Figgis and screenwriter Henry Bean have maintained key staples of the genre, our hero Raymond is partnered with lesbian Amy Wallace played by Laurie Metcalf (best known as the ex-cop sister from the Rosanne sitcom), the mixing of a heterosexual male and a homosexual female demonstrates a recognition of a key genre fixture – the odd couple. It is appropriate that sexuality is what separates the two of them as sex and sexuality are amongst the key issues at play within Internal Affairs. As it stands Wallace and Raymond actually get on very well together for cop movie of this sort, this is where Bean’s screenplay subverts genre expectations, the hetro and the homo shouldn’t get on (at least not at first) – but they do get on together almost immediately. There is no conflict between them except for occasional minor infractions on the part of Raymond – oddly by being of different sexual orientations Raymond and Wallace are actually closer – they both find women attractive and both stare lustfully as an attractive Californian woman walks by their car as they eat lunch (in a scene that essentially outs Wallace for the audience). It’s clear from how well Raymond and Wallace work together that the conflict is not going come from their relationship – this isn’t Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon. Instead the conflict comes in two forms – firstly the films antagonist Peck and secondly Raymond’s wife Kathleen played by Nancy Travis. Kathleen’s is a thankless role, the bored wife who can’t understand why her husband has to spend so much time at work – but again Bean and Figgis subvert the genre expectations, not only does she disapprove of Raymond’s actions but Raymond also disapproves of hers and suspects her of cheating on him. Then there is the matter of Richard Gere, traditionally the lead actor in films (he does get top billing over Garcia here) Gere was not known for playing villains (and he still isn’t). Figgis’ casting is outstanding as Gere makes a memorable and formidable villain by contorting his own ladies man reputation with disturbing results. Gere is something of a sex-symbol especially amongst middle aged women: he’s the sort of man who women in their 40’s and 50’s describe as a “dish” and like Mel Gibson he charms women with the twinkle in his eyes. Andy Garcia at this point was better known for supporting roles in films like Ridley Scott’s Black Rain or Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. Internal Affairs was his first leading man credit in a major motion picture – others would soon follow in Jennifer 8, When a Man Loves a Woman, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, and Night Falls on Manhattan. Although the leading men roles would dry up for Garcia come the end of the 1990’s at this point he was hot property and this was to be his break though role.
But beyond the set-up, beyond the casting, and beyond Figgis’ own darker than average mood, Internal Affairs is made distinctive because of its sometimes blatant sexual subtext. A jealously sub-plot comes to the front of the narrative, it begins small with Raymond asking Kathleen if she needed to kiss every man at the party. But then it grows like a tumour as Peck feeds Raymond’s paranoia. Kathleen and Raymond are cold and rigid in bed together, they roll over like statues in an embrace rather than lovers in the midst of passionate fucking – Raymond is rigid in life and rigid in bed. Peck on the other hand is prone to sudden and surprising acts of aggression and violence – he is a sociopath. But his aggression ties in with his passion – there is nothing rigid about the way he handles himself – especially around women. Peck’s confidence and Raymond’s continually diminishing confidence is also at the centre of the film. Raymond’s perusal of Peck becomes more like a competition - Wallace berates Raymond’s personal attacks on Peck, “why don’t you and him get your dicks out and I’ll see whose is bigger”. Their rivalry is sexual in nature, who is the better lover? Who can satisfy a woman the most? Peck gets to Raymond by first implying then outright stating that he can satisfy Raymond’s wife more than he can – Raymond reacts by punching Peck out, the action seems impulsive and insecure like part of him actually believes the lies Peck is spouting. Who procreates the most? Peck has eight children, Raymond has none, Peck has had four wives, Raymond only has but one. But despite their differences and mutual disdain for one and other, they are actually alike in many respects: Raymond arranges for Fletcher to be tasked to homicide if he helps bring Peck to justice – Fletcher comments that it’s exactly the same sort of bribe that Peck would attempt: “you’re just like him man” he disappointedly observes. Peck and Raymond employ the same methods to get what they want from those around them, exploiting human desire for their own gains. This sort of duality is common between antagonist and protagonist especially in the cop thriller genre – this is nothing new but again the focus on sexuality creates something unique. In the world Figgis and Bean have created; sex is linked to violence and violence is linked to sex. Peck is contracted to kill a man’s mother and father whilst arranging the deal he touches up his client’s wife under the table without the client knowing. The thrill of killing and the thrill of sex are the same for Peck. Van Stretch – Peck’s underling played by William Baldwin is turned by threats of criminal charges and decides to rat on Peck. Stretch calls his wife and tells her he’s going to betray his friend. The camera pulls out to reveal that Stretch’s wife is mid intercourse with Peck as she speaks to him on the phone. The betrayal in this scene works on several levels, Stretch is telling his wife he’s going to betray Peck whilst his wife is betraying him by having sex with Peck and convincing him not to talk to IID until he’s talked to her first. Meanwhile Peck has already betrayed Stretch by seducing his wife – an action we assume began a while back. Stretch tells her he loves her whilst she silently rives in the sexual pleasure that Peck is providing – the sexual pleasure is also clearly heightened for Peck because he knows Stretch is on the other end of the phone. Whilst Peck is having sex with Stretch’s wife he formulates a plan to have Stretch killed – again violence and sex are connected in Figgis’ twisted world. Peck is confident but reckless; in the stand-out scene where Peck has Stretch killed by setting up a traffic stop which ends with Strech being shot by a killer Peck has contracted. Peck then executes the contract killer so that there are no witnesses; he calls into dispatch faking shock and dismay at the events, but once the call has been placed he realises that Stretch is still alive, Peck pulls Stretch into a sitting position and begins to gently choke him from behind using his arm, Stretch dies just as another police car arrives, Peck loosens his grip so that he appears to be a distraught partner holding a dead friend in his arms rather than the cold blooded killer he was just seconds beforehand. Peck remains in control and is confident, even though he was seconds away from being caught murdering Stretch he never loses his composure. Raymond is the opposite he loses confidence and control – despite playing it safe most of the time – he is not sexually confident – and he can not beat Peck because this lack of confidence is getting in the way. Peck doesn’t lose his temper – even when he is forced to push Fletcher violently to the ground or when Raymond punches him for insulting his wife – Peck remains in control. Raymond loses control; he loses his temper – when a witness dies in his arms for example or in the aforementioned scene when Peck provokes him by challenging his sexual ability. Later Peck takes his revenge and beats up Raymond in an elevator, there are no witnesses but there could be no end of them if Peck was unlucky. Peck implies that Kathleen is a whore “she took it up the ass, she came so much I thought she was going to pass out” he giggles these lines whilst Raymond struggles to breath because of the beating. “Latin boxers are too macho; they don’t know when to back away” the final insult from Peck as he drops Kathleen’s underwear on the floor and leaves it for Raymond to clean himself up with. Raymond’s insecurity only increases as events unravel, at its peak he accosts his wife at an event she is hosting – he runs his hand down the inside of her leg in some misguided attempt to appear as sexually confident as Peck only for Kathleen to reject him, Raymond assaults her colleague and then assaults her. He shouts in Spanish and postures like a big man when actually he is deeply insecure like all wife beaters are. After the incident Raymond gets wildly drunk and dreams of sleeping with a prostitute whilst he does so he shoots an imaginary Peck dead – Raymond feels the connection between sex and violence – he comes to understand it – but where Raymond only imagines it, Peck actually acts upon it. Both actions are rooted in power, sex makes a man feel powerful makes him feel confident, violence makes a man feel the same way. Killing a man or bedding a woman have the same effect on Peck – a toxic cocktail of pleasure and control. As Raymond becomes more and more like Peck he to becomes intoxicated by this potent mixture.
Raymond confronts Stretch’s widow and realises that Peck has been sleeping with her as well – he flippantly remarks “I hope he got you off”, he begins to use Peck’s tactics against him – the connection between antagonist and protagonist grows intense. WARNING: The Remainder of this article contains spoilers. In the films climax Peck shoots Wallace and escapes from Raymond as they close in on him. Raymond rides in the ambulance with a critical Wallace, he reassures her that everything will be alright and remains calm, he doesn’t lose his temper, he doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him – whereas a short time before he would have. Peck knowing that he doesn’t have a way out decides to break into Raymond’s apartment and threaten Kathleen, as he does so Raymond arrives and picks his moment to spring on Peck. Peck then backs away as Raymond points his gun at him, still the battle of egos continues, but Raymond remains calm. He shoots Peck in the leg, as if enjoying this slow crippling of his adversary. Raymond’s poker face never diminishes. Peck becomes more and more frustrated and eventually pulls a flick knife on Raymond (the same kind of knife he used to frame a dead suspect at the beginning of the film). Raymond coldly executes Peck – with the knife in his hands and shot in both the leg and the foot Raymond could have disarmed him – but he doesn’t. It’s not murder but its close, Raymond will probably be cleared of any charges against him but morally he could have taken a more righteous action. It all boils down to who has the biggest weapon, Peck has the knife, Raymond has the gun, who has the most power? The weapons act as substitutes for sexual organs, in the end it is Raymond with the bigger penis despite what Peck’s sirname might imply. Raymond becomes Peck as Peck dies, Raymond is now willing to break the rules and can kill a man in his own bedroom – the room where he makes love to his wife; again the connection between sex and violence is reaffirmed by Figgis and Bean. The structure, characters and events of Internal Affairs are clichéd for the most part, but the sexual subtext and context enriches the proceedings and raises it above just another 1980’s buddy cop movie. This is in many respects one of the last of its kind – a final film in a sub genre which had become increasingly popular through the 1980’s. There were still two Lethal Weapon sequels to come but by the time we get to Michael Mann’s Heat in 1995 the entire US cop genre has changed gears and the focus shifted to the relationship between the hero and the villain as is the case with Internal Affairs. The film belongs to both decades, this is not to imply that it forged any major changes in the genre but its position in the middle of the shift and its own unique approach to the subject indicate that Figgis and Bean had their fingers on the pulse of the genre in ways that others did not. But despite its common ground with other entries in the genre, the cop thriller had never before and never again been so highly sexualised. M.Dawson |
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Coming at the end of the decade famous for its buddy cop movies and somewhat fluffy glamorising of American police detectives in ethnically mixed partnerships – Internal Affairs was Mike Figgis’ darker brooding take on the genre which pitted cop against cop as Andy Garcia’s internal affairs detective Raymond Avilla takes on Richard Gere’s dirty beat cop Dennis Peck. The film is filled with cold blooded murders and police officers who plant false evidence to back up their brutal tactics. In the opening scene a rookie officer Dorian Fletcher played by Michael Beach shoots an unarmed man by mistake, Peck is Fletcher’s superior and immediately plants a flick knife in the dead suspects hand and reassures Fletcher “it’s happened to all of us”. Although the film is a fairly standard good guy’s verses bad guy’s affair, it does manage to subvert many of the genre expectations. The most obvious subversion being that the cops from IID are the heroes and the beat cops are the villains, although rarely are IID cops portrayed as villains they are however more often than not, shown to be disruptive – often getting the way of a no-nonsense hero who has to break the rules every now and then to get things done – IID cops are straight laced, they follow the rules and are thus not “fun”; it’s strange that it took so long for a film maker to work out that making an IID cop break the rule is even more exciting. 
So the central casting is already going against what is to be expected, the heartthrob as the villain, the supporting player as the hero, a sitcom star as the partner. Figgis’ style as a director also goes against the cop genre expectations, Figgis has a particular style and his films are instantly recognisable as his. The season five episode of The Soprano’s he directed is of note in the series as an episode that visually doesn’t seem to match the rest of the series. Internal Affairs was Figgis’ second feature film as director and in many respects sets up the rest of his career in terms of films thematic explorations, many of his future films would tackle sex in different ways in years to come. The score is interesting as well, at the beginning of the 1990’s it misses most of the 1980’s pit falls and has dated very well for the most part. Figgis himself contributed to the films original music as well as Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli. The scores moody atmospherics really add to the films tone of restrained madness and works well with the brooding cinematography.
As the film proceeds into its final act the dynamic changes and the roles are reversed. As Kathleen and Raymond over come their martial issues and Raymond is once again filled with confidence that Kathleen does love him, does find him attractive, does want to sleep with him – his male insecurities are overcome and he stops losing control of his temper. Peck on the other hand realises that IID are closing in on him and his illegal prostitution business and rightly becomes more irrational and less secure in his own reckless manoeuvres. Peck becomes suspicious of his own wife and of Stretch’s widow he becomes violent in more and more volatile ways – but where as before this was for a twisted erotic kick – now it is because his security is crumbling around him.
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