X
- 1979
- R
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 2 h 6 m
- 1979
- R
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 2 h 6 m
Summary An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
Directed By: Harold Becker
Written By: Joseph Wambaugh, Eric Roth
- 1979
- R
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 2 h 6 m
- 1979
- R
- AVCO Embassy Pictures
- 2 h 6 m
The Onion Field
57
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
Directed By: Harold Becker
Written By: Joseph Wambaugh, Eric Roth
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
57
33% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
67% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
57
33% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
67% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Onion Field is one of the best films of the year, a powling, gripping, disturbing movie that has its own far-from-simple vision of evil in our wretched and sinister cities. [24 Sep 1979, p.107]
It's the usual heavy Wambaugh brew: police procedure closely observed without a trace of romanticism, suggesting simply that life in the force is psychological hell.
This is a strong, affecting story but it's also a straggly one, populated by tangential figures and parallel plotlines; the criminals' histories are every bit as convoluted and fascinating as those of the policemen they abducted. Even the courtroom drama is unusually complicated, introducing a new legal team with each new trial.
Good acting and careful direction by Becker make it worth seeing, but the violence and the language may be too graphic for some tastes.
Except in the performances of John Savage, as Hettinger, and James Woods, as Powell, there is little attempt to probe the reasons for behavior, and except in the stylized filming of the murder, there is little attempt to assign special importance to one event over another. The picture is a textbook example of the limits of objective reporting. [06 Oct 1979]
The movie version of The Onion Field offers a compelling buildup of suspense and apprehension, culminating in the shocking murder of a young policeman. But it gradually begins to diminish in force, transforming a gripping, realistic reenactment of a murder case into a prosaic and somewhat baffling grind. [19 Oct 1979, p.B1]
User Reviews
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Nomination
