This is another brilliant collaboration between Sidney Lumet and Sean Connery(and Ian Bannen); for those who read my review of The Hill I neglected to mention Bannen's contribution simply because there's so much in The Hill. Not just from Ian Bannen, but without getting sidetracked, like The Hill, this Lumet masterpiece could just as easily be a stage play; set within the confines of bare walls it is unadulterated and intense drama from start to finish. It's simple introduction setting a scene of ma no a ma no interrogation from which literally only one man will walk away-and even then, he won't leave the situation the same as he entered it.Connery plays the macho man's man copper, no nonsense and straight to the point, whereas Bannen is articulate and softly spoken with a slimy manner, also the question of his guilt is never ascertained. The chemistry between the two actors (Connery and Bannen) is magnificent; the circumstances under which He's brought in, wondering the streets at midnight in what appears a drunken state with mud all over his trousers following the abduction and rape of a young girl who was found in a wooded area are solid reasons for questioning him. And He(Johnson) asks perfectly pertinent questions such as why Baxter doesn't want to call his wife and let her know where he is in case she's worried and why he was doing out at that time and in that state. Baxter responds with dubious answers, at first refusing to speak without a lawyer present and also insisting on giving his speaking with the Chief Inspector but Johnson presses him. There's no real case against Baxter as He's no prior record of any criminal nature but more than making a case Johnson needs to nail Baxter to purge himself of the clear sexual arousal he feels from the horrors He's witnessed in the throughout his career as a policeman. Johnson presses Baxter for answers repeatedly in a psychological duel, one minute one at the others mercy and the next the roles reversed ending in Baxter's murder at the hands of Johnson.Going back to the pertinent questions put to Baxter by Johnson in a professional capacity, Baxter quickly see's through Johnson's persona of policeman to the vulnerable, damaged person beneath who he begins to taunt and provoke. Now, let's assume Baxter's innocent; a child has been abducted and raped and the police are questioning you for it. Whether he likes the police or not he has children of his own so why can he not appreciate the seriousness of the crime? He instead takes the opportunity to torment an already very tormented man in order to massage his ego. Why would you not just eliminate yourself from their inquiry.At the end of this film I felt Johnson had achieved the peace of mind he was searching for by a very twisted road.

Dear Sean Connery, yours is one of the most imposing presences in the history of cinema - maybe even more imposing than Brando's. You used your impressive demeanor to full effect in this dark film. Especially during the torture scenes. Directors of today would kill to have an actor like you in their movies. You might have seen a lot of young actors like Di Caprio and Tom Hardy growing their beards or shaving their heads to look menacing. You did not have to resort to such gimmicks. Norman Mailer wrote that "Men become cops to avoid becoming criminals". I guess that is what this film is really about, right Sean? . The thoughts running through Detective Sergeant Johnson's (played by you) head were even more perverted than the deeds of the criminal Kenneth Baxter. You did a great job portraying the gradual unraveling of the character. The scene with you and Vivian Merchant was really intense. Did you really down a whole bottle of whiskey during that scene? It certainly looked like it. Like Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, The Offence had a play like quality about it (I found out later that it was actually based on a a play). I am not usually a fan of films which are like staged productions. But this was not some overtly talky Tennessee Williams rubbish. I really enjoyed the slow motion sequences. The indoor scenes in the police station reminded me of another dark police thriller called Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion that came out three years before The Offence. But The Offence had less number of close ups. I know Ian Brennen is considered to be a great actor. But I was not too impressed by him. I thought his performance was a bit weak. Also, the film could have been shorter. I wouldn't say I am a huge fan of it. But it was definitely very dark and intense. Best Regards, Pimpin. (7/10)

Sean Connery is a British police lieutenant with a major chip on his shoulder. After 20 years of working one sordid crime after another, he's beyond burnt out, he's a serious cup of coffee waiting to spill...and he does...during the interrogation of suspected child rapist Ian Bannen. Sidney Lumet directed this stagy production that gives Connery one of his best and least likely roles; he's a bad good guy. It's a great performance in a highly unheralded film. Connery's anger is palpable and the first-rate supporting cast includes Trevor Howard and Vivien Merchent (as Connery's exhausted wife). The fact that the movie is not particularly cinematic does not dull its power. The script is by John Hopkins, adapting his play "The Story of Yours."

I've seen many movies that undertook the subject of evil. They come and they go year in and year out. Some do it reasonably well like Hitchcock's 1960 thriller, "Psycho", for instance. However, if anything, "Psycho" tried a little too hard to be frightening, so that, in the end we came away feeling that the subject was one of fear itself more than of the thing that made us fearful. Michael Powell also released "Peeping Tom" in 1960, a movie about a psychopathic photographer/cinematographer who kills women and films them as they're dying. "Peeping Tom" was certainly creepy and disturbing, but in all the wrong ways. The murderer was treated as a poor, misunderstood man whose upbringing molded him into the villain he became instead of recognizing and acknowledging the self-will that must always be involved in the transgressions of man. The treatment of evil in most other films is either too underplayed to make us think hard about what evil really is, or is a typical Saturday afternoon cinema thriller like "The Exorcist" and its myriad of clones which are generally steeped in outward physical manifestations that all too often seem more of an excuse for showing off their latest special effects arsenal than anything.There are few films which try to show us that "subtle suggestion" that evil plays within all mankind, that essence of a presence which can be felt in your marrow trying to work its way to the outward physical universe as though it's in need of a host to do any real damage to the world. (I'll never forget reading Charles Williams' book "Witchcraft" and his line about how demons "pine for matter", something which still chills me). 1972 brought us, however, what may be the two most notable and praiseworthy treatments of that subtle suggestion of evil within. One was "The Other" about a young boy who seems truly tormented by his own psychopathic inner twin (actually he had a real life twin who had died and which his mind has turned into an inward dwelling entity of destruction)."The Offence" is the other great film on the subject of evil from the same year. The offence mentioned in the title is that of child molestation. There is a molester loose who not only rapes little girls, he does his best to make it hurt, to make them feel some of his own anguish for childhood traumas inflicted on him early in life. But we'll find nothing of "Peeping Tom" and its misplaced sympathy for the villain. Sean Connery is a police officer/detective who, by God, will have none of that! However, the movie takes a very strange turn during the interrogation, and during the second half of the film we get a real honest to goodness glimpse of what God must have meant when he said to Cain just before he killed Abel, "…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Let me also echo what many film critics have said before me: Anyone who claims Sean Connery can't act hasn't seen this film! He is nothing short of brilliant in this movie. Having said that however, Ian Bannen very nearly steals the show with his performance as the suspected villain. I can't recommend this one enough.