Q & A **** (1990, Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armand Assante) – Classic Movie Review 8092

Nick Nolte gives a spellbinding performance as a raging New York cop called Mike Brennan under investigation by nice young assistant district attorney Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton) for killing a Hispanic drug dealer in writer-director Sidney Lumet’s shocking, scalding 1990 crime thriller Q & A, based on the book by Edwin Torres.

The hypnotically dark and dangerous story succeeds in Lumet’s hands as both an exciting cop movie and a searing inquiry into police corruption and racism.

Lumet shoots in riveting documentary style, with noirish Technicolor cinematography by Andrzej Bartowiak, and delivers the kind of powerhouse movie the faint-hearted will want to shy away from.

Armand Assante is outstanding in support as the arch-criminal Bobby Texador, and the excellent cast also includes notable appearances by Patrick O’Neal, Lee Richardson, Luis Guzman, Charles Dutton, Jenny Lumet, Paul Calderon, Leonard Cimino and Dominic Chianese.

Q & A is one of Lumet’s best movies. It was nominated for one Golden Globe: Armand Assante for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Lumet is credited as the pseudonymous Alan Smithee on television prints because he disapproved of how his movie was edited for TV.

Patrick O’Neal (Kevin Quinn) and Cynthia O’Neal (Agnes Quinn) were married in real life, and Jenny Lumet (Nancy Bosch) is the director’s daughter. Nolte put on 50lb to play Brennan.

Also in the cast are Fyvush Finkel, Gustavo Brens, Martin E Brens, Maurice Schell, John Capodice, Hal Lehrman, Brian Neill, Susan Mitchell, Frederick Rolfe, Drew Eliot, Frank Raiter, and Harry Madsen.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8092

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