THE PLEDGE

When was the last time you saw a new movie with Jack Nicholson and he wasn’t ’Jack’? …Jack being any one of his over-the-top characters that invites parody. Everything about his Jerry Black, the retired detective sworn to find the ruthless killer of a young girl in "The Pledge" is internalized. There are no trademark smirks, no devilish smiles, and least of all, no memorable lines to define his character. His performance is all nuance. The key to Jerry Black’s psyche is in Jack’s eyes. They are always looking, searching for that one tidbit of information that could break the case. You always want to know what’s going on in his head and just when you think you know and a feeling of self satisfaction sets in, all your preconceptions are shattered. Everything about his Jerry Black is governed by experience and instinct. He’s all cop - a homicide detective who, despite all outward appearances, has given up any sense of normalcy in his life. Even the simple acts of pumping gas and fishing become extensions of a well thought out agenda made up of good police work, geography, and chance. Holding all the disparate elements that begin to congeal by the end of Jerry Black’s journey is director Sean Penn.

Penn allows the plot of "The Pledge" to unfold matter-of-factly. Each element is carefully thought out and never exploitative. First there’s the grisly murder that coincides with Jerry Black’s retirement party. With a few hours left on the job, the cop in him visits the murder scene with his colleagues. His input saves crucial evidence that allows him to believe that the primary suspect, an indigent Indian, is not the killer. Circumstance and compassion lead him to the murdered girl’s home where a pledge to find the killer is extracted from him by her religious parents. His superiors and fellow officers are convinced he’s gone over the edge with his obsessive search for a killer they feel has been caught. Meanwhile he uncovers bits and pieces of evidence that could vindicate him. Each tidbit adds weight to his thesis about a serial killer but his judgment is impaired by a need for redemption. He must choose between his pledge or the mother and daughter who have endeared themselves to him. Either choice will exact a price he may not be able to live with.

The superiority of "The Pledge" over the typical crime thriller rests with Sean Penn’s hands off approach to Nicholson’s performance. The laid back narrative builds suspense through the accumulation of the detailed observations of his Jerry Black. The camera, in a sense, objectifies his thoughts with concrete imagery. Penn relies on Jack to deliver the goods and let’s the audience sort them out to draw their own conclusions about his psyche. It’s a challenge all too often lacking in main stream Hollywood films.

Copyright 2001

"The Border" (1982) - Dir. Tony Richardson. Jack is a cop on the Mexican Border who become embroiled in illegal smuggling of aliens. Great Jack and Harvey Keitel make this worthwhile.

"Goin’ South" (1978) Nicholson also directed what could be classified as a madcap screwball Western. Not too many people realize that he took the zanier aspects of his desperado in "Missouri Breaks" and blew them out of proportion to create this hilarious romp about a cowpoke who is saved from a hanging by marrying one of the town’s leading widows, played by Mary Steenbergen in her screen debut. There’s a hole-in-the-wall gang who keep cropping up like a Mack Sennet styled Greek chorus made up of John Belushi, Christopher Lloyd and Danny De Vito.

"At Close Range" (1986) Dir. James Foley. Sean the son of a rural gangster who resists his life of crime and fights to get out from under his influence. Terrific Penn with Christopher Walken as the father in one of the first bad guy roles that paved the way for his screen persona.

"State of Grace" (1990) Sean Penn is an undercover cop who uses his childhood friend to bring down his big brother, the leader of a local Irish gang modeled after the Westies from New York’s West Side. Gary Oldman and Ed Harris are the brothers. This came out the same year as Martin Scorsese’s "Goodfellas" and never stood a chance. But the performances of the three major stars are worth the rental. This is also the movie where Penn hooked up with his wife Robin Wright.