The Onion Field [1979] James Woods

The Onion Field (1979)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079668/

The Onion Field is a 1979 American drama film directed by Harold Becker. The screenplay by Joseph Wambaugh is based on his 1973 true crime novel of the same title. The Onion Field is rated R by the MPAA.

The film focuses on an actual 1963 event in which Los Angeles Police Department detectives Karl Hettinger and Ian Campbell were kidnapped by charismatic psychopath Greg Powell and weak, gullible Jimmy Smith and taken to an onion field near Bakersfield, where Campbell was shot and killed and Hettinger managed to escape.


John Savage ... Det. Karl Francis Hettinger
James Woods ... Gregory Ulas Powell
Franklyn Seales ... Jimmy Lee 'Youngblood' Smith
Ted Danson ... Det. Ian James Campbell
Ronny Cox ... Det. Sgt. Pierce R. Brooks
David Huffman ... Dist. Atty. Phil Halpin
Christopher Lloyd ... Jailhouse lawyer
Dianne Hull ... Helen Hettinger (as Diane Hull)
Priscilla Pointer ... Chrissie Campbell
Beege Barkette ... Greg's woman (as Beege Barkett)
Richard Herd ... Beat Cop
Le Tari ... Emmanuel McFadden
Richard Venture ... Det. Glenn Bates
Lee Weaver ... Billy
Pat Corley ... Jimmy's Lawyer #2

The film was shot on location in Valencia, Los Angeles, Maricopa, and Taft in California. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 1978 before opening in New York City on September 19.

Joseph Wambaugh was a cop with the LAPD before becoming a best-selling author. For years, he wrote thrillers, while maintaining the day job.

In 1977, Robert Aldrich made a movie from Wambaugh's The Choirboys, which the author and critics hated. After this experience, he was determined not to lose control of another film project and so when his hugely popular novel The Onion Field, based on a real life case, was being prepared for the big screen, he not only wrote the script, but put up the bulk of the money.

Conceived by Wambaugh as an answer to the several substandard adaptations bearing his name (and directed by newcomer Harold Becker, who would go on to deliver Taps and Sea of Love… and Domestic Disturbance), The Onion Field represents ‘truth-based’ cinema at its most enlightening. Crafting an entertaining film while respecting the facts of a tragic murder seems a tricky balance indeed. Since the cop-turned-author held a boatload of clout in the late ‘70s, he was able to nurture this project every step of the way. That The Onion Field still holds up amazingly well today is proof positive that the author knew damn well what he was doing.

Savage in its banality and absurd in its violence, The Onion Field begins its life almost as a film noir caper before settling in and becoming a meditation on crime, justice, and the legal “profession” in the widest possible scope of the term; including the lawyers, cops and criminals. But when it ends, you are left–or at least I was–with the feeling that this movie is more an acknowledgement of the passage of time than anything else. Needless to say, it is a fascinating story told in an utterly mature way.

When Field succeeds, it does so due to the acting. All of the performers offer nice work, though Woods stands out from the crowd. A virtual unknown at the time, his turn as Greg really launched his career, and deservedly so. Woods makes Greg brash and bigger than life, and he also gives him a psychotic tint that never becomes over the top. As Karl, Savage seems a little stiff at first, but he appropriately depicts the character’s slow collapse and does well with the more dramatic moments.

It might not offer many earth-shattering revelations, but The Onion Field is a fact-based police procedural that entertains on sheer authenticity alone. The tragic screenplay is easily as engrossing as the best the N.Y.P.D. Blue has to offer, yet the reality of the crimes makes them all the more fascinating.