Internal Affairs (film)
Encyclopedia
Internal Affairs is a 1990 American crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

-thriller film set in Los Angeles about the police department's Internal Affairs
Internal affairs (law enforcement)
The internal affairs division of a law enforcement agency investigates incidents and plausible suspicions of lawbreaking and professional misconduct attributed to officers on the force...

 Division.

Directed by Mike Figgis
Mike Figgis
Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...

, the film stars Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

 as Dennis Peck, a suave womanizer, clever manipulator, and crooked cop
Police corruption
Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest....

 who uses his fellow officers as pawns for his own nefarious purposes while showing a tender side as a devoted father. Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...

 plays Raymond Avilla, the Internal Affairs agent who becomes obsessed with catching Peck when he suspects that Peck is not the poster boy
Poster Boy
Poster Boy is a 2004 gay-themed drama film. It toured the gay and lesbian film festival circuit beginning in 2004 before a limited theatrical release in 2006.- Production :Some scenes were shot on campus at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York....

 police officer that the precinct has made him out to be.

Plot

At a night-time drug bust, patrolmen Dennis Peck and Van Stretch arrest a drug pusher and his girlfriend. The girlfriend resists and Stretch assaults both of them. Meanwhile, patrolman Dorian Fletcher is outside and sees a man running towards him. He orders the man to stop, then promptly shoots him. Peck comes outside and discovers that the man had no weapon. Dorian is repentant and apologetic. However, Peck proceeds to take a knife out of his boot, clean off his prints, then place it in the dead man's hand, making it look like he was an armed assailant. Dorian tries to stop Peck, but Peck convinces him that cops watch each others' backs and that this is the best solution for everyone.

Los Angeles, 7 November 1989

Raymond Avila joins the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 (LAPD) and is assigned to work with Amy Wallace. They are initially assigned to investigate Van Stretch's activities from the drug-bust. During a mandatory interrogation, it is discovered that Stretch has committed three code 181's for excessive force in less than ten months, has an uncontrollable substance abuse issue, and is a racist officer. After interviewing his wife, they start looking closely at his other activities, because his financial holdings start to suggest something suspicious.

Stretch's partner Dennis Peck, so called role model of the LAPD, seems to have no clue to his partner's private life...so others may think. Yet, as Stretch comes under pressure from Avila to help him deal with his problems, certain issues about Peck begin to surface. For example, an altercation between Peck and Fletcher is witnessed by several other patrolmen, and other officers express their distaste for Peck and his techniques. Stretch is pressured to provide evidence against Peck in return for immunity from prosecution. While this fails, Avila finds a type of ally in Dorian, who also displays a certain disrespect toward the similarities between Avila and Peck, but agrees to help. Peck also threatens to make advances on Kathleen, Raymond's wife, if Avila still persists in his investigation. At the same time, Raymond's marriage is starting to wilt due to his increased obsession with the case.

6 December 1989

Peck and Stretch are on a routine patrol during the graveyard shift in Huntington Park
Huntington Park
-In the United States:* Huntington Park, California* Huntington Park , a park in Newport News, Virginia* Huntington Park , a minor league baseball stadium in Columbus, Ohio...

. While heading through an industrial sector, they run across an abandoned blue van. Everything appears routine, until Stretch opens the sliding door and takes a shotgun blast point blank to the chest. As the shooter emerges from the vehicle, it is clear that this was a hit staged by Peck, who congratulates the killer, and then murders him. He requests assistance to a 187
187 (murder)
187 is a slang term for the crime of murder; it refers to Section 187 of the California Penal Code, which defines the crime of murder. The number is commonly pronounced by reading the digits separately as "one-eight-seven", or "one-eighty-seven", rather than "one hundred eighty-seven".The number...

 on a peace officer when the blue van suddenly speeds away, indicating a live witness to the crime, thus putting a wrench in Dennis' plan. Van, amazingly still alive, begs for help. Dennis kneels down, as though he is going to help his partner, but positions himself to strangle him, making it appear to the arriving ambulance crew as if Van died in his arms. Peck tells investigators that the perpetrator killed Van Stretch and that he himself had to kill the perpetrator in self-defense.

17 December 1989

After making efforts to track down the witness to Van Stretch's murder, a sting is set up to catch him. However, things get bloody after information of the sting is somehow leaked, and Avila and Wallace notice a sudden response from two LAPD SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...

 tactical units, who shoot on sight. The witness panics, shooting and killing Dorian, before he is taken out by a police sniper. As he dies in Avila's arms, he identifies Peck as the man behind Stretch's murder.

7 January 1990

Later, Peck meets with Kathleen, insinuating to be IAD himself, to ask some questions about Raymond's behavior at home, and other innocent-on-the-surface types of questions. The real intent is so Raymond, who is "covertly" following Dennis as part of his investigation, sees Dennis and Kathleen meeting, thus establishing that Dennis can manipulate the game to his advantage. This episode also serves to put Raymond "on tilt" as he goes back to the office, slams a chair down and is sent home. Entering the elevator he is confronted by Dennis, who beats him up, insults him, and leaves to the knocked-out IAD officer a white panty, saying he bedded Raymond's wife that very day.

Raymond's rage boils over, and he goes looking for Kathleen, finding her at Nicky Blair's on Sunset Strip with a client from the gallery where she works. Raymond proves he is totally off the hook when he confronts Kathleen about the lunch meeting with Peck, asking "who did you have lunch with?" When she does not reply, he reveals that he knows. He then punches out the client Kathleen is dining with, slaps Kathleen to the floor and screams obscenities in Spanish at all the customers in the restaurant. The two make up the following morning when Kathleen convinces Raymond that she had not slept with Peck.

10 January 1990

Avila and Wallace's continued pressure on Peck's family bears fruit when Peck's wife reveals the name of one of his associates, Steven Arrocas, which also happens to be the last name of two recent homicide victims. Wallace and Avila know this is far more than a coincidence, and pay a visit to the Arrocas' house in Malibu.

As Raymond and Amy are en route to the house, Arrocas walks in on Peck making love to his (Arrocas') wife. Peck tries to goad Arrocas into killing his wife, but Arrocas accidentally shoots Peck in the foot instead. Peck kills the Arrocas (though this is not shown on camera). Avila and Wallace arrive, and as they are clearing the house, Peck pops out from behind some garbage cans in the garage and shoots Wallace in the flank, then flees. Wallace is rushed to the hospital, and her fate is not revealed, though the doctor says she stands a chance. Avila, fearing for his wife's safety, returns home to find Peck about to assault his wife. In his bed-room, Avila holds Peck at gun-point, but Peck picks up his knife out of his boot, and staggers up towards Raymond, who shoots him down, and then hugs his terrorized wife.

Cast

  • Richard Gere
    Richard Gere
    Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

     as Dennis Peck
  • Andy García
    Andy García
    Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...

     as Raymond Avila
  • Laurie Metcalf
    Laurie Metcalf
    Lauren Elizabeth "Laurie" Metcalf is an American actress. She is widely known for her performance as Jackie Harris on the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Mary Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, the voice of Mrs. Davis in the Toy Story film series and as Debbie Salt in Scream 2...

     as Amy Wallace
  • Nancy Travis
    Nancy Travis
    Nancy Ann Travis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady , Married to the Mob , Air America , Internal Affairs , So I Married an Axe Murderer , Greedy , and Fluke...

     as Kathleen Avila
  • William Baldwin
    William Baldwin
    William Joseph "Billy" Baldwin is an American actor, producer, and writer, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners , Backdraft , Sliver , Fair Game , Virus , Double Bang , as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom , Art Heist , The Squid and the Whale , as himself...

     as Van Stretch
  • Annabella Sciorra
    Annabella Sciorra
    Annabella Sciorra is an American film, television, and stage actress. Sciorra received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead for the 1989 film True Love, and came to widespread attention in her co-lead role in Spike Lee's 1991 film Jungle Fever...

     as Heather Peck
  • Elijah Wood
    Elijah Wood
    Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...

     as Sean Stretch
  • Michael Beach
    Michael Beach
    -Biography:Beach was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, of Cape Verdean descent. He attended the prestigious Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts on scholarship from ABC . He was introduced to acting when he was sidelined by a lacrosse injury during high school by a classmate...

     as Dorian Fletcher
  • Katherine Borowitz as Tova Arrocas
  • Faye Grant
    Faye Grant
    Faye Grant is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Career:Her first television role was on the TV series The Greatest American Hero as "Rhonda Blake"...

     as Penny Stretch
  • John Kapelos
    John Kapelos
    John Kapelos is a Canadian actor from London, Ontario. He is best known for his portrayals of janitor Carl Reed in The Breakfast Club and Detective Donald Schanke in Forever Knight....

     as Steven Arrocas
  • Hamlet Arman as Carlos
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