One Good Cop

One Good Cop is a 1991 American crime film written and directed by Heywood Gould and starring Michael Keaton, Rene Russo, Anthony LaPaglia and Benjamin Bratt.

Plot

Artie Lewis (Michael Keaton) is an NYPD detective who believes in his work, loves his wife Rita (Rene Russo), and stands by his partner Stevie Diroma (Anthony LaPaglia). After a hard, violent day at work Artie and Stevie reassure each other that, though battered and bruised, they are "still alive".

Stevie is a widower with 3 young daughters. Stevie is killed in the line of duty by Mickey Garrett (David Barry Gray) during a hostage situation. Stevie's three young daughters Marian (Grace Johnston), Barbara (Rhea Silver-Smith), and Carol (Blair Swanson) are left orphans with no relatives to turn to.

Artie and Rita take them in and want to adopt them, but the Child Welfare Service decides that their apartment is too small for three children, and Barbara is a diabetic who needs two insulin shots per day.

Artie needs to buy a house, and the house he has chosen requires a $25,000 down payment that he doesn't have. Desperate, Artie grabs his gun and robs drug kingpin Beniamino Rios (Tony Plana), who was, in a way, involved in Stevie's death.

Artie uses most of the take to buy the house, and he gives the rest to Father Wills (Vondie Curtis-Hall), who runs a local makeshift shelter. However, Beniamino's girlfriend Grace De Feliz (Rachel Ticotin) is actually an undercover narcotics agent who suspects Artie, but his chief defends him as one of his best officers, and no action is taken against Artie.

The junkie who tipped Artie off to where Beniamino kept his money breaks down under questioning and gives Artie up to the druglords. Beniamino kidnaps Artie and tortures him to try to find out what Artie did with his money. Knowing Artie will not talk and will soon be killed, Grace decides blow her own cover and help him. Together they are forced to kill Beniamino and his colleagues. Artie's co-workers make up the $25,000 he stole, Grace refuses to testify against him and the government walks away from the case to avoid compromising their agents in the field. Artie's boss, Lieutenant Danny Quinn (Kevin Conway), understanding Artie's motives, short-staffed for good detectives and out of loyalty to Artie's slain partner, whose kids will be homeless if Artie goes to jail, tells Artie that no charges will be filed against him and allows him to remain on the force.

Artie calls Rita to tell her they and the girls are "still alive".

Cast

• Michael Keaton as Artie Lewis
• Rene Russo as Rita Lewis
• Anthony LaPaglia as Stevie Diroma
• Benjamin Bratt as Felix
• Rachel Ticotin as Grace
• Kevin Conway as Lieutenant Danny Quinn
• Tony Plana as Beniamano
• Charlayne Woodard as Cheryl Clark
• Kevin Corrigan as Clifford
• Vondie Curtis-Hall as Father Wills

External links

• One Good Cop at the Internet Movie Database
• One Good Cop at AllRovi