Product Description

In a world filled with violence his only weapon is the truth. J.J. Johnson is an african-american rookie cop who believes in cleaning up the streets. This leads him to falsely accuse an innocent man of murder. When inconsistencies in reports start to appear j.J. Enlists the help of a female trooper. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Ice Cube Michael Boatman Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50725 in DVD
• Brand: ICE CUBE
• Released on: 2005-08-16
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Eager rookie J.J. Johnson (Michael Boatman) is the only black officer in a Los Angeles sheriffs' substation. He soon comes up against ingrained racism, corruption, and violence on the force as he tries to fit in. A young black man (Ice Cube) is pulled in as a murder suspect after a wealthy man's wife is shot in a botched armed robbery. Boatman and Deputy Fields (Lori Petty) soon realize that the facts in the case don't add up and dig a bit deeper. They soon find a maze of deceit that extends upward from the sheriffs to L.A. city government. Though slow and rather convoluted, this film has an absorbing story worthy of Joseph Wambaugh and an interesting cast to hold viewers' attention. Blaxploitation vet Bernie Casey excels as Ice Cube's defense attorney, and Boatman is fine as the wide-eyed Johnson. Director Charles Burnett infuses a sense of dread and foreboding into sunny Los Angeles locations and well-lit convenience stores that turns the rules of dimly lit thrillers upside down. He also does a fair job of capturing the macho-cowboy mentality of the all-white sheriffs, complete with styled hair and heavy mustaches. Considering the timely subject matter, this film could have easily become heavy-handed cop opera, but the character development and performances are strong enough to lift it above the level of invective. After all, it's a scenario that's all too believable in light of late-1990s events. --Jerry Renshaw

From The New Yorker
The writer-director Charles Burnett ("Killer of Sheep," "To Sleep with Anger") uses the cop-thriller form to make a moving and emotionally acute drama of self-knowledge. The hero, J. J. Johnson (Michael Boatman), is an eager, idealistic young cop assigned to an L.A. County Sheriff's station; he's the first black man ever to serve there. J.J. is caught in a no man's land: members of his own community look at him as if he were a traitor, and the angry white men he works with consider him an outsider. The movie's early scenes are dominated by Boatman's brilliant performance as a man who, in the attempt to be all things to all people, becomes a mystery to himself. Later, as J.J. begins to uncover evidence of corruption, the film's scope widens, but the director's lucid style never falters. In Burnett's hands, this story (which was inspired by the real-life experiences of a black deputy) dramatizes a simple and profoundly political idea: you can't know yourself until you know what you're a part of. In its quiet way, this is the most subversive American movie in years. Also with Lori Petty, Richard Anderson, Ice Cube, Bernie Casey, Michael Ironside, M. Emmet Walsh, and Elliott Gould. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A deserving special edition for this movie
Charles Burnett is one of America's most underrated filmmakers working today. Unlike his African-American contemporary, Spike Lee, he is not an outspoken personality in his own right, preferring to let the work speak for itself. In many respects, his films are self-aware in terms of social conscience as John Sayles' own work. As a result, Burnett also finds it hard to get his movies widely distributed. The Glass Shield was his attempt to reach a wider audience by having Miramax distribute it. Sadly, like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, it was subjected to the same lackluster release by Miramax head honcho, Harvey Weinstein and promptly disappeared.

Stylistically, Burnett is not as in-your-face as Spike Lee, preferring to let the content and the characters deliver his message. That's not to say his films don't have their own style-The Glass Shield is a well-shot movie (adopting a colour scheme that reflects Johnson's comic book fantasies)-it just doesn't cause unnecessary attention to itself.

There is an audio commentary by writer/director Charles Burnett and composer Stephen James Taylor. Burnett points out that the cops are conditioned not to trust anyone before they are sent out on patrol and this often explains their hostile behaviour on the streets. This is an intelligent, conversational track with lots of excellent observations by both men with some good stories told by Burnett.

"A Conversation with Charles Burnett" is a featurette that alternates between clips from the movie and Burnett talking.

"Film Scoring with Stephen James Taylor" explores this composer's creative process. He drew from all kinds of musical genres with Negro spiritual melodies as the score's heart. He also talks about the origins of key musical cues from the movie.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

A cop movie anyone could love
One of the most acurate portrayals of american police departments in the good ole USA. A good story told from a real perspective. Intense drama,lying racist cops,and brilliant African-American & Latino lawyers. The story follows two naive young rookie cops, a black male and a white female, who learn a hard lesson about trying to join an all white male police department they really don't belong in. The only other accurate potrayal of dirty cops on film, that I know of is "Dark Blue" with Kurt Russell. Check it out.

Highly Recommended.
This movie was pretty good. I started watchin this movie with my friends and they said it was a LA CONFIDENTIAL ripoff. I think that it wasn't and i think it was awesome.