If the 1970s isn’t the best decade in terms of overall quality for film-making, it’s in the discussion. For this is the decade which saw Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg whet their whistle with films like The Godfather, Mean Streets and Jaws. But this ten-year stretch is famous for producing some of the best crime films the genre has ever seen. Of course you have the already mentioned Godfather (as well as its sequel) and Mean Streets, plus there’s The French Connection, The Conversation, Chinatown and Dirty Harry among others.
In 2007, Russell Crowe shared the screen with Denzel Washington in American Gangster, the Ridley Scott-directed ’70s period cop drama. The film was Crowe’s best performer since 2001’s A Beautiful Mind. Having taken a liking to the period, Crowe is considering another period cop movie that he would both star and direct. Titled ’77, the film has a script by David Matthews from a story by LA Confidential‘s James Ellroy, who previously wrote stories for Street Kings and Dark Blue. He’s also credited with the upcoming feature Rampart, from Oren Moverman, of The Messenger previously.
According to Deadline, the drama connects two stories from 1974. It deals with the unsolved murder of an LAPD officer, and the nationally televised shootout in South Central L.A. between the Symbionese Liberation Army and the LAPD, where 50,000 rounds of gunfire were exchanged. The events will be seen through the eyes of two police partners, one black and one white.
