January 7, 2013 (Grauman's Chinese Theatre)
January 11, 2013 (United States)
Gangster Squad is a 2013 American action crime film directed by Ruben Fleischer, written by Will Beall and starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña and Sean Penn. Set in 1949, the plot is a fictionalized account of the LAPD officers and detectives, called the 'Gangster Squad', who attempt to keep Los Angeles safe from Mickey Cohen and his gang.
After the script spent several years on the Black List, production of the film began in September 2011 around Los Angeles, lasting through December. The film was originally set to be theatrically released September 7, 2012, but in the wake of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, the film was pushed back to a January 11, 2013 release date by Warner Bros. to accommodate re-shoots, which took place in August 2012.
Gangster Squad received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the cast and production values but criticized the thinly-written characters.
Storyline
In 1949 Los Angeles, crime boss Mickey Cohen has become the most powerful figure in the underworld in California and intends to expand his criminal enterprise to encompass the entire West Coast. The LAPD has not been able to stop his ruthless rise, as he has eliminated witnesses, hired dirty cops to protect his activities, and avoided prosecution through spreading corruption in the justice system. For starters, World War II OSS veteran Sergeant John O'Mara brought down Cohen's prostitution building and arrested the perps, only for them to be released early into Cohen's care, until Cohen had them killed in a fire.
Determined to put an end to Cohen and his dirty business empire, LAPD Chief Bill Parker creates a covert undercover unit, tasked with dismantling Cohen's dirty enterprise and put O'Mara in charge of the Squad. The unit, composed of officers who do not carry badges and are authorized to act outside of the law.
With the help of his pregnant wife Connie, O'Mara recruited fellow war veteran Detective Jerry Wooters and four incorruptible misfit officers. They are knife-wielding Lieutenant Coleman Harris, wire tapping expert and family man Conwell Keeler, outlaw sharpshooter Max Kennard, and Kennard's rookie protégé Navidad Ramírez.
Despite initial setbacks, such as a casino raid thwarted by corrupt Burbank cops, the Squad struck several successful blows at the heart of Cohen's operations, including shutting down his lucrative wire gambling business. They broke into Cohen's mansion and Keeler planted a bug in the back of a television. As a result, Cohen believed someone has betrayed him and lashed out at those inside his dirty business empire, including his etiquette tutor Grace Faraday.
Wooters and Faraday have entered into a secret romantic relationship, and he tried to help her escape from Cohen, enlisting the help of mutual friend and gangster Jack Whalen. Realizing the attackers have never stolen his money and only torched it, Cohen deduces they were cops and realized that they have bugged his house.
Cohen gave false information to lure the Squad into an unsuccessful ambush in Chinatown while Keeler is garroted by a hitman. O'Mara's homes is hit in a drive-by in which Connie survived but resulted in her giving birth to hers and John's newborn son. When Faraday witnesses Cohen murder Whalen, she offered to testify against him. O'Mara forced the crooked Judge Carter to sign an arrest warrant before leading the Squad to the Park Plaza Hotel to arrest Mickey Cohen.
Cohen and his men engage in a lengthy shootout with the Squad, during which Wooters and Kennard are wounded. Cohen and his bodyguard Karl Lennox escape, but O'Mara rammed their vehicle into a fountain. Navidad helped a dying Kennard shoot Lennox, saving O'Mara. Cohen and O'Mara engage in a brutal bareknuckle brawl while onlookers and reporters gathered. O'Mara finally defeated Cohen and has him arrested, ending his dirty business empire reigning over LA.
The film explains that the Gangster Squad has never been mentioned for its role in keeping the underworld from gaining a foothold in LA, and that its surviving members remain extremely secret 'till this day. Mickey Cohen is sentenced to life imprisonment at Alcatraz, where he is greeted with a lead-pipe beating by inmates who were friends of Whalen. Harris and Ramírez partner together to walk the beat, Wooters and Faraday continue their relationship, and O'Mara quit his job with the LAPD to live a peaceful and quiet life with his wife and child.
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, Crickets 1 BT020401/Night Ambience Light PE011701
- SKYWALKER, DING - ELEVATOR BELL RING
- Sound Ideas, PROJECTOR, FILM - 16 MM PROJECTOR: START, RUN, STOP, MOVIE
- WB SCI FI - MARVIN THE MARTIAN'S LASER GUN, SWOOSH