THE OFFENCE (64)

Directed by: Sidney Lumet (1973)

Starring: Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Ian Bannen

The Pitch: A suspected child molester is killed during interrogation by a cop trying to suppress his own pedophile tendencies.

Theo Sez: It's easy to forget what a great actor Connery used to be. This is his darkest, fiercest performance, even if his accent is at its most indecipherable - and even if the film itself finally degenerates into a series of one-act made-for-TV plays, long two-person scenes in which various characters gradually work themselves up from wary civility to a frenzy of screaming and spilt secrets. Before that it's a memorably moody entertainment, all oppressively heavy atmosphere as befits the dark and stormy emotions at its centre : it seems to be set within the landscape of its hero's mind, ugly memories festering, ready to spring out, behind every corner. As this tormented, self-loathing cop, looking like he wants physically to claw the offending thoughts out of his mind, Connery is seriously scary, almost feral in his intensity : in his brutal scenes with his long-suffering wife ("You've never made me happy! Not once!"), in his unsmiling refusal even to accept a free drink, and when he finally confronts his demons, sobbing against the shoulder of the man he both despises and relates to, he goes beyond the script's small-scale obviousness into deep, uncharted waters. It's his edge, the sleek panther-like physicality he's always coasting on nowadays, his killer charm : only this time without the charm.