I always felt this film deserved a good DVD edition and now we have it .

All involved with it should be proud .

The device of there being a part of town which is mostly policemen was novel , I thought .
There is a 'Western' element to it - the 'one man stands up for what's right' sort of plot device , however it is well done .

Highly recommended .

Mangold's masterpiece with an all-star cast, icluding Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta. Extras, deleted scenes, the whole nine yard. Very good stuff.

Every time I hear people saying that Sylvester Stallone can't act, I'm inclined to want to believe them. I think it's the dead sounding voice of his, that thick accent that he's never worked to get rid of. However, there are two movies of his where he is at the top of his game. In action films, he's the same, whether the hero or the villain. However, in comedy he is great in "Oscar" and in drama he is fantastic in "Cop Land." Filled with a cast full of high profile actors and yet a bomb at the box office for reasons unknown to me, this movie only suffers from a touch of melodrama.

Written and directed by James Mangold (Heavy), Cop Land is set in Garrison, New Jersey, just over the George Washington Bridge from New York City. Garrison is populated by the NYPD's most questionable, with the powerful, mob-bought Ray Donlan (Keitel) as its unofficial mayor. Among Ray's minions are his main henchman Jack Rucker (Robert Patrick) and the coke-fried Gary "Figs" Figgis (Liotta), who was brought into the inner circle after his partner died in an incident that brought Internal Affairs sniffing around. Watching over Ray's little slice of paradise is Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone), a wannabe cop who was kept from the big-city force by a bum ear. With a badge that is little more than a vanity plate, Freddy's main duty is turning a blind eye to the shady dealings of Garrison's most prominent citizens. When Murray "Superboy" Babbitch (Michael Rapaport) kills two joyrides in what he thinks is self-defense but isn't, his compatriots first clumsily attempt to save his job by performing a quick-and-dirty plant, but that quickly goes wrong and in a deft move, Lieutenant Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel), uncle, spirits him away in a phony suicide. But this does little to defuse the powder keg, and as Internal Affairs agent Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) moves in on Garrison but admits that the town is beyond his jurisdiction in the strictest sense, Freddy is forced to make a series of decisions that lead him to admit to himself, finally, that something is seriously wrong with this unsupervised town and that as sheriff, he's the one who's been falling down on that supervisor's job while facing a hard decision with his precinct.

While Cop Land is nothing too astounding, it is a good, solid drama, with a climactic scene that's worth the admission alone. The extra pounds Stallone put on serve him well for this part. In his past roles, his physique, along with his droopy-lidded, thick-tongued manner, has made him untouchably macho. With that taken away, Stallone is vulnerable. He stoops over his gut and walks uncomfortably -- a nice take for a character who's spent his life being pushed around. No matter how many shots of him staring dreamily over at New York or how many shots of him blanking out to a stuck-in-a-rut Bruce Springsteen song, it's the way in which he moves that nails this part for him. And while this role is being set forth as proof that Stallone is a serious actor, and has also maintained this in "Rocky Balboa."

Discounting the stars in this film, I believe that it exposes a common human failing of authority and corruption. We need to be reminded that not only law enforcement but elected officials as well are prone to the very same desires and needs that we experience. Their office and the esteem we bestow on them, is all irrelevant as they are victims of the same human frailties that they prosecute. This film functions as an exposure of our common traits, illnesses, weaknesses and pliability when faced with dilemas.

Copland should have been nominated for an oscar.. It is a shame that hollywood is so biased. This movie truly represents what drama is all about.. Sly does outstanding work as freddy and deserved much more credit for his performance... Great film to watch !! A shame it has so much profanity. That is the only negative comment I have about the film..

With an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Janeane Garofalo and Frank Vincent, it is hard not to be impressed by this drama, about police corruption in a small town. The storyline is intriguing with a few surprises along the way, Keitel steals the movie, as crooked cop Ray Donlan. De Niro plays internal affairs copper Moe Tilden, who graduated from the academy with Donlan and holds a personal vendetta against him.

Stallone put on a lot of weight for this film, wanting to play a serious role for a change, he does it quite well without being totally convincing in his role. Liotta is once again excellent as is Robert Patrick, this is a collectors item for all who love classic movies.

James Mangold's Copland was a victim of ridiculously high expectations on its release, but seen away from the hype it's a satisfying modern Western fable with Sylvester Stallone's half‑deaf, rather slow on the uptake sheriff slowly realising that his town of New York cops is a nest of murderous corruption. It all ends in a showdown that makes imaginative use of sound but left the critics expecting something more cerebral floundering. Stallone and Ray Liotta are exceptionally good in a strong cast, with only Robert De Niro turning in a phoney and predictable slice of by-the-numbers hamming ("Go-TO-lunch! Go-TO-lunch!"). The director's cut doesn't add a great deal - the racial subpliot is still relegated to the deleted scenes bin - and the new sound mix unfortunately loses one great use of sound (when Stallone plays records, in the old cut he could only hear them in mono), but unlike more and more recent directors' cuts it doesn't weaken the film either.

The extras aren't plentiful, but they are god: an engaging audio commentary, two deleted scenes, a good featurette and a storyboard comparison.

Cop Land
The film starts by showing some off-duty cops. One drives away, and is struck by a speeding car. When he tries to get them to pull over, they point a long barrel object at him. This officer fires some shots at the fleeing car, it crashes, and both occupants are dead. Drugs are found in the car, but no weapon (or so it seems).

Next we see the Freddy, the Sheriff of "Garrison NJ", across the river from New York City, handling small town problems. Many NYC cops chose to live in this small town. Some of them share a secret scandal. There are interpersonal conflicts among them. Internal Affairs is searching around to find that missing cop, who seems to have gone off a bridge. [Can you believe this?] The Sheriff wants to know what is going on in his town. The missing policeman is a liability to his friends who are hiding him; so they try to eliminate this problem. [Can you believe this?]

The policeman who went into hiding escaped from his friends and co-workers, and shows up at Freddy's house; but he needs to run off again! So Freddy goes to visit the IA detective and tell what happened. But his information is rejected! [Can you believe this?] So now the story changes tone and Freddy begins his own investigation. But the rogue cops are aware and warn him off. And so the story plods on to its ending, when the good guys finally win.

There are no "Sherrifs" in any small town in NJ, that is an elective county office. "Police Chief" is the correct title, and they are appointed by the local politicians. I think those wide-brimmed hats are to be found only west of the Delaware. These campaign hats are a relic of the 19th century militia. Bergen County is located across from New York, its many small town could be a site like "Garrison". Really "Fort Lee"? I don't know why Hollywood avoids any such story about a locale on the West Coast. Too close to home?

This movie as of course mentioned is chock full of great actors and is verry enjoyable to watch. However I am unsure if it's just my disc or what because the version I have scene on television has an extended ending with Freddy by the water then theres a call and him and Billy drive off but this was not in the recently purchased Collectors series DVD. It just ends with the voice over and the media talking and then boom credits. Anyone else notice that.

In the DVD documentary, Sylvester Stallone mentions the amazing fact of him co-starring in this film with Robert De Niro, since they went into completely different film genres after both actors were nominated for Best Actor in 1976: Stallone for Rocky and De Niro for Taxi Driver. They had their superficial similarities, with both actors portraying angry, vengeful working-class Italian-Americans - but Stallone and De Niro represented opposite poles of post-war America.

De Niro's Vietnam vet Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976), flawed boxing champ Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1983) and comedian-wannabe Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy (1983) lived and created the American nightmare of obsessive, lonely nobodies gaining public recognition through savage violence and mediocre showbiz.

In contrast, Stallone's boxing champ Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976), in contrast, believed and represented the American dream of wholesome opportunity, fame and love for lonely nobodies. His Vietnam vet John Rambo also, like the 1970s antihero created by novelist David Morrell and De Niro's Bickle, brought the war to America in First Blood (1982) but then single-handedly brought about Reagan-era Cold War victories in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988). His country singer-wannabe in Rhinestone (1984), unlike De Niro's Pupkin, uncritically and unambiguously celebrated the Rocky "bum making it big" theme, as did Stallone's Rocky-esque transformation of Travolta's 1970s angry anti-hero Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever (1977) into a 1980s Broadway star (with Rambo physique) in Staying Alive (1983). Unlike De Niro's honest portrayal of the brutal behaviour of gangster Noodles in Once Upon A Time in the West (1984), Stallone tried to make a blue-collar hero out of the corrupt trade unionist Johnny Kovac in F.I.S.T. (1978, see my Amazon review of this DVD).

Thus, De Niro has been regarded as the best actor of his generation, whereas Stallone received an award for worst actor of the twentieth century. By the mid-1990s Stallone lost all professional credibility with his monosyllabic, muscular superheroes and was looking at something completely different in order to save his foundering career. And what better opportunity than this ensemble film with a cast of New York Method Actor gurus who appeared in critically acclaimed films directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Abel Ferrara. Robert De Niro, who appeared in seven Scorsese-directed films,including Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy, Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). Harvey Keitel, having delivered some of his best performances under both Scorsese (including Mean Streets and Taxi Driver) and Ferrara. Ray Liotta, who delivered an impressive performance in Goodfellas. Cathy Moriarty, who delivered an impressive debut film performance opposite De Niro in Raging Bull. Frank Vincent, playing strong supportive parts in Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino. Annabella Sciorra, who appeared in two Ferrara films in the 1990s (The Funeral and The Addiction).

And, believe it or not, Stallone did not only LEAD this impressive ensemble cast, he managed to pull off a critically acclaimed performance that shocked his critics. And, like De Niro's La Motta in Raging Bull, his strong performance was also marked by Method Actor devotion translating into substantial (30 pounds) weight gains to play the overweight sheriff. (Compare the scene of a fat Stallone lying on the bed in the director's cut with a bloated, drunk La Motta just before he is arrested by the police.)

Richard Stoltzman and Michael Tilson Thomas made an outstanding team for this recording. Stoltzman's tone is often the object of debate, but in this album, it works wonderfully. The jazz influences in all of these pieces call for a brighter, and (for lack of a better word) looser sound, which Stoltzman can pull off with flair. He does an excellent job of making the opening section of the Copland silky and dream-like. The bravado and virtuosity in the cadenza are fitting, as is the occasional stretch or pause. It sounds almost improvised, which is what Copland was going for in this very difficult section. The orchestra (directed by Tilson Thomas) is also excellent - sparkling one moment, incisive the next.

The rest of the album is a collection of pieces by other American composers of the 20th century. "Goodbye" is an emotional memorial of Benny Goodman, the Bernstein "Sonata" is an interesting expansion of the work for clarinet and piano. Look out for the opening of "West Side"... it has startled me more than once when I wasn't paying attention! And the "Three Preludes" at the end are, again, an interesting expansion of the work for piano.

I can't say that I've heard a better performance of the Copland, so this album is worth it just for that. But, the other pieces are fun to listen to as well and nicely round out this album.

Stallone wisely took the nuanced, meaty role of Freddy as a change of pace from his usual comic book hero parts, and he is surprisingly good here. Keitel is also aces as the crooked cop who has the most to lose, and Ray Liotta excels as Freddy's only friend. Smart and suspenseful, with a whiz-bang finish.

Great little movie. Amazing cast, great performances. Nicely underplayed. Will be curiuos to see the directors cut with 11 extra minutes added.

Cop Land is a homage to police corruption films like Sidney Lumet's Serpico and Prince of the City. In many respects, Cop Land is also a modern western, complete with a High Noon-style showdown. Miramax previously released this film on a movie-only DVD. This new version is a huge improvement but is it worth the upgrade?

Definitely.

"Cop Land: The Making of an Urban Western" is an excellent retrospective featurette. Stallone to be interested in the role but the actor wanted to something different, to go back to his starving actor roots. After him, came De Niro and then everyone else followed.

Next, there is a "Storyboard Comparison" that allows one to watch part of the film's climatic shoot-out simultaneously with the storyboards for it.

There are two deleted scenes with optional commentary.

Rounding out the extras is a solid audio commentary with director James Mangold, producer Cathy Konrad and actors Sylvester Stallone and Robert Patrick. Not surprisingly, Mangold and Stallone dominate this track. Stallone comes across as a very humble and gracious guy. Mangold keeps everyone talking, acting as an informal moderator and asking everyone questions. This is a really good track and definitely worth a listen if you're a fan of this movie.

Cop Land features a killer cast and allows them to flex their acting chops with a top-notch screenplay. This DVD is a definite improvement over the previous bare bones edition and is worth the upgrade. Miramax has finally done this film justice with an excellent special edition.

I AM A HUGE SLY FAN EVER SINCE I WAS A KID, ANY FILM SLY MAKES I MUST SEE WEATHER IT BE SPY KIDS 3 OR THE NEW MOVIE "SHADE" I HAVE TO SEE IT IF SLY IS IN IT. COPLAND IS A WONDERFUL MOVIE AND WHAT IT DID WAS INTREST ME TO BE A DEPUTY SHERIFF MAYBE IN THE FUTURE. SLY ONCE AGAIN DOES A GREAT JOB AS THE DOWN TO EARTH SHERIFF WHO JUST WANTS A LITTLE MORE CREDIT FOR HIS JOB. APART FROM THE GREAT SLY WE HAVE THE GREAT HARVEY KEITEL, RAY LIOTTA AND OF COURSE ONE OF MY TOP 5 FAV ACTORS ALONE WITH SLY WHO IS NUMBER 3 ROBERT DI NERO. THIS IS A GREAT FILM FOR COP LOVERS I THINK ITS ONE OF THE BEST AND REALISTIC FILMS ABOUT BEING A SO CALLED "COP" AND BEING A "SHERIFF". I WOULD RATHER BE A SHERIFF AND WEATHER MOE TILDEN LIKES IT OR NOT FREDDY HEFLIN IS A COP.

Sylvester Stallone can act. There. I said it. And as ridiculous as that statement may appear to some readers, you really do owe it to yourself to take a look at "Cop Land," and see just how good of an actor Sylvester can be!

Who would believe that Stallone could appear on the same screen as Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert De Niro, and hold his own? Certainly not this viewer, and I admit that when I originally went to see the film it was BECAUSE of Keitel, Liotta, and De Niro. So you can imagine just how surprised I was that Stallone wasn't blasted off the screen by the combined talent of his heavyweight co-stars.

Stallone plays "Sheriff Freddy Heflin," the law in the small, New Jersey town of Garrison, just across the George Washington Bridge. What makes Garrison special is that a large percentage of the residents are cops who work the other side of the bridge; hence the nick-name of "Cop Land." There are very few burglaries in Garrison, in fact, there is very little CRIME in Garrison period, so Freddy's days seem to be an endless round of completing paperwork for littering violations, cautioning the occasional drunk, and rescuing children's soft toys from being run over in the road.

This is a shame, because Freddy wants to be a REAL cop, he wants to work the other side of the bridge, but an injury sustained when he saved a women who's car ended up in the river has left him deaf in one ear. Poor Freddy would never pass the physical, but the town showed its appreciation by allowing him to be the Sheriff... kind-of a consolation prize.

But all is not well, there's something rotten in the town of Garrison, a corruption that's eating at the towns soul, and this corruption is personified in the character of "Ray Donlan," played by Keitel. When a fellow cop is involved in a questionable double homicide, Donlan initiates a cover-up that will have explosive consequences for the quiet town of Garrison, but especially for himself and Sheriff Heflin. The fall-out will also engulf the Sheriff's best friend, "Gary Figgis," played by Ray Liotta, another "real" cop, but one who's sick of the corruption and is getting out. Also involved is IAD staffer "Lt. Moe Tilden," played by De Niro, who's been tracking Donlan and his team, and is determined to bring them down.

This is an excellent ensemble cast that really shines in their roles, and Stallone, as I said before, is a revelation. He piled on about 40lbs to play the part, so what we see is not the pumped-up, testosterone driven action man we have come to know and love, but a quieter, humbler, slightly "slow," kind-a bumbling character. Sad and ineffectual, he's barely tolerated by Donlan and his cronies, who's company he so desperately wants to keep.

The story is tight and economical, the dialogue has the ring of authenticity to it, and there's a bitter-sweet romantic sub-plot between Freddy and one of the town's residents that works perfectly within the story. There's a scene where he's asked, by the woman he secretly loves, why he didn't marry, "All the best girls were taken," he replies, and you can practically see the big guy's heart breaking in two!

Don't be put off because Stallone has top billing, this is an excellent film that works on many levels, with a clutch of superbly realistic performances driven by a well constructed story, I would recommend it highly.

This DVD is great. The director's cut is not just the original movie re-packaged. Atleast twenty scenes have been re-edited with new footage. I loved it! The DVD also has some great extras. Great job Miramax!

I will be honest the reason I rented this movie was because of the Cast. Ray Liotta to me had the best part in the movie of all of them. Then next would be Harvey Kietel as a corrupt New York Cop. Stallone is playing a small town Sherrif who is deaf in one ear(this gets played out in the movie) who has come to a New Jersey Suberb area and realizes that some of his friends in the Police Department nice or not turn out to be crooks. Robert Patrick another corrupt cop in the movie is good alongside in Keitels gang. The acting in this is very dissapointing. I was not blown away actually by De Niro's performance in this movie. I thought is was just a desperate attempt to use star power with an ensemble cast. You got to have a good platform for it to work.
Directed by James Mangold
Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Harvey Kietel and Robert De Niro

When I first saw this flick I was pretty disappointed, but upon a second viewing it feels like the star power involved with the film lead people to expect too much from it. It was intended as Sylvester Stallone's return to serious films but, as it wasn't well received at the box office, Stallone's career has floundered in other lacklustre efforts. It reminded me of when Stallone did his most interesting work in the 70's, in F.I.S.T., Victory, Rocky (which many people don't realize he wrote) and even First Blood. He's almost unrecognizable here as Freddy Heflin, the Sheriff of a small Jersey town that's populated by New York City cops. Overweight and weary-looking, the Sheriff always wanted to be an NYC cop but an injury that left him partially deaf, while saving the life of Annabella Sciorra, prevents that. Harvey Keitel is a corrupt cop who makes Garisson NJ a safe haven for his fellow police officers. When his nephew 'Superboy', played by Michael Rappaport, gets involved in the shooting of two young black teenagers, there is a cover up by Kietel to avoid a possible racial incident. Robert DeNiro is the Internal Affairs officer investigating the scenario and Ray Liotta is a former colleague of Kietel's, who acts as Stallone's confidante. Stallone is really likeable here, as a lumpy, wishy-washy sheriff whose authority is never taken seriously because he never displays any backbone. This is the Stallone that I liked from the first Rocky movie; humble and easy-going, not the testosterone-pumped megastar of the 80s. There's a sense of sadness and loneliness that reveals as much about the actor as the character he's playing. The scene where he's in his room alone, listening to a sad Bruce Springsteen song, reveals in Stallone a talent that has been sadly neglected in the various blockbusters he's starred in. Ray Liotta, however, steals the film from everyone else. He takes a despicable character and makes him the most out of him. He's so good at playing unwashed, ill-natured characters that you can almost smell the grease coming off him. Unkempt, overweight and quick-tempered he's entirely believeable in his portayal of a cynical cop who has had enough of the corruption. His is the most human and complex of all the movie's characters. Liotta should be a star. Kietel is suitably menacing as the ringleader of the crooked police crew. Everything he does is to protect his own interests and he mercilessly rids himself of anyone who stands in his way. Unfortunately, a lot of the parts in the film are minor and DeNiro, Sciorra, Rappaport, Robert Patrick and Jeneane Garofolo are woefully underutilized. It's precisely because of the overabundance of talented cast members that the film gets hampered by it's own ambition and audience expectations. It would have worked better with more unknowns. The story in itself is well crafted and the revelations of the extent of police corruption smacks of truth. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying, but the film was truly a lot better than the reviews it got at the time suggest. Poor Sly. This really could have been a wonderful rebirth for him.

I like Cop Land because of the ensemble cast of great actors and actresses. you got your Stallone and your DeNiro and your Keitel and your Liotta and your Berg and others that really put this movie to the level it should be. Stallone I think is great in this movie, period. his career got a little down hill when he made Driven and others beyond that but you look back at his other movies like this one and Daylight, Cliffhanger and the Rocky movies and you just remember the good roles. DeNiro is always sparking the screen with his big roles and this is another for his career. Liotta is great also and he's had some fine movies as well like Narc, Unlawful Entry, Turbulence, Identity and a whole lot of others. but anyway, this one is dynamite and it explodes at you. lots of action and mystery really connect the dots and I enjoyed the ride

The movie Cop Land combines long lost talent in its leading star, Sylvester Stallone; top notch performances from its supporting cast, Ray Liotta, Robert Deniro, Harvey Keitel, and Annabella Sciorra; wonderful cinematography by Eric Edwards; and brilliant direction of James Mangold who later went on to direct such hits as Kate And Leopold, Identity, and Girl Interrupted.

Cop Land is a fictional tale of crime and corruption in a city run and occupied by New York's unfinest cops. Stallone pulls it off excellently as the city's overweight sherrif, Freddie Heflin, who couldn't get into to the force on account of his deaf ear. When the police force covers up a cop shooting that leaves two innocent men dead and stages a hero story, its up to Sherrif Heflin to reveal the truth and bring order to the city known to everybody as Cop Land.

The movie features an outstanding performance by Robert Deniro as an FBI agent trying to uncover the deceptions and opens Heflin's eyes to the corruption around him.

A memorable film with an even more memorable ensemble cast.

Here's the deal: Take Stallone ("Rocky"), De Niro ("Heat"), Liotta ("GoodFellas") and Keitel ("Mean Streets") and put them together and you have probably one of the best ensemble casts you can assemble for a movie. Make a great screenplay and idea and you got a great movie on your hands. The characters are all cops (some crooked, some not) and they all have great lines and play their characters with real authenticity. I live in New Jersey and regularly visit the towns where the film was shot (although it's amazing that in the seven or eight years sinse filming how the locations have changed so dramatically). The realism of the mannerisms and speech patterns are so on target it's scary. It always helps when the cast is really from the East Coast. The cops (whether crooked or not) are all pretty depressed in general displayed by the fact that they are all fat and sluggish, smoke like chimneys and drink like fish at local hangouts. Let's face it fellow Jersey folk: that familiar suburbian boredom of any small Garden State town has lead us all into a "Figgs"-like self-destructive phase. None of the stars of this film took their regular million dollar paychecks (if they hadn't taken pay cuts this film would never have been made) and they all put on the needed weight and sport the bad hair and clothes, showing that the stress of their work-a-day lives has pushed personal hygene and general happiness on the back burner. The movie is more of a character study (much like "Mean Streets" or "Pulp Fiction") with twists and turns and surprises. Garrison, NJ is a fictitious name (probably derived from nearby Harrison) and the movie was filmed across the river from NYC in the run-down (but relatively livable) Edgewater and neighboring towns before Starwood and other hot shot developers built up the waterfront land with condos, stores, restaurants and many other attractions--making the area congested and city-like, a dream for tourists and shoppers. Views of the Manhattan skyline are prevalent at all times and being an East Coaster, I can identify with a lot of this films' themes. Probably one of Stallone's best performances, I'd highly reccommend CopLand to be viewed more than once. If you are a JerseyGoomba like me and a Soprano fan you will particularly enjoy this flick with supporting roles from the likes of Edie Falco before she was Carmela and watch out for Davey Scatino, Gloria Trillo and, well you keep your eyes peeled for the rest. Wish I could have seen cameos by Pesci and Pacino as possible gangsters and maybe Travolta in a small role. Would have made CopLand even better!! I hope for a sequel some day, films like this DO have an audience even if box office receipts are not of the "Matrix" level.

I thought it would take years for Stallone to gain back my respect after making such ... as "Eye See You," "Get Carter," "Driven," and "Avenging Angela," but I've realized that popping my copy of "Cop Land" into my DVD player can stave off the disappointment for at least two hours. Stallone isn't impressive in the role, but he does it well, and that's a satisfying return to dramatic acting. Also present in the film are some of my favorite actors, including Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Harvey Keitel. Ray Liotta is perfect for the role, and the seemingly ever-present Michael Rappaport, who has a knack for popping up in movies with unexpectedly important roles, is enjoyable as usual. The story is easily followed from beginning to end with little interruption in thought process, which be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the viewer. Janeane Garafalo and Noah Emmerich ("Truman Show") play Stallone's deputies, both of whom don't have much play in the final third of the film. Action and drama blend well in this one, the story of a small town made up of mostly corrupt New York cops, with Stallone as the town's chief determined to prove he's a true policeman. This one is a definite recommendation.

Sylvester Stallone has been known for making his ... old action films; Rambo, for the most part. But in this exploration of dirty cops and the small-timer who can't get where he wants in life, Stallone plays a good, solid, dramatic role as Freddy Heflin, a small town New Jersey sheriff who looks across the river at the big apple, and what he wants most in life: to become NYPD. The big problem that arises is that in his small town, there are plenty of dirty New York cops who think they can slip by the slow sheriff, but Sylvester Stallone feels that something is happening from the start. This films shows Stallone's good acting skills.

Since the mid-80s almost all movies have depended on various special effects (car crashes, shootouts) and heaping helpings of violence while scripts are geared towards someone with teenage comprehension. Not so here, Cop Land is a drama with the emphasis on personal interaction. This film also suffered from the fact that Stallone has had no career success playing anything other than an action hero. Stallone's character is carefully crafted, he is the nice guy who played by the rules and suffered because of it, with little career success and reduced to longing for an old flame saddled with a dysfuntional husband and a kid. This film makes one think, something very few major films take the risk of doing. Though Stallone gained some weight for his role, he is not fat and, along with the rest of the cast, does a fine job here. Michael Rapaport currently plays a somewhat goofy teacher on TV's "Boston Public." This is a film the cast members can be proud of in the future, highly recommended.

This is one of the best police movies I have ever seen. It is very realistic and a down to earth cop movie. There aren't a bunch of crazy stunts or anything like that. It's just cops doing their jobs. Stallone is the man in this flick and I have seen this movie numerous times. If anyone is interested in police work or any type of cop film this is the one...

"Cop Land" is truly an Oscar-worthy film and Sylvester Stallone should have been nominated for portraying a quiet, local town sheriff. After saving a young woman when he was a teenager, he damaged his left ear losing all hearing. So, in present day, he does his job sluggishly and is peaceful. But, one day, a city police officer killed some young men thinking they had a weapon. He was mistaken and disappeared without a trace. Corrupted city cops covered for him, but he slowly came out in the open. Freddie Heflin (Stallone) investigated the matter and took it into his own hands... I was deeply astounded by Stallone's performance and the cast. Harvey Keitel is always sneaky, Ray Liotta is a riot and Robert DeNiro is always the man. This is truly an epic film with powerhouse performances that all cop dramas should follow.

Sylvester Stallone starts with one of the most solid casts he has ever shared a film with as a sheriff and NYPD wanna be who has to make the choice between his cushey job as head law officer in a town populated mainly by NYPD, and what's left of his self respect.

A supporting cast full of A list starts and A list supporting characters deliver A list performances particularly Ray Liotta as an officer with his own past.

The various sub plots as executed well and the finalie is a grand one.

Stallone gets a lot of grief, some of it deserved for some of the campy roles he has played. Likewise he deserves a lot of credit for the great performance in this one.

Well worth your money

Sylvester Stallone plays the fat sad sack of a sheriff of the fictitious town of Garrison, New Jersey. Essentially a bedroom community for NYPD officers who managed to end run regulations requiring that cops actually live in their city, Garrison seethes with the underworld corruption bred by crooked cops led by Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel). Stallone's sheriff Hefflin - overweight, deaf in one ear and not entirely spontaneous - was the perfect man to guard the "town full of cops" whom the script posits as at least mildly corrupt from the start of the film. (If you've heard the old line about foxes guarding the hen house, "Cop Land" has Stallone playing the opposite - the chicken keeping tabs on the foxes). Despite an intensive probe by IA Lt. Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) authorities haven't been able to stick anything to any one of the town's residents. A lucky break occurs when one the cops, Ray "Superboy" Babich (Michael Rappaport) is seen apparently committing suicide following a police shooting gone bad. (Hinting at the Diallo shooting which hadn't even happened yet, Babich takes a potshot at a car thinking its passengers are about to shoot at him. When the soon killed driver and passenger are found to possess, not a single gun, but at least one crutch, and responding EMS won't allow on-scene officers to plant incriminating guns on them, Babich panics and leaps off a bridge.) Saving and secreting Babich away to Garrison, Donlan and crew work to get Babich a new identity and a ticket out of NY. Hefflin, however, picks up on some obvious signs of the Babich conspiracy and, after being taken aside by Tilden (who visits Garrison during Babich's "funeral") decides to crack the conspiracy.

"Cop Land" was a disappointing story - building up on intricate details that don't so much as beef up the main plot (about saving PO Babich) as reveal how thin it was and why it was so important to keep the audience distracted from it. The script tosses in Ray Liotta as Figgis, the only one of Garrison's corrupt cops that gets along with Hefflin (the rest of town merely tolerates him), though it's clear that Liotta is only around to say stuff about Heffin that script can't bring Hefflin to say about himself. (From Fig, we learn of Hefflin's dream to become a cop, a dream crushed when Hefflin went deaf in one ear; we also learn how Heflin lost his hearing when he pulled a beautiful woman (Annabella Sciorra) from a sunken car. Needless to say, Hefflin does not get the girl). The script gives Fig a nasty drug habit (imagine Liotta's coke-fueled haze from the last half-hour of "Goodfellas" and you'll get the idea) and some other dubious baggage, but none of that matters when Fig tells Hefflin what nobody else dares to say aloud. Because the characters promise so much it's painful when the film comes to a screeching halt - in a gunfight between a battered Hefflin and Donlan (when plans to "save" Babich become too complicated, and everybody realizes it would be easier if he just disappeared). De Niro's character is completely superfluous - there to pump Hefflin for action and also to slam him down when Heff doesn't move fast enough. The film doesn't even look like it's sure about when its set - witness the horrible hairstyle they give some of the leads. Still, despite the over-hyped storyline and the underused talent, you do feel like you've seen enough to remind you that it ain't easy being a cop.

This is one of the most under-rated movies I have ever seen. As was mentioned by other reviewers, the acting was excellent across the board. It's also interesting how all the stars got fat - look how much weight Stallone, DeNiro and Liotta put on for this movie - it may not be "sexy" but it adds to the realism.

To me, this movie was an examination of the gray areas of legal/illegal and right/wrong. We laugh at a drunk Sheriff who uses his key to get into a parking meter so he can play more pinball and we watch him drive drunk thinking he really shouldn't do that, and when the car ends up damaged and his deputies cover it up for him, we think, well, that's the way it works. But that's only the begining. We continue to watch through drug-use, extortion, theft, evidence-tampering, and murder.

Exactly which of these transgressions (if any) is forgiveable? And if you've started down this road, when do you stop?

No, this movie is not an "action flick" - it's not Die Hard. (Don't get me wrong, I thought Die Hard was a good action flick.) But Copland has much more brains than that. This is no shoot-em-up with lots of explosions - it's a well-crafted and deeply subtle film. Highly recommended.

Ray Liotta steals the show over other great performances. An All-Star cast of great actors. It takes place in the 90's - see the ragging for betting against the Bulls, "We are the World", etc. But, it has such a throwback look, you'd think it was the 70's. These cops had grown into habits and routines that they don't like questioned. The Jersey suburb is supposed to be more like the good old days in the neighborhood where everyone knew their neighbors. Stallone is a regular guy who just wants to make friends and is content that way. He realizes that he will never be a real NYPD cop and he will never get the girl, but he is content with that. Eventually he learns too much about the corruption and has to make a stand against it.

"We've built ourselves a nice community here. You look and see nice houses with swimming pools, friendly people, and no crime...you would destroy all of this." - Harvey Keitel

"I look at this place...and I don't like what I see anymore." - Stallone

This is the sort of movie Sylvester Stallone SHOULD have been making in the post- "Rocky" years, before his career got sidetracked into Rambo silliness- simply put: well written, wonderfully acted, and beautifully filmed. Yes, Stallone can act. (Of course, sharing a bill with DeNiro, Keitel, and Liotta would make ANYONE look good.)

For enhanced viewing pleasure, watch this movie as an homage to "It's a Wonderful Life." Seriously. The parallels are quite clever.

Enjoy!

If not for De Niro, Keitel and Stallone -- this movie would've been a disgusting failure. The actors somehow manage to make it worth watching (if you are the above-mentioned guys' fan).

This was a good movie, fun to watch but hard to follow due to a great many plot inconsistancies. It's a little hard to take seriously a murder conspiracy where every member insists on having shouting matching detailing their plot in very public places. One cop who's death has been faked, wanders around town and attends parties with no concern of anyone realizing he's alive. When the fantasticaly poorly conspired plan starts to unravel, these supposedly trained investigators decide to fall back on a daylight kidnapping and murder, right in front of the local Sheriff, whom they know is not on their side.

Stalone gave a fantastic performance as an underachieving cop who has been content to be walked on by "the big boys" until the conspiracy unfolds. Worth watching if your a cop movie buff, but don't get too wrapped in the story.

This is an intersting movie about a man's fight against the folies of an apparently police-run (party-)state, and how in the end the good wins. It is quite entertaining. As always, reality is worse than the fiction. or is it ?