The best thing about "The Onion Field" is the cast. James Woods gives a terrific performance, while Ted Danson (though he's not around much) is also a highlight. And there are a number of familiar faces along the way: Ronny Cox, John De Lancie, Charles Cyphers, William Sanderson, and even Christopher Lloyd as a prison convict(!).
The actual story material is some compelling stuff. Two police officers taken at gunpoint, one of them shot to death, and the other makes a miraculous escape only to be racked with guilt - while the bad guys escape the gas chamber and mock the legal system for years. But the TV- movie production values and molasses plotting made this thing a slog to get through. The gripping scenes seem few and far between, while the rest of the movie plays like ... the thing really does play like a TV movie.
"Boring" is not a word I like to use to describe a movie, so I won't. But tedious works.
5/10
The actual story material is some compelling stuff. Two police officers taken at gunpoint, one of them shot to death, and the other makes a miraculous escape only to be racked with guilt - while the bad guys escape the gas chamber and mock the legal system for years. But the TV- movie production values and molasses plotting made this thing a slog to get through. The gripping scenes seem few and far between, while the rest of the movie plays like ... the thing really does play like a TV movie.
"Boring" is not a word I like to use to describe a movie, so I won't. But tedious works.
5/10