Disc Reviews

The Offence Review

• 19th Apr 2015

In 1967 Sean Connery played James Bond 007 for the 5th time and decided he wanted to call it a day with You Only Live Twice. He skipped a Bond film and was then invited back to play the successful secret agent again with 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. He agreed to come back (albeit noticeably older) on several conditions: he was to be paid a reported $1.25 million, the biggest star pay-out up to that point and to have a choice of two low budget films that he would like to make. One was to be an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but was pipped to the post by Roman Polanski’s 1971 version and was therefore never made; the other was The Offence, an adaptation of a play from 1968, ‘The Story of Yours’ originally performed at The Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square. This film was about as far removed from the glamour of James Bond you could get.

Connery plays Detective Sergeant Johnson who is with a local force in trying to track down a paedophile who has committed a series of assaults on young school girls. It is clear early on that Johnson is growing impatient especially when another girl goes missing walking home from school, right under the noses of the police. A search commences and Johnson himself finds the girl with torn clothes, bruises and cuts and emotionally traumatised. She is then whisked off to hospital. That evening the police force are instructed to scour the town and pick-up any known villains and ‘gently’ question them. One is picked up near a shopping mall in a poor state with his clothes all muddy. His name is Kenneth Baxter (played by the wonderful Ian Bannen), a well-known social figure. The police, Johnson included are sure that they have their man. During a break in interrogation in which Baxter won’t speak Johnson enters the interview room and is antagonised into fatally beating his subject. Johnson spends the rest of the film trying to justify his actions but is clearly a man on the edge himself as he goes over the horrors of his 20 years in the force.

As already stated this is a huge departure from James Bond for Connery with violence being the only thing that connects them. Connery looks impressive on the screen with drooping 70s macho moustache and obligatory copper sheepskin coat (he is mostly shot from below looking up at his overbearing size). Filmed in Bracknell, Berkshire it is successfully made to look like any innocuous new town and gives a good impression of that post-1960s optimism giving way to urban gloom but not quite in the expressionist manner Kubrick did with A Clockwork Orange (1971); The location of Bracknell makes for a fascinatingly bland backdrop. This is a gritty police procedure drama that has an air of realism thanks to writer John Howard who had previously written for the classic BBCTV police show, ‘Z Cars’, imbuing the film with a similar air of realism. Director Sidney Lumet on the other hand has given the film some arthouse flair, portrayed so brilliantly through the slow motion opening scene of a police constable walking in on Johnson pulverising his suspect before the film flashes back to the beginning of the day. Elsewhere after the event we see some shocking images of a hanging decayed body in the woods, the detail of a dead child in a cot, a dead prostitute and a dead woman by a railroad track. These are all the recollected images of Johnson’s 20 year career in the police force at the moment of realisation of a terrible scene – some very strong Freudian imagery.

This film is a treat to see again and would argue that this is up there among Connery’s best films. Connery had previously worked with Lumet on another film that goes deep into the human condition, the North African set Second World War film, The Hill (1965). The Offence did not do well at the box-office; in fact it failed miserably but is well worth viewing for its focus on a man spiralling downward and can see why this would be a smart and challenging role for the films star. It smartly departs from its play origins, yet still feels like a play in that the narrative order has shifted, moving backwards and forwards in time. Having said this there are several key moments: the police procedure in hunting for their wanted man, Johnson’s beating and dialogue with Baxter, his interview following the fatal beating with Trevor Howard’s superior cop and his rage at his wife in a seemingly unloving marriage just before he is taken away by former colleagues for questioning.

Released by Eureka! once again the label has packaged the film well with a detailed booklet, talking heads by films crew and stage director, although these are a little gossipy more than giving any real depth to the film and a more Making Of style documentary or analytical documentary. Never the less this is one of those must see films and a rare gem.

Chris Hick