MovieChat Forums > Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) Discussion > This movie is missing alot

This movie is missing alot

posted 17 years ago by Killakai
11 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed it, looking at the bronx that i remember as a kid.
But the characters are all 1 dimensional. The criminals are stupid as hell, Pam Anderson is a serial killer for absolutely no reason at all. The heroin dealers are bumbling idiots.

There are 2 characters with any depth at all, Newman and his partner. They are developed characters and you root for them, but the story leads you no where.

Why is Pam Grier killing cops and everyone else? Just ebcause shes high?
The dope dealers take the gun that she used to kill the cops but we never see the cops figure that out.

What is the point of the movie? We hear about police corruption but never see it?
Why is there so much crime? How can the problem realisticly be tackled?

I don't know, the movie just took me on a journey to nowhere. Murphy's girl is a dope fiend, but why? Where is her family? How do they react? The movie needed more than it gave me.

[–] k1966 17 years ago

"ebecause" needs spelling as "because she's high ?".

[–] dreid234 17 years ago

The movie isn't supposed to explain why or what happens to the characters. The movie is just a small sample of what goes on(in the movie not for real) in the Bronx in any given month. I agree it would have been nice to have a nice tied up ending and the characters' motivation explained but that's "life in the Bronx"(once again movie wise). In reality, we are really only led to care(not even caring just understanding) about Newman's character.

[–] aniraina21 17 years ago

i think the movie was as realistic as it could get...i should know. i was born and raised in the south bronx. i agree the movie should've had more depth...but i also
think the characters like the dope dealers and the hooker; etc are like the "backdrop" people cause this is a story about two cops and their everyday lives working in the fort apache precinct and only they are really 2 B more focused on.

Understand also that the south bronx back then...there really was a lot of crime.
i think the way we lived and survived thru a landscape of abandoned burnt buildings and other houses on fire...THAT SEEMS unrealistic enough...(but it was real.) so i don't even think back then there was a clear solution or way to tackle
the problems like crime and addiction cause s.bx was literally a place of the hellfires with no escape hatch.

nevertheless; i'll always love the s bx. this is the movie i'll cherish forever.
s bx. has come a LONG way (with much more 2 go of course)

PS: there were some scenes like towards the end that dealt with police corruption (ie why murphy was gonna leave his job).

"put that where? back there!"

[–] Milkdoesabodygood 16 years ago

"Why is Pam Grier killing cops and everyone else? Just because shes high?
The dope dealers take the gun that she used to kill the cops but we never see the cops figure that out."

The cops blasted the drug dealers who showed NO mercy in grabbing Medical personnal and shooting at will, so the cops thought, case closed.

As far as the nurse goes, many interracial relastionships back then decided to leave family out of it until marriage became a reality. I think the nurse had a brother if I remember during a verbal fight in Murpheys car.

Where's kelly?
Roomate: she's on a field trip.
Oh I'll come back tommorrow.
No don't, kel said I could take her place.
Huh, ain't that cheatin'
Not if she tells me to.
Okay, let's go then. (to the back of the cabin for a make-out session)
So I'll see U tommorrow?
Nope, it's back to Kelly's turn tommorrow.

Me at summer camp in 1983 as a 4 eyed geek gettin' some action.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] spamdumpj 13 years ago

The movie was already two hours long. Not too much more that could be crammed into it. Why was Pam killing people? Because she was crazy. That is explanation enough. The drug dealers seem stupid? Many of them are. And the over-the-top mannerisms they adopted were realistic for the era portrayed.

No showing of police corruption? The retiring captain spells it out. He minimizes it, but it is there. Cops beating up suspects or shaking down small-time criminals. And of course, the cops let lots of stuff slide. So when two of them get into a fight and break a window, they tell the bar owner they will take care of it and bury the incident. I do not think more was needed to show that it was a corrupt environment.

Why is Isabella shooting up? Because she does. She works in a crazy environment, it is plenty available in the neighborhood, and it has some advantages over drinking. That does not make lots of sense, but substance abuse never does. But people do it.

Why is there so much crime and is there a solution? Good questions. No answers, because maybe there are none. As one poster pointed out, the Bronx have made a lot of progress, but things really were that bad at one point, and sometimes problems are not solvable. I think that is the point. You are supposed to get to the end of the movie and wonder what happened next.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] arliss-arbeau 9 years ago

That wasn't Pam Anderson, but Pam Grier who played the killer. Pam Anderson was 14 and living in Vancouver island when this was released.

[–] movies789 9 years ago

I was disappointed that Paul Newman played his role as being a caricature of a dumb cop. I don't suppose he liked police very much, or that he realized that the average cop was every bit as smart as he was. Ah, well.