There's a specific brand of cop in film and on TV that apparently appeals to audiences. Typically, he's alienated from his family because he's too dedicated to his job and consumes too much of his time doing it and not enough with them. Or debasing brutality has taken too big a chunk out of his consciousness for him to frequent the society of women and children. Generally, he eats three meals of pizza or Chinese and drinks like a fish. The company he keeps does nothing for his lexicon. And the first thing everybody tells him is that he looks terrible. In Dead Bang, Don Johnson plays this classic brand of cop, to a tee.

Has anyone ever made a movie about a good cop who is neurotically orderly? The one perhaps determining stroke contributed by Dead Bang is a scene in which the inebriated investigator heaves onto a suspect. His name is Beck and on Christmas Eve he's designated to probe the murder of another LA cop. He produces the name of a freshly paroled offender apparently affiliated with a disheveled band of white supremacists.

There are a few rows and gunfights, and a Fed overplayed by William Forsythe imposes himself. Also, due to his wreckless ways, which appear somewhat restrained relative to that of most movie cops, Beck is ordered by the chief to obtain permission from a police shrink or be removed from the case. However since Michael Jeter's counselor resembles Woody Allen, Beck breaks up and the doctor grows annoyed and the opportunity of remaining on the case seems remote, that is till Beck has a very unclinical, clear-cut and inhospitable talk with the slightly built fellow.

Near the beginning, there's an unwanted detour in which Beck beds Penelope Ann Miller who, unbeknownst to him, was the wife of the murdered cop. But when he faces her with the information, that's all and she never appears again. From then on out it's all boys, and there is some inexplicably evocative dialogue in which Beck and his contemporaries talk about "going through doors" together. Beck says there's only one thing that counts: Is there anyone who'd be afraid to go through a door with him? And later, his police chief replies, "I want you to know that I'd go through a door with you anytime." Johnson's eyes look aloof, but he's got some presence here, doing the work and really deriving something appealing out of the formula. As the burdensome G-man, Forsythe is the essence of trivial-mindedness. At one point, he looks at a shivering Beck with gravitas and says, "You didn't bring a cold-weather coat? What's wrong with you?" Also, Bob Balaban, as a whipped parole officer, and Tim Reid, as a local police chief, give their roles some punch.

However, what the audience sees, actually, are a couple of white-supremacist psychopaths with a fixation on racial purity and homemade apple tarts. Their main advocates are a handful of dim-witted Hell's Angels sorts who, when they need funds, raid the Mexican bar right next door, kill everyone in it and then are astonished when the authorities appear. John Frankenheimer's control is tight enough but quite mechanical: He sustains the action but doesn't furnish much character. Then again, Robert Foster's script is speckled with crumbs of peculiarity, practically all of them minor. Frankenheimer, the director of three of the most sharply honed and deeply affecting conspiracy movies ever made, is also responsible for some of the more negligible.

Los Angeles homicide detective Jerry Beck searches for a murderer who killed two people on Christmas Eve.

The investigation takes Beck inside the violent world of hate groups and white supremacists, who are hatching a deadly plot to attack even more innocent people.

Beck must also confront his own personal demons, including his growing problem with alcohol, if he wants to track down and stop the violent gang before it is too late.......

Dead bang is a movie that time has forgot, if it wasn't for the lead and a bizarre performance from Forsyth, you would swear that it was a TV movie from the early eighties. The biggest problem is, is that it's trying to be bigger than it actually is.

It tries to make Johnson a new action star on the block, but it harks too much to films like Extreme Prejudice, and doesn't really have much going for it, apart from it being included in the never ending argument of 'Is it a Christmas movie?'

Johnson is fine, but instead of playing it straight, it seems like he's going for a parody of his character, and at times he really hams it up, especially the scene he shares with Michael Jeter, where he is maniacally laughing for no good reason. It's supposed to be a serious scene, but it's verging on farcical.

When you look at the film on face value, it's quite a bland whodunnit, with an exploitation angle with the added racism from everyone who isn't law abiding. William Forsythe is completely from another film, and although some of the sequences between him and Johnson are supposedly played for laughs, they are very uncomfortable to watch, and bring the film to a grinding halt.

Add a couple of basic action scenes, and Johnson vomiting on a perpetrator, you have a really odd film that just doesn't sit right.

Dead Bland.

Excellent direction as usual from John Frankenheimer. This movie gives you more than enough action and bang for your buck. Don Johnson is a homicide cop that stretches the rules; drinks too much; sleeps too little; is crude; foul mouthed and absolutely great. On Xmas morning, Johnson starts his trek to find a cop killer that is associated with a White Supremacy group. This hard headed cop follows his suspect to Oklahoma and Colorado before all hell breaks loose. On the trail of Johnson is a pansy, but arrogant FBI agent played by William Forsythe. Johnson gets help when he needs it from Tim Reid and his police department. Very entertaining and sometimes comical fact-based story from Jerry Beck.

Penelope Ann Miller provides the all too short sexual content. Wow, what a charmer. And Michael Jeter plays a shrink that resembles Woody Allen.

Have never really been a Don Johnson fan; but this role is a hell of a lot better than his TV Miami Vice persona. This is a non-stop attention grabber.