention whatsoever of their racial difference! Isn't that exactly the way it should be? The way it is now…??? (Well, almost, anyway!).Hope to get some feedback from someone, anyone on this aspect of the movie… 9* Stars! ENJOY!/DISFRUTELA!

The New Centurions is directed by Richard Fleischer, has a screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, is based on the novel by Joseph Wambaugh and stars George C. Scott, Stacy Keach, Jane Alexander and Clifton James.One of the best films about patrolling the beat ever made in my opinion. George C. Scott is ferocious as Kilvinski the older police officer mentoring a young rookie called Roy Fehler(Stacy Keach). Kilvinski has seen it all in his years on the force and is surprised by no form of violence any more, he's tough but fair and does his best to help where he can. The film is split into a series of incidents involving Kilvinski and other officers.The New Centurions is a really bleak film that shows the horrific things which police officers have to deal with on a daily basis. There is a documentary feel to this film, you are made to feel as though you are patrolling the streets with these officers and encountering the villains and victims along with them.This film is shocking and violent and shows that these officers can face death at any time from anybody. We also see that this job emotionally destroys the men and women who do it, they seldom remain the same as they were when they joined the force. It's not just the dead officers whose photos hang on the station wall who pay a price, all the officers do in one way or another.The film also shows the effect a police officers career can have on their family, they spend more time on the job and sadly their family begins to come second place. Jane Alexander is excellent as Fehler's wife Dorothy who has to watch the job create quite an impact on their personal life.The entire cast give superb performances with special praise going to Scott.A scene that will stay with me forever is when one of the rookies is chasing a robbery suspect in the dark, somebody runs at him and he shoots them, when he gets closer he sees it's the father of the robbery victim who had come out into the alley to look for the suspect too. When the officer sees what he has done he breaks down and looks haunted, it's a powerful moment for sure.Grim, gritty and powerful, The New Centurions is a film that deserves to be much more well known today.

The very first police novel of Joseph Wambaugh is the subject of this film. Although George C. Scott is top billed the story is carried through all the way by Stacy Keach. In this Scott's role is similar to the one he played in Taps.In fact The New Centurions also has a classical analogy as well. Scott as Julius Caesar who dies midpoint in the Cleopatra saga and Stacy Keach as the Mark Antony figure who carries on to the end to meet the same fate. The title comes from the fact that these cops see each other as the forces of law and order holding back a tide of anarchy. That kind of pressure to be the force of order certainly puts a lot of pressure on those who enlist to serve. The old centurions failed and the Roman Empire they protected eventually failed as well.Scott is the old timer ready for retirement and whose last partner is rookie Stacy Keach. Keach is married to Jane Alexander and has a young daughter. As Keach gets more into his job he and Alexander drift slowly apart. It's a cliché in police dramas that death is ever present with those who take up this work. But this is one cliché that is tried and true. You'll see some examples of that.Wambaugh's cops here and in other of his work are deeply flawed human beings and there's no exception here. Keach is completely unraveled when Alexander walks out on him and starts drinking on the job. He has an incident which I won't describe, but believe me it shows what can happen to a policeman who is abusing and not focused on the job.Ironically Keach does meet another woman Rosalind Cash and with this The New Centurions marks one of the first interracial romances ever shown on the big screen. But death snatches him with rapid suddenness and it makes the tragic ending all the more poignant.Down in the cast is James Sikking who went on to play many a cop most notably in Hill Street Blues. Keach does some time with the Vice Squad and Sikking who is perfect as an ambitious cop looking to rise by running up a score of arrests for victimless crimes.Devotees of police dramas and serious ones will like The New Centurions. Fans of the stars will be impressed.

This is less of a story than a series of vignettes which take place over several years. They are loosely based around Stacey Keach's character. Although there is some attempt to inject humour, the general tone can be summed up in one word: grim. We see cops shooting innocent people, being shot and indeed shooting themselves. Other than that there's marital breakdown, alcoholism, child abuse and immigrant exploitation among other cheery subjects.The only real comedy appears when Keach joins the vice squad. The comedy is not very successful and seems just added on. This part is notable for the appearance of James Sikking in what seems to be a trial run for his role in Hill Street Blues. HSB does seem indebted to TNC is some ways particularly the opening gathering in front of the sergeant (I almost expected him to say "let's be careful out there") and also the wide range of characters. HSB is much more successful than TNC however; there is much better character development and each individual plot strand is satisfactorily resolved. Also the comedy interludes are better.In TNC the characters are rather sketchily drawn; they drop in and out of the film and we do not think we get to know them well. The vignettes jump quickly to the next scene sometimes months later which creates a disjointed effect. Certain plot elements are left dangling. For example, when George C Scott and Keach nab a suspect early on, there is talk as to whether the case will stand up in court or not. But we do not discover if it does or not. something which HSB would have clarified.It also think that, despite the grim nature of the piece, the ending is unnecessarily downbeat and depressing. After watching this, one wonders why anyone would ever become a New York cop.