Usually I write about movies I’m pretty sure you haven’t seen. This movie is different. This is the movie that enabled Al Pacino to win his only Oscar for Best Actor. He had been nominated a whole bunch of times, from The Godfather, and Serpico to Dick Tracy of all things. But I don’t think this was a consolation, this was a superb movie. And a very young Chris O’Donnell wasn’t bad either.
And while this isn’t an obscure film, I’m not sure, since it came out in 1993, how many have seen it. Probably you haven’t seen it in a VERY long time. (Unless it’s been streaming on Netflix, or on continuous repeat on HBO or something.) It is worth your time, even if you’ve seen it before.
Here’s the trailer, which actually does a fair job of giving some hint of the movie. After the break, there is the Col. Slade/Al Pacino speech from the end of the movie. It is a major spoiler, and it is 17 minutes or so.
This is the Col Slade Speech. It is a spoiler, but maybe you’ve seen the movie…
357 Magnum Archive 
The movie is superb except for the ending which contradicts the entire setup of the movie and ruined it for me. Why was O’Donnell protecting guilty idiots? The honest and correct thing was not to tolerate the criminal activities of these people which is just what he did. Honor? The screenwriter has no concept of it nor did the director.
What would otherwise be a superb movie is therefor ruined.
A far better example is Pacino work with Reeves in Devil’s advocate in which Pacino far exceeds his performance here.
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