Review of The Offence (1973) by Michael T — 22 Mar 2015

One of the more obscure films that Sean Connery starred in during the 1970s. I have heard that the film was made prior to Diamonds Are Forever (1971) but released by UA internationally as part of a deal to get Connery to play James Bond again.

Spoiler alert ahead but this is not a thriller but a character study despite how it might be packaged. It is adapted from a John Hopkins stage play and directed by American Sidney Lumet. Connery plays a British police detective sergeant who beats a suspected child molester to death during a routine interrogation.

Connery plays the previously unflappable British cop who undergoes a nervous breakdown before our eyes with a great deal of skill, the man could act. We are never completely certain why Connery's character snaps, in a series of Rashamon-style flashbacks we get several different competing versions of the truth, from Connery's character.

Was he a burned-out cop who saw too much and snapped or did he beat the suspect to purge himself of his own guilt over his hidden tendencies? Connery appears in control but glimpses of his deeply troubled psyche come out n interactions with his suffering wife (Vivien Merchant), a police inspector (Trevor Howard), and the suspect himself (Ian Bannen).

Despite Connery's performance, the film is too stagey in parts and there is a lot of padding with a silent Connery stalking the streets of an unnamed British city. Its worth a look for Connery's unsettling performance, especially in his interaction with Bannen when you realize you are watching two men who both need serious psychiatric help.