The Onion Field Page #2

Synopsis: Greg Powell is a disturbed ex-con who recruits Jimmy Smith (aka Jimmy Youngblood), a petty thief, as his partner in crime. Powell panics one night when the two of them are pulled over by a pair of cops for broken brake-lights. Powell decides to kidnap the cops and Smith, as always, reluctantly goes along with Powell's crazy scheme. The group drives out to a deserted onion field in Bakersfield, California and one officer is shot while the other escapes. The remainder of the film explores the nature of the American justice system, as well as the devastating psychological effects of this event and the trial on the surviving officer.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Director(s): Harold Becker
Production: AVCO Embassy Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Rotten Tomatoes:
83%
R
Year:
1979
122 min
247 Views


- Billy, I want my dough back.

Maybe she took it.

After all I've done for you,

and you dare steal from me!

I know that whiskey

makes you do wrong things.

Or I'd bust a cap in your goddamn head.

Now, Billy,

we're gonna go out again tonight.

Only this time, you're gonna

pull your own weight.

And if you don't get me my money...

Anything you say, brother, anything.

Jimmy, you're in. Can you drive?

- Greg, like, I've been away five years.

- Goddamn it! Can you drive?

Yeah, I can drive.

All right, then.

- How do you like my car, Jimbo?

- Yeah, it's groovy, Greg.

The clutch slips bad, though.

Maybe after a good score, you ought

to think about getting another car.

I had the clutch fixed

that way on purpose.

Keeps the guy from speeding away

from a job and drawing heat.

On purpose? Yeah!

By the way, Jimbo...

- Notice anything unusual about me?

- No.

Yeah, Greg.

I mean, you do look different.

But I can't figure out

why you look different.

Goddamn it,

it's pretty obvious, isn't it?

Like, you're wearing

a Humphrey Bogart trench coat.

That it?

Greg, I can't see too good.

I need glasses and all.

Jim, for Christ's sake, look at my ear!

Look, see there?

I put a little mole on my ear

with my honey's mascara.

Stuck a few hairs in it.

Then I darkened my eyebrows,

made them bigger, see?

Any witness will say, "The guy had

bushy eyebrows and a mole on his ear."

Now, that's slick.

That's slicker than slop!

Okay, Billy, this is the job I cased.

Now's your chance to get back

the money you stole from me.

- And you better get it.

- I swear, I didn't steal no money, man.

Just go in there

and get me at least $50...

and maybe you'll prove to me

that you didn't do what I know you did.

This is the last night for old Billy.

I got to cut him loose.

He drinks too much.

I think, after tonight, it's gonna be you

who's a part of our little family.

I can't do it, Greg.

The guy in the store knows me.

- What?

- He knows me, Greg.

Guy used to work at the shine parlor.

You lying, thieving...

Jimmy, tell him. Guy named Hellfire Jack.

Ain't that right?

When we drove by,

I did think I saw Hellfire Jack.

I think it's Hellfire Jack in there.

See? I told you.

Used to work over there

on East Fifth Street. Used to...

It's the truth. He used to work

in a process parlor over there.

- I thought you said a shine parlor.

- Process parlor, man! He did my hair.

He said a process parlor.

F*** it.

- I'll do it myself.

- Yeah, you go ahead on and do it.

I'll help Jimmy drive.

I use this little hop, skip, jump,

which moves me fast.

It isn't noticeable to someone

passing by, like running is.

When you see me skip,

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Joseph Wambaugh

Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (born January 22, 1937) is a bestselling American writer known for his fictional and non-fictional accounts of police work in the United States. Several of his first novels were set in Los Angeles, California, and its surroundings, and featured Los Angeles police officers as protagonists. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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