Posted by copfan
on June 27, 2009, 9:06 pm
99.236.129.180
What was it about GWD's performance as Officer Hogan in "To Serve and Protect" that was so spellbinding. One can suggest similarities between this performance and those other contemporary great law enforcement performances of the same vintage to help understand why the performance of Offcier Hogan was so powerful.
Take Lieutenant Lubway (Dan Lauria) in "Doing Life". GWD as Hogan exhibited the same fearless valiance as Lauria. What also comes to mind is the rugged parlay of guts and grace which was exhibited in "Bad Boys" (the 1982 version starring Sean Penn). In this film, Ramon Hererra (Reni Santoni) and Gene Daniels (Jim Moody) both show these qualities to critical acclaim as prison guards as did Officer Hogan in "To Serve and Protect" as a cop.
But Officer Hogan also demonstrated a sophistication and cosmopolitanism, much like Warden James Johnston (Ricard Dysart) in "Six Against the Rock". In addition, no cop role would be complete without a demonstration of steely resignation, Officer Hogan certainly showed us this quality, as did Captain Meissner (John Amos) in "Lock Up".
One can only imagine how Officer Hogan would have fared against contemporary villians. He would have corralled the likes of Patch (Tracey Walter) in "At Close Range" with ease, ensuring that he did not steal that po-lice car. A cue-ball in a handkerchief, much like that wielded by Tatoos (Sonny Hurst) in "Out for Justice", would have been equally silenced by the rugged Hogan.
Offcier Hogan's prowess would also have reigned supreme over jailhouse antagonists like Horowitz (Eric Gurry) in "Bad Boys (1982)" and would have never allowed that shank to have been crafted for Jimmie Rainwood (Tom Selleck) in "An Innocent Man".
But perhaps the genius of Offcier Hogan was how he juxtaposed the intangible human qualities of folly and whimsey with his aforementioned masculine characteristics. One need look to Jean Sebastien Busque as host of "Volt", or the lovable and fiery Nounou (Michel Daigle) in "He Shoots He Scores" to see similar juxtapositions in acting roles. Another such juxtaposition exhibited by one in a cop role was seen in "Family Matters" where Carl Otis Wisnlow (Reginald Vel Johnson) played the role of both a tough cop and a zany compliment to Steve Urkel to a balanced perfection.
Well, one thing we know for sure, after careful dissection, it is cleat that as Officer Hogan in "To Serve and Protect", GWD turned in one of the great performances of our time and what I would call without doubt the greatest performance of his career.
ab
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