I love this movie, despite its flaws. Let me tell you why you will probably at least like it, too.
I have been reading through the comments of this movie and find myself agreeing with many of the generally positive and some of the negative comments made by previous posters. This remains to me a lovable movie, and after nearly 25 years, something of a cult classic.
What always got me was the basic story of the 'dead-beat' younger brother, Jimmy Lynch, played by Timothy Hutton, standing by his tough, elder, FDNY fire-fighting brother, Terry, played by (the very much missed) Robert Urich. Terry had always taken care of Jimmy, but Terry was now the one in need of help care, having been injured and subsequently depressed, after trying to save a girl from a fire.
Terry has been denied benefits and help because he was off-duty and intoxicated. Jimmy goes all the way to NYC Mayor Tyler (Robert Culp), but is rebuffed.
Jimmy's inventive and high-profile - if unlawful - one-man campaign to play on the woes of the Mayor's own re-election campaign and eventually gain public sympathy for his brother's plight, endears him to, and gains the intrigue of, the people and media of NYC, much to the chagrin of the Mayor, and in particular, his staff.
From the early "oh no!" and indignation of elder brother Terry's plight, to the amusing "Turk 182" campaign, you find yourself gradually getting more and more behind Jimmy. But the "Turk 182" campaign against the Mayor is anonymous and its true motive is still to be revealed. You realise, as does Jimmy, that in order to succeed in publicising his brother's case, Jimmy must reveal the true motivation behind "Turk 182! Which must also mean revealing himself and that will inevitably mean having to face consequences.
By the time you get to the thrilling finale, if you are not rooting for Jimmy Lynch...well you just ought to go and change your name to "Scrooge" and have done with it.
You can debate the rights and wrongs of the decision not to give the Terry Lynch character his fire-fighter benefits, but the fact that NYC could take that position, and Jimmy continues to fight it on his brother's behalf, should tell you that the decision is perhaps not clear cut, hence the central conflict that the movie works from. It wouldn't really work if there was no reasoning whatsoever behind it other than, 'The Mayor and the city are evil and stingy'. That's the stuff of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
However, would you expect an off-duty Fire fighter to standby in such circumstances where a little girl is trapped in a fire, when the trucks and fire fighters are not there yet, although he's a had few drinks, but isn't fall-down drunk? Clearly the movie takes the sympathetic view that it is a pretty poor way to treat a man who risked his life, to save a little girl, and was injured in the process.
This is key to the movie. If you are not going to accept that premise then you may not have sympathy for the central characters and will not enjoy the film as much as those that can and do.
No, it's not the greatest film ever made, and yes it is essentially a feel-good movie. It's a bit flimsy in places, with some dodgy accents (I am not even American, let alone a New Yorker, and I was amused at some of the accents) and it had some thin characterisation in some of the support roles; but that thin characterisation is partly responsible for this movie's greatest asset. Bear with me, here.
That feel-good movie factor you get from this film arises from the empathy for Jimmy and Terry Lynch, and how you find yourself rooting for "Turk 182" and willing him on. The empathy and sense of injustice you feel for the characters would have suffered by having the Mayor and his minions, particularly Peter Boyle's 'angry detective', having deeper or greyer characters and coming across as at all sympathetic. Whilst the point of conflict can be considered debateable, the film's sympathies are clearly one-sided and black and white.
I think Robert Culp plays the Mayor here perfectly. The character is hardly an evil, sneering Bond villain, and it's left unclear if he is actually even guilty of being anything more than a successful politician. Culp's performance just leaves you feeling in your bones that the Mayor is "dirty" and probably guilty of something - and he does not therefore warrant any sympathy.
I can see that one of the reasons I love this movie is because it is a little bit more black and white and one-sided than real life tends to be - and if it had been greyer, it simply would not have given me, or its audience, the same level of empathy for Jimmy Lynch's sense of injustice and I would not have got the joy out of his antics as "Turk 182" that I did when I first saw it back in circa 1986 - or still got when I last saw it in 2009.
The character of Terry Lynch may seem pale in comparison to his contemporaries - such as Tommy Gavin and his buddies from "Rescue Me", but it was a feel-good movie made in 1985. It was made in mind of the video generation and aimed generally at a youngish audience. You could take the girlfriend to the movies to see Turk 182 - or rent the video for the couch at home.
So relax and enjoy it for what it is, rather than slate it for what it isn't. Get behind "Turk 182", and maybe you'll experience some of the joy that I got out of this movie.
I have been reading through the comments of this movie and find myself agreeing with many of the generally positive and some of the negative comments made by previous posters. This remains to me a lovable movie, and after nearly 25 years, something of a cult classic.
What always got me was the basic story of the 'dead-beat' younger brother, Jimmy Lynch, played by Timothy Hutton, standing by his tough, elder, FDNY fire-fighting brother, Terry, played by (the very much missed) Robert Urich. Terry had always taken care of Jimmy, but Terry was now the one in need of help care, having been injured and subsequently depressed, after trying to save a girl from a fire.
Terry has been denied benefits and help because he was off-duty and intoxicated. Jimmy goes all the way to NYC Mayor Tyler (Robert Culp), but is rebuffed.
Jimmy's inventive and high-profile - if unlawful - one-man campaign to play on the woes of the Mayor's own re-election campaign and eventually gain public sympathy for his brother's plight, endears him to, and gains the intrigue of, the people and media of NYC, much to the chagrin of the Mayor, and in particular, his staff.
From the early "oh no!" and indignation of elder brother Terry's plight, to the amusing "Turk 182" campaign, you find yourself gradually getting more and more behind Jimmy. But the "Turk 182" campaign against the Mayor is anonymous and its true motive is still to be revealed. You realise, as does Jimmy, that in order to succeed in publicising his brother's case, Jimmy must reveal the true motivation behind "Turk 182! Which must also mean revealing himself and that will inevitably mean having to face consequences.
By the time you get to the thrilling finale, if you are not rooting for Jimmy Lynch...well you just ought to go and change your name to "Scrooge" and have done with it.
You can debate the rights and wrongs of the decision not to give the Terry Lynch character his fire-fighter benefits, but the fact that NYC could take that position, and Jimmy continues to fight it on his brother's behalf, should tell you that the decision is perhaps not clear cut, hence the central conflict that the movie works from. It wouldn't really work if there was no reasoning whatsoever behind it other than, 'The Mayor and the city are evil and stingy'. That's the stuff of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
However, would you expect an off-duty Fire fighter to standby in such circumstances where a little girl is trapped in a fire, when the trucks and fire fighters are not there yet, although he's a had few drinks, but isn't fall-down drunk? Clearly the movie takes the sympathetic view that it is a pretty poor way to treat a man who risked his life, to save a little girl, and was injured in the process.
This is key to the movie. If you are not going to accept that premise then you may not have sympathy for the central characters and will not enjoy the film as much as those that can and do.
No, it's not the greatest film ever made, and yes it is essentially a feel-good movie. It's a bit flimsy in places, with some dodgy accents (I am not even American, let alone a New Yorker, and I was amused at some of the accents) and it had some thin characterisation in some of the support roles; but that thin characterisation is partly responsible for this movie's greatest asset. Bear with me, here.
That feel-good movie factor you get from this film arises from the empathy for Jimmy and Terry Lynch, and how you find yourself rooting for "Turk 182" and willing him on. The empathy and sense of injustice you feel for the characters would have suffered by having the Mayor and his minions, particularly Peter Boyle's 'angry detective', having deeper or greyer characters and coming across as at all sympathetic. Whilst the point of conflict can be considered debateable, the film's sympathies are clearly one-sided and black and white.
I think Robert Culp plays the Mayor here perfectly. The character is hardly an evil, sneering Bond villain, and it's left unclear if he is actually even guilty of being anything more than a successful politician. Culp's performance just leaves you feeling in your bones that the Mayor is "dirty" and probably guilty of something - and he does not therefore warrant any sympathy.
I can see that one of the reasons I love this movie is because it is a little bit more black and white and one-sided than real life tends to be - and if it had been greyer, it simply would not have given me, or its audience, the same level of empathy for Jimmy Lynch's sense of injustice and I would not have got the joy out of his antics as "Turk 182" that I did when I first saw it back in circa 1986 - or still got when I last saw it in 2009.
The character of Terry Lynch may seem pale in comparison to his contemporaries - such as Tommy Gavin and his buddies from "Rescue Me", but it was a feel-good movie made in 1985. It was made in mind of the video generation and aimed generally at a youngish audience. You could take the girlfriend to the movies to see Turk 182 - or rent the video for the couch at home.
So relax and enjoy it for what it is, rather than slate it for what it isn't. Get behind "Turk 182", and maybe you'll experience some of the joy that I got out of this movie.