Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24405 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-13
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

DVD Description
Bobby Gold (Joe Mantegna - Liberty Heights) is a cop, he is devoted to the job and will do whatever it takes to get the job done. It’s a world he knows all about until he picks up a routine investigation into the death of an elderly Jewish shopkeeper. Working the case, Bobby is soon confronting his own ancestry and discovering a whole new world of scholars, ancient languages and passionate fighters. Suddenly what seems to everyone else a simple case of murder becomes Gold’s link to a conspiracy of death.

While Gold’s boss is counting on him to bring in the killer, the investigation leads Gold to believe Zionist vigilantes and an anti-Jewish conspiracy is responsible. Soon his vision, his loyalties to his partner, Sullivan (William H. Macy - Welcome to Collinwood) and his promise to do the job are clouded by the choices of morality he must make. From the acclaimed writer and director David Mamet.

Special Features

• Trailer

DVD Technical Information:

• 
  
  • Aspect Ratio (feature): 4:3
    
  • Soundtrack: English Stereo
    
  • Disc Format: Single sided, single layer – DVD-5
    
  • Colour
    
  • PAL
    
  • Region Code: 2
    
  • Running Time (feature): 97 minutes approx.

Synopsis
David Mamet writes and directs HOMICIDE, a story detailing the discovery of the body of an elderly Jewish shopkeeper. What appears to be a straightforward botched robbery leads to the investigation of right wing Jewish vigilantes and an anti-semitic conspiracy.

Customer Reviews

a masterpiece
I know a lot of people who don't like Mamet, or who are rather indifferent fo his work. Sometimes I get their criticism, but not here. Homicide is simply a masterpiece. Just listen to the dialogue. Mamet is great at writing dialogue, but I think here, he's written some of the best stuff. The cast is another plus: Joe Mantegna and William H. Macy are both incredible actors, and here, they find roles in which they can show all of their skills. And there is, of course, a Mametian twist at the end of this movie.

A unique 'cop thriller'
One of a handful of films where David Mamet has filmed his own screenplay, Homicide appears from the outset to be a by the numbers cop thriller. Of course, being Mamet, whose work pivots around deception and meaning, the film is soon taking us down some unexpected routes.

Mamet favourites Joe Mantegna and the ubiqutous William H Macy turn in beautiful performances, delivering the Mamet dialogue with the respect it deserves.

As repressed Jew Bobby Gold's investigation into the killing of an elderly Jewish woman continue, he begins to question his position in modern America and begins to gravitate towards a shadowy Jewish community. Acting without using his loyal partner and his lads group of policemen, Gold begins to isolate himself leading to a tragic and shattering conclusion.

With great skill, Mamet leads Gold down a path from which he will never recover, questioning his heritage and his place in modern America.

A true classic, Homicide is the thinking man's thriller, covering many bases along the way.

the crime genre thrives outside of Hollywood
I didn't really know what to expect with this movie as State & Main was the only other Mamet work I had seen. Homicide proved to be an excellent surprise - great storytelling, dialogue, solid acting and pretty much everything I look for in a movie. The director takes into account the fact that you are capable of deducing what is going on and doesn't force everything in your face - it was fun to clarify what I had seen and how I felt about it with my partner after it had finished, and we had drawn similar conclusions. Homicide is fairly slow paced, but this doesn't detract at all, it felt to me more like something from the 1970s than the 1990s - which is definitely a good thing.

I would say that the DVD transfer appears mediocre, the picture isn't too great and the sound a bit muffled.