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Deep Cover
Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.
1992 · Directed by Bill Duke · 108 min · Action · Thriller · Crime · Screenplay in the scene database · 18 frames
Tagline
There's a thin line between catching a criminal... and becoming one.
Plot
In 1972, Russell Stevens Jr. witnesses his drug-addicted, alcoholic father getting shot and killed while robbing a liquor store. Traumatized by his father's death, Stevens swears that he will never end up like him.
Nineteen years later, Stevens is a Cincinnati police officer. He is recruited by DEA Special Agent Gerald Carver to go undercover in Los Angeles, claiming that his criminal-like character traits will serve him better in this capacity than they would as a uniformed cop. Stevens poses as drug dealer "John Hull" in order to infiltrate and work his way up the network of the West Coast's largest drug importer, Anton Gallegos, and his uncle Hector Guzmán, a South American politician. John relocates to a cheap hotel and begins dealing cocaine.
One day, John is arrested by the devoutly religious LAPD Narcotics Detective Taft and his corrupt partner, Hernández, as he buys a kilogram in a set-up by Eddie Dudley, Gallegos's low-level street supplier. At his arraignment, John discovers that he bought baby laxative instead of cocaine and his case is dismissed. His self-appointed attorney David Jason, who is also a drug trafficker in Gallegos's network, rewards John's silence with more cocaine and introduces him to Felix Barbosa, the underboss to Gallegos. Felix kills Eddie when he finds out he's working with the LAPD and enlists John as his replacement.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Henry Bean, Michael Tolkin
- Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli
- Edited by: John Carter
- Music: Michel Colombier
- Production design: Pamela B. Warner
- Produced by: Pierre David, Henry Bean
Cast
- Laurence Fishburne as Russell Stevens Jr. / John Hull
- Jeff Goldblum as David Jason
- Victoria Dillard as Betty McCutcheon
- Gregory Sierra as Felix Barbosa
- Clarence Williams III as Taft
- René Assa as Guzman
- Alex Colon as Molto
- Roger Guenveur Smith as Eddie
- Sydney Lassick as Gopher
- Kamala Lopez as Belinda Chacon
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Image Organization, New Line Cinema
- Budget: $8,000,000
- Box office: $16,600,000
- Themes: police, undercover, drug trafficking, investigation, murder, undercover cop, drug trade, drugs, black cop, infiltrate
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