The Glass Shield (1995)

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Glass Shield Movie Poster

The Glass Shield is an American crime-drama who based loosely on real incidents involving John Eddie Johnson, the first minority officer in an all-white L.A. sheriff’s office, the film follows J.J. (Michael Boatman) as he endures the racism, at first casual, then overt, of his fellow officers.[1] Directed by Charles Burnett This 109 minutes released on June 2, 1995 (United States) and starring

Plot

The Glass Shield's opening credits are set against panels from a cop action comic, paralleling the way that eager rookie J.J. Johnson (Michael Boatman) views his new job on the force. The wide-eyed young officer is the only black cop in a Los Angeles sheriff's substation. He soon comes up against ingrained racism, corruption, and violence on the force as he tries to fit in. A young black man (Ice Cube) is pulled in as a murder suspect after a wealthy man's (Gould) wife is shot in a botched armed robbery (will Elliott Gould play scumbags for the rest of his career?). Boatman and Deputy Fields (Lori Petty) soon realize that the facts in the case don't add up and dig a bit deeper. They soon find a maze of deceit that extends upward from the sheriff's office to L.A. city government.[2]

Black Racism

(Left) Ice Cube as Teddy Woods(Right) Michael Boatman as Deputy J.J. Johnson

The movie reveals the story of American white cops makes someone guilty just because he is black. There's a scene where Woods (Ice Cube) is suddenly pulled over by the cops only because he's black, but when it turns out he's got a gun tucked under his car seat, he's arrested and suspected of murdering the rich Mr. Greenwall's wife (Elliott Gould) on the basis of a gun ID even though they lack of evidence.[3]

"The Glass Shield is brutal and unflinching in its portrayal of the (predominantly white) L.A. police force, here made out to be not only grotesquely racist and sexist, but pretty thoroughly sociopathic, too." Because when J.J (Michael Boatman), a rookie cop who tricked into lying to help cover up a colleague's mistake, finds that his actions can indirectly send an innocent man to jail.[4]

There is also a scene when J.J. is torn apart by his loyalty to the sheriff's office, which is characterized as obviously racist and ready to kill him when things get tough.[5] Because his college says "Remember, you are one of us, not a brother."[6]


Reference

  1. Peter Rainer. MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Glass Shield’: Pursuit of Manifesto Cloaks Cop Drama. Latimes. June 2, 1995. Retrieved January 17, 2021
  2. Jerry Renshaw. The Glass Shield. Austinchronicle. April 14, 2000. Retrieved January 17, 2021
  3. Todd McCarthy. The Glass Shield. Variety. May 30, 1994. Retrieved January 17, 2021
  4. Calum Marsh. The Netflix Streaming Endorsement: The Glass Shield. Esquire. November 21, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2021
  5. Peter Rainer. MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Glass Shield’: Pursuit of Manifesto Cloaks Cop Drama. Latimes. June 2, 1995. Retrieved January 17, 2021
  6. Caryn James. FILM REVIEW;Police Corruption and Stereotypes Who Step Out of the Mold. Nytimes. June 2, 1995. Retrieved January 17, 2021