Deadly Hero

Deadly Hero
Deadly Hero
	Original 1975 movie poster
Directed by	Ivan Nagy
Written by	George Wislocki; Don Petersen
Produced by	Thomas J. McGrath
Starring	Don Murray; Diahn Williams; James Earl Jones; Lilia Skala; Conchata Ferrell; Treat Williams
Cinematography	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited by	Susan Steinberg
Music by	Brad Fiedel; Tommy Mandel
Production; company	City Time Partners
Distributed by	AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date	December 14, 1975;
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Deadly Hero is a 1975 American neo noir thriller film starring Don Murray, Diahn Williams, James Earl Jones, Lilia Skala and Treat Williams in his film debut. It was directed by Ivan Nagy from a screenplay by George Wislocki and Don Petersen. Released in limited locales in 1975 with an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, it was distributed by AVCO Embassy. It opened to mixed, mostly negative reviews, and was considered a commercial failure.

Plot

Officer Ed Lacy is an 18-year veteran of the New York City Police Department who finds himself demoted from detective back to patrol duty for his violent, racist tendencies and trigger-happy behavior.^[2]^[3] He still has friends on the job and is ingratiating himself as a booster for a politician named Kevin Reilly who is looking to become the next Mayor of the city.

Responding to a call on Manhattan's West Side, he finds a young musician named Sally has been abducted by a mentally unbalanced stalker named Rabbit Shazam.^[4]^[5] Rabbit holds Sally hostage and threatens and scares her badly but does not actually hurt her physically. When her neighbor figures out something is wrong and calls the cops, Officer Lacy shows up and finds Rabbit holding Sally at knifepoint in the hallway. Rabbit quickly surrenders when Lacy threatens to shoot him, but during the arrest Lacy hits Rabbit and then angrily shoots him twice in the chest, killing him. In shock, Sally does not remember what happened and Lacy tells the detectives that Rabbit was holding the knife when he was shot, and she agrees to this. Lacy becomes a city hero and Reilly makes him a key part of his campaign.

However, Sally eventually recalls what really happened and tells the detectives that Lacy killed Rabbit while he was unarmed and had surrendered. Lacy tries to charm Sally into reverting fully into her original story, but she refuses. Lacy then becomes a public pariah and is forced to go on unpaid suspension, while Reilly cuts all ties with him. Lacy then becomes unhinged, threatening Sally directly and having a sleazy ex-cop "scare" her in a failed plot that leaves two civilians dead. With nothing left to lose, Lacy kills the ex-cop and then tracks Sally down to the Manhattan school where she works and kidnaps her and takes her out of the city to a pet graveyard. He ties her up and plans to shoot and bury her in the graveyard but she gets loose and stabs him with the pointed stand on her cello, severely wounding him and getting away into a forest. Lacy runs after her and the final shot of the movie shows him either dead and holding his gun in a failed attempt to kill her when she is in his sights, or about to die but ready to shoot and kill her before he does die.^[6]

Cast

Don Murray ... Lacy
Diahn Williams ... Sally
James Earl Jones ... Rabbit
Lilia Skala ... Mrs. Broderick
Conchata Ferrell ... Slugger Ann
George S. Irving ... Reilly
Ron Weyand ... Captain Stark
Treat Williams ... Billings
Hank Garrett ... Buckley
Dick Anthony Williams ... D. A. Winston

The cast also includes performances by Josh Mostel as "Victor", Rutanya Alda as "Apple Mary", Charles Siebert as "Baker", plus Beverly Johnson, Chu Chu Malave, Danny DeVito, and an uncredited Deborah Harry, lead singer from the city's punk/new wave-ers Blondie as a singer.^[7] Deadly Hero is Treat Williams' first motion picture appearance.^[7]^[8]

Production info

Deadly Hero was directed by Ivan Nagy from a screenplay by George Wislocki and Don Petersen.^[1]^[2] The film was produced by Thomas J. McGrath and distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures. The film's cinematographer was Andrzej Bartkowiak, with editing by Susan Steinberg, music by Brad Fiedel and Tommy Mandel, and art direction by Alan Herman. Deadly Hero was filmed entirely on location in New York City.^[4] The 102-minute film was released as R-rated (Restricted) from the Motion Picture Association of America.^[5]

Reception

Critical reaction

Gene Siskel wrote in the Chicago Tribune that the film is "a small triumph" but qualifying that praise by noting, "Of course, expecting nothing helps."^[9] A reviewer for the Cineman Syndicate felt that "moments of suspense" helped elevate the "thin script and moody photography".^[3] A.H. Weiler of The New York Times described Deadly Hero as a "fairly derivative Manhattan melodrama" with the supporting cast "wasted in brief, broad portrayals".^[2] Los Angeles Times reviewer Linda Gross called the film "gritty" and "intriguing" but ultimately found it "predictable and pessimistic".^[10] Modern critics have been kinder with VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever describing it as both "gripping" and "chilling" while rating the film three (out of a possible four) bones.^[8]

Popular reaction

A commercial failure, George Anderson wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the violent film "suffered sudden death at the box office."^[11]

Home media

Deadly Hero was released on VHS in the 1980s by Magnetic Video and in 1986 by Embassy Home Entertainment. The film was released on DVD on August 7, 2007, by Trinity Home Entertainment. On December 22, 2015, it was released on Blu-ray by Code Red Entertainment through Screen Archives Entertainment Exclusive.