Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 09/17/2002
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 126 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Joseph Wambaugh's
The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen
Karl Hattinger (
John Savage) and
Ian Campbell (
Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types,
Greg Powell (
James Woods) and
Jimmy Smith (
Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly,
Powell pulls a gun on the cops, then forces them into a deserted onion field, where he kills
Campbell in cold blood.
Hattinger manages to escape, and through his eyewitness account,
Powell and
Smith are arrested. But that is not that. Thanks to their knowledge and manipulation of the quicksilver legal system,
Powell and
Smith manage to evade prosecution for years. Meanwhile,
Hattinger goes through hell on earth, tortured with guilt over the fact that he lived while
Campbell died so ignominiously.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
