Madigan
Tags: neo noir, murder

Plot synopsis:
In New York City's Spanish Harlem, police detectives Dan Madigan and Rocco Bonaro break into a sleazy apartment and arrest Barney Benesch, a hoodlum wanted for questioning by a Brooklyn precinct. Momentarily distracted by the suspect's nude girl friend, the two detectives are outwitted by Benesch, who escapes with their guns.
When it is discovered that Benesch was wanted for homicide, Madigan and Bonaro are reprimanded by Police Commissioner Anthony X. Russell. Aside from this new problem, Russell is troubled by other matters: his married mistress, Tricia Bentley, has decided to end their relationship; a black minister, Dr. Taylor, is claiming that his teenaged son was subjected to brutality by racist policemen; and proof has been established that Russell's longtime friend and associate, Chief Inspector Kane, has accepted a bribe to protect a hangout for prostitutes.
Irritated by the fact that Madigan and Bonaro broke the rules by working for another precinct, Russell gives the two men 72 hours to arrest Benesch. Despite the deadline, Madigan tries to spend some time with his wife, Julia, who is socially and sexually frustrated as a result of her husband's dangerous and time-consuming job, though unknown to her he has a mistress on the side, Jonesy.
The commissioner confronts Kane with the bribe evidence. The inspector was trying to help his son out of a jam. He offers to turn in his badge but resents Russell's outrage at how he could have done such a thing, asking the commissioner what he would know about being a father.
Benesch shoots two policemen with Madigan's gun. The detectives finally get a lead through bookie Midget Castiglione, who puts them in touch with Hughie, one of Benesch's pimps. Tracing the fugitive to a Spanish Harlem apartment, Madigan and Bonaro bring in a police cordon and order the killer to surrender. When he refuses, the two detectives rush the building and break down the door. In the exchange of gunfire, Madigan is fatally wounded before Bonaro can kill Benesch.
Russell tries to comfort Julia, but she accuses him of being a heartless administrator. As the commissioner leaves with Chief Inspector Kane, he is asked about Dr. Taylor's situation and other pressing matters at hand. Russell tells him that these are things they can address tomorrow.

Review: Detective Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Detective Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino) enter a squalid Manhattan apartment building to pick up Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat), who is wanted for questioning on a case in Brooklyn.
When Benesch manages to take Madigan and Bonaro's guns away and escape, Police Commissioner Anthony X Russell (Henry Fonda) tells them that they have 72 hours to get Benesch back, or else.Out of all of the Don Siegel-directed films I've seen to date, this was the biggest disappointment.
The film begins and ends with fantastic action sequences--well directed, well shot, with a nice, gritty feel, but in between the film felt overlong, overly complex, and far too soap-opera-like for my tastes.It could be due to Madigan being adapted from a novel, but Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodman's ("Henri Simoun" here) script includes so many different threads, most of them inconsequential to the outcome of the film, that it almost begins to lose coherence in the middle.
It's a bad sign when the major arc of the story is completed, but characters still have to engage in a number of "But what about so and so?" verbal tags at the end of the film to try to satisfy the audience.It feels almost as if Madigan is made for two entirely different crowds--one, fans of gritty crime action films, and the other, fans of realist dramas cum soap operas.
It stars Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Susan Clark, Harry Guardino and James Whitmore.
Music is scored by Don Costa and cinematography by Russell Metty.Plot finds Widmark as Detective Daniel Madigan, who along with his partner Rocco Bonaro (Guardino), loses a suspected murderer who also makes off with their guns.
Causing embarrassment to Police Commissioner Anthony Russell (Fonda), who is hardly a fan of Madigan's methods, they are given 72 hours in which to locate the escapee and bring him in.
Last thing he needs is a volatile Madigan screwing things up...Based on a book called The Commissioner, a film originally titled the same, and the most interesting story thread in the picture is that of Henry Fonda's Commissioner!
It is one of the odd and frustrating things about the piece, the story is complex enough without being unsure who to focus on, a shame because Widmark, Clark, Fonda and Whitmore are doing sterling work for their under pressure director (Siegel was constantly fighting with producer Frank P.
Film looks terrific at day time, though, where Metty's bold Technicolor photography really gives the New York locations a sense of 70s wonder (I know it's a 60s movie but it feels very 70s, and in a good way as well), though Costa's score is far too blunderbuss for narrative themes.It's a mixed bag, a film you just know should be better considering the talent in front of and behind the cameras.
Richard Widmark and Harry Guardino are a pair of veteran NYPD detectives who get the tables turned on them by a suspected killer they were trying to bring in.
The way Ihnat gets the better of them in the movie has to be seen to be believed and I won't say more.Widmark and Guardino are both good in their parts, but the acting honors have to go to Steve Ihnat in this film.
Besides this film, Ihnat is probably best known for another maniacal portrayal on a Star Trek episode where he's a convict who takes over a futuristic prison and wants to use the Enterprise as a getaway vehicle.The film is based on a novel entitled The Commissioner and that title part goes to Henry Fonda.
Didn't turn out that way, but Fonda stuck it out, partially because he admired Widmark as a player having worked with him previously in Warlock.Madigan being directed by Don Siegel is a forerunner of the more famous Harry Callahan character that Siegel directed Clint Eastwood in the first of the Dirty Harry films.The action doesn't slow for a second even in the scenes not involving the pursuit of Ihnat because of the tension Siegel creates.
The film runs into problems, however, with the subplot involving police commissioner Henry Fonda, as well as Madigan's difficulties on the homefront with wife Inger Stevens.
In the present days, this movie is politically incorrect: Madigan has no ethics, most of the characters have affair with lovers, smoking is `in', the interrogation is rough without human rights, and this is one of the greatest points of this film, since it is very real.
Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda are both wonderful actors in the movie and their stories run parallel during most of the film--having almost no interaction in the film.
However, the tension between Widmark and his wife, Stevens, did work pretty well, as you could certainly see how being a detective could really be tough on a marriage.All in all, this was a very good film that seemed a little like DRAGNET, the TV show POLICE STORY and a soap opera all rolled into one.
(This comparison actually sheds less favorable light on "Airport" since IT came later and was clearly inspired in it's direction and format by this film.)  Widmark plays the title role, a detective who, with his partner Guardino, allows an unbalanced killer to steal his gun and break free from custody.
(In a less authentic moment, the film asks the audience to believe that a woman pushing 30, and in bed with the suspect, is really jailbait.)  Things quickly get bogged down when Widmark comes home and has to deal with the lovely, but shrewy Stevens.
I enjoyed Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda, of course, but also James Whitmore who around 25 years later also excelled in Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption".
So many classic cop movie tropes are there; the one officer who is determined to play by the book, police corruption, guys in suits who show off their identification, one-liners galore and aided by the aura of cool Richard Widmark brings to the screen.
Many of the men in the film wear suits and fedoras with this being the late 60's and the final days in which it was common for working men to do so; although there is a sense of New Hollywood creeping in with the criminals in the movie appearing in that 1970's archetype.
One is Madigan, a tough no-nonsense detective played by Richard Widmark trying to catch a killer, and the other is the straight-arrow police commissioner, Henry Fonda, who's balancing justice, politics, and an extra-marital affair.
The film was based on a book titled "The Commissioner" and Fonda's character was the original focus of the story, but the producers instead changed the focus to Widmark's Madigan character, so the film unfortunately ends up a an odd combination of two different stories.
Watching Widmark and Guardino push the boundaries of acceptable law enforcement in their investigation makes this film an interesting bridge to director Don Siegel's controversial and highly influential vigilante cop film "Dirty Harry" he'd make a few years later.
Siegel also makes great use of NYC locations that give ether film added grit and realism, much like we'd later see in William Friedkin's "The French Connection" and Siegel's use of San Francisco in "Dirty Harry." Siegel also skillfully demonstrates his own directional action sequences chops with a memorable showdown in the film's finale, which features with three characters in tight quarters, all with John Woo-style double-fisted pistols in each hand.
Overall, "Madigan" features an old style police detective story (with a nice plot nod to Kurosawa's "Stray Dog") that abandons the stylistic German Expressionist roots of American film noir and instead takes the genre into new more realistic and gritty of territory, even if those stronger elements get somewhat undone by dull and unoriginal subplots involving the marital lives of Madigan and the commissioner..
Two excellent portrayed cops played by Richard Widmark and Harry Guardino make this movie a gratifying use of time, because of the adventure they are living through.
My expectations were high,but this movie exceeded them.First,it must be said that this is not a crime film, or anything of the sort,but a movie about a few days of Detective Madigan's life.It is,indeed,the surprising portrait of a man.The concreteness,the vigor,the sobriety,the directness of this extremely well-done and fast-paced movie are amazing.A director who does such a film really respects his public.It is a fact that,directing his "Madigan",Siegel made not even one single mistake.Everything fits.The pace is maintained powerfully ("Year of the Dragon" does not bear comparison with "Madigan").Widmark is a standout as Madigan,a brutal and lively detective.Widmark's performance has a shocking intensity and strength.This role is a CREATION,and shows again the astonishing qualities Widmark had.He looks as cold,tough and sinister as usually.(I'm glad this movie was made,because Widmark deserved it so much!)I grant Fonda's character needed to be developed,enlarged,explained.For one reason or another,"Madigan" is not a very famous movie.But this means nothing,the vast majority of the great movies aren't famous nor awarded."Russell"'s mistress has a fine line:"Adultery is a lonely business".This movie is unconventional,intelligent and precise;it is thrilling as Balzac is,as life is..
A fine, harshly realistic Don Siegel film from the late 60's with Richard Widmark superb as Madigan.
A fine, harshly realistic Don Siegel film from the late 60's with Richard Widmark superb as Madigan.
With the late great Richard Widmark leading this police story and with a supporting cast led by Henry Fonda, how could this action-oriented vehicle not be exciting.
Richard Widmark plays Det. Daniel Madigan, a veteran of the police force and his equally experienced partner Det. Rocco Bonaro,(Harry Guardino) set out to apprehend a crafty, skillful and extremely dangerous murderer named Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat).
Both movies augment tough, realistic, location-shot police procedural material with stagy drama from their cops' personal lives, and both attempt to deal with adult sexual issues in a frank & forthright manner.
This little bit of the movie is truly great.So yeah, it's a flawed film, but die-hard fans of crime & police drama, Siegel, and/or Widmark should check this out anyway..
Henry Fonda was doing his thing, gliding around the set with a great toupee and a look on his face of lethal dyspepsia, Inger Stevens was scrumptious, Harry Guardino was very honest and blue-collar, Steve Inhat (sp?) was criminally underused, and Widmark was just wonderfully foolish as an empty man who's going to lose his wife and his life if he doesn't walk away from his precious job.
Was this about the trials and tribulations of being a big city police commissioner?; was this about the troubled relationship between Madigan and his wife?; was this a detective story about the search for a criminal?
The movie kept changing gears, trying to capture these three story threads, and ended up giving us unsatisfying portrayals of all three.Then, there were story lines which seemed to come out of nowhere, and never were explained adequately:  the tense relationship between the commissioner and Madigan, the potential scandal involving the Chief Inspector.Reminded me of "The Detective", but not nearly as engaging.
The police commissioners adulterous affair, his top deputy's son being busted, and a civil rights leader trying to keep the lid on a possible summer race-riot gives more depth and dimension to the movie instead of confusing it.Super cast with Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, James Whitmore and the beautiful and tragic Ingar Stevens in one of her last acting roles before her death in 1970 makes "Madigan" better with every new viewing.
"Madigan" possibly inspired Siegel's later Clint Eastwood big city movies "Coogan's Bluff" and "Dirty Harry".
Henry Fonda,(Commissioner Anthony X Russell),"On Golden Pond",'81, gave an outstanding performance as Police Commissioner and gave Madigan and his boss a hard time.
Both Don Siegel and Henry Fonda have made better films while Don Costa`s melodramatic score certainly belongs in another movie.
Fonda's role as a lace-curtain Irish police commissioner is an odd one for him; he's usually the top star, but in this case he plays second fiddle to Widmark.
Inger Stevens is strong as Ms. Madigan but just seems like one more conflict for an overworked cop to resolve, ultimately two-dimensional, woman wants romance from duty-bound man...ending is exciting and dramatic but almost seems de rigeur for 1968...In Siegel's defense, he made the best (favorite) horror film of all time (in 1956 of course).
Richard Widmark is great in the title character as the cop who is given 72 hours to find a known killer who is loose on the streets of New York.
Richard Widmark(Madigan) & Harry Guardino play two police officers who lose their gun to a murder suspect(Steve Inhat).
Madigan must also deal with his home problems involving his bored and neglected wife(played by the beautiful Inger Stevens) Henry Fonda plays the police commissioner who must deal with the hard-headed Madigan, and other issues that threaten the safety and reputation of the city.Moderately interesting yarn has good performances and direction, though a somewhat tedious and familiar story, though the ending is a surprise.
Siegel creates a gritty atmosphere in this companion piece to "Dirty Harry," with Widmark's title character having a lot in common with Clint Eastwood's maverick cop.
It really tries to make both ends meet the middle, but falls a bit short.The story seemingly centers around tough NYC Det. Madigan (Richard Widmark) and his partner losing a murder suspect and their efforts to find and capture him (again) within a 72 hr.
It doesn't help matters that the mean streets of New York sometimes appear to be more like a dirtied-up studio lot than the real deal.In the end, "Madigan" plays more like a well made TV movie than the theatrical release it actually was.
He attempts to manage parallel plots between hard-bitten detective Widmark (and always watchable Harry Guardino), and straight-arrow police commissioner Fonda (with the excellent James Whitmore as his sidekick).
I've read the now out-of-print novel this film was based on and curiously the commissioner, played by Henry Fonda, is really the focal character, but the movie has more leftist themes which had to have resulted from Polonsky's screenplay.
There are two main stories in the narrative, one involving a team of detectives and the other about the police commissioner who finds himself in a dilemma as he finds out his best friend in the force has been involved in a shady deal.The detectives Madigan and Bonaro come to pick up Barney Benesch, a criminal, who is being sought in Brooklyn as a witness for a crime.
Kane, on the other hand, was just a good police officer whose whole family had been involved in the force in several positions.Richard Widmark does a wonderful job as Madigan, a man who has problems of his own, with an unsatisfied wife who is more interested in having fun, which her husband was not able to provide.
A good, solid cop story made believable by the solid performances of Widmark and Fonda.
Maybe more significantly though, it also shows how the events that take place over a single weekend in June, lead a Police Commissioner to rethink the whole set of values and principles that he'd previously adhered to throughout his long and distinguished career.Tough NYPD detectives Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark) and Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino) break into a tenement apartment in Upper Manhattan to apprehend a suspect who's wanted for questioning and find Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat) in bed with a naked young woman.
What he learns about himself and others during the course of this drama easily makes him the story's best written and most fascinating character by a considerable distance.The quality of the acting is particularly good in this movie with Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda both outstanding in their lead roles and some fine supporting performances, especially from Inger Stevens and Don Stroud..
Boys you can tell that the French Connection was right around the corner from this--gritty location filming, low key drama, guys in suits and office politics kinda getting in the way of the action.I liked the period detail-late fedoras, boat-like cars, bad attempts at 'youth culture', all the smoking, it just is a time-capsule.Some of it doesn't work well-slow pace, Fonda's role not well fleshed out, Inger Stevens has a Sharon Stone-like shrill role, and you know Widmark wasn't thrilled to be there either.Best part-besides the final shoot-out?
Despite being slightly unbalanced - it was based on a novel entitled The Commissioner in which the detective Madigan was a subsidiary character - this is still an excellent police drama deftly handled by Don Siegel, who managed to find roles for two of his favourites, Susan Clark and Don Stroud, both of whom appeared that same year in Sigel's Coogan's bluff.
One thing the screenplay needed to get around was the story of Henry Fonda's Commissioner Anthony X Russell, whom the novel had revolved around, and who scarcely came into contact with Madigan.
The main thing is that Madigan (Richard Widmark) and his partner (Harry Guardino) are humiliated on a routing arrest when the suspect grabs his gun and escapes.
Maverick veteran detective Daniel Madigan (a superb and credible performance by Richard Widmark) and his equally seasoned partner Rocco Bonaro (well played by Harry Guardino) have to catch maniacal psycho Barney Benesch (a memorably edgy turn by Steve Ihnat) with 72 hours.
Add in a heavy dose of soap opera and glacial pacing and the result is a film that isn't technically bad, but is so dated as to be halfway to unwatchable.The story focuses on three days in the lives of two men; New York City police lieutenant Dan Madigan (an intermittently jowly Richard Widmark) and the city's police commissioner Anthony X.
When I saw Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda as the stars with Don Siegel directing, I expected at least a half decent movie.
Richard Widmark as Detective Dan Madigan and Harry Guardino as Detective Rocco Bonaro are not exactly in their chief's good books.