Florida City [2003]

Florida City (2003)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241453/

Florida City is an independent feature film shot in 2003 in Orlando, Florida. The film stars Zen Gesner as Chief of Police John Haleran who is conducting a murder investigation.



Zen Gesner ... John Haleran
Jeannetta Arnette ... Donna Jo
William Morgan Sheppard ... Taylor
James Bates Jr. ... Andy Creed
Patrick Cherry ... Tector
Brett Rice ... Doc DeLibo
Talia Osteen ... Sarah
Patrick Holland ... James Wilson
Thomas Schuster ... One-eyed Man
George 'The Animal' Steele ... Tortuga Jack

This film concerns the efforts of drunk-by-noon police chief John Haleran (Zen Gesner) to shape up and find the murderer of a young Japanese girl whose body has been discovered in the swamplands on December 1, 1941. With the aid of his retired predecessor (fine character actor Morgan Sheppard), Haleran discovers the dead girl is but the tip of a conspiratorial iceberg that involves the U.S. military and its efforts to keep crucial Japanese military informaton hidden from the public.

A surprisingly rich period look and higher-than-average production values distingush this film which I first saw at its premiere at the Valencia Community College Film Festival. Director Ralph A Clemente is on the faculty at the school's film program. In the ensuing years I had wondered from time to time [usually around the time of the Pearl Harbor attack] what had become of it. Recently I discovered it had been release to DVD with the less evocative and more misleaing title Small Town Conspiracy. This is not a blockbuster multi-plex film in which cgi special effects or rapid-fire editing overshadow other shortcomings. But it is a pleasant, undemanding way to spend a couple of hours.