The Onion Field

Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field is based on an actual 1963 case. L.A. plainclothesmen Karl Hattinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson) routinely investigate a pair of suspicious types, Greg Powell (James Woods) and Jimmy Smith (Franklin Seales). Unexpectedly, Powell pulls a gun on the ...more

Harold Becker's account of an actual police case that occurred in 1963 features an unforgettably graphic first act that the rest of the film can't quite sustain, yet it remains an absorbing study of the psychological costs of police work. Prolific author and ex-cop Joseph Wambaugh has probably done more than anyone in any media to give the public a real sense of the life of the average police officer. John Savage's cop, the survivor of a terrible ordeal, fits that description closely, and it's ...more