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The scene in which the line is uttered is crucial and involves sheriff Freddie Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) being shamed into action after years of flabby, non-confrontational indifference. Heflin is the sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey, a small town inhabited mostly by cops who work across the George Washington Bridge, in a crime-infested Manhattan. Since the citizens are all gun- toting police officers, Freddie has little to do other than direct traffic and break up back alley brawls. But as Freddie will soon prove, for all his droopy-eyed failings, he's the plug that keeps Garrison from spiraling down the drain.

When the film begins, off-duty cop Murray ‘Superboy' Babitch (Michael Rapaport) kills two black men who sideswiped his car on the GW Bridge and threatened him with what he believes is a gun. Descending onto the scene is Ray (Harvey Keitel), fellow cop and the man whose mob ties made Garrison into the affordable, cop infested haven it has become. When Babitch disappears from the bridge, Ray claims he jumped to a watery death. Two dead African-Americans and a cop who commits suicide at the scene attract the attention of Internal Affairs investigator Mo Tilden (DeNiro). Soon it becomes obvious that not only is Babitch alive, but Ray's harboring of him is the loose thread that unravels the town.

Garrison has a number of interesting citizens and Mangold strains to juggle all their stories. Some characters get shorter shrift then others, which serves to unbalance the film. Even John Sayles (City of Hope), who has made a career keeping multiple plates spinning, is occasionally hard-pressed to keep it all together. And Mangold, for all his legitimate attributes, is no John Sayles.

Everything radiates outward from Freddie. When he was younger, he saved a local girl from drowning, after her car plunged off a New Jersey bridge. He lost his hearing as a result (which meant he could never work NYPD) and the girl he saved (Annabella Sciorra) wound up marrying another Garrison-based cop (Peter Berg). Freddie's best friend seems to be Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta) an officer with a drug problem and a junkie girlfriend. Then there is Tilden, the IA Investigator whose jurisdiction does not extend to New Jersey, so he needs Freddie's help to prove Babitch is alive and being hidden by Ray. Mo and Ray do have a history together, but it's a bit vague. It seems to have something to do with Mo's move to Internal Affairs, a transfer that gets you scratched off most NYPD Christmas lists. As for Ray, the last thing he needs is some small town sheriff suddenly growing balls and trying to find Babitch, whose squirreling away seems to involve most of Garrison's cop-citizenry.

While the film climaxes with an effectively staged shootout, emotionally it climaxes when Freddie puts on his thrift-store suit and visits Mo's Manhattan office. Finally willing to do the right thing and help find Babitch, Mo tells Freddie it's too late. The Babitch case is yesterday's news. Freddie had his chance to stand up and be a real cop, but he blew it. However, for the first time since he saved that teenage girl from drowning, Freddie is going to put aside his fears and do the right thing. But if Freddie is going to bring Babitch in, he must go through Ray and all his badge-wielding buddies who have much to lose if their posh lifestyle is compromised.

Stallone made news when he took the role of Freddie, presumably because after countless Rockys and Rambos, he'd actually be called upon to act. He gained weight, slouched his shoulders and generally looked like a man dragging a 500 lbs. boulder behind him. He's good in the film, something he can legitimately be proud of. In fact, the entire cast is top-notch and elevates the film into something a lesser cast would not have been able to achieve. There is a gravitas to the performances that make you willing to gloss over the film's shortcomings. The somber score by Oscar winner Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings) and the New Jersey locations also helps sustain the mood.

Copland plays better on video then it did in the theater. It's a small film that needs to stay small. What the movie has to offer seemed spread too thin when presented 50 feet across. However, no matter where you see it, Mangold still takes on too much, making Copland a noble and well-meaning near- miss.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Black never looked so beautiful as in this sparkling transfer from Miramax Home Video. Good chunks of Copland take place at night and those scenes feature dense blacks with no pixelization or shimmering. The lights that shine across the Hudson River in New Jersey look like beautiful pinpricks of color. Detail is very good and contrast is first rate. There are no noticeable edge enhancements or other video oddities. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video, the crispness and clarity of the transfer adds to the power of the film.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is good enough, considering there's not a lot aurally going on. This is a small-town movie with small-town sound. If anything draws you in, it's the enveloping musical score, which sounds deep and resonant. The dialogue is always understandable, but some lines feature an ADR'd quality that took me out of the film. The surrounds don't have much to do, save for the occasional line of dialogue or sound effect. There are no pops, hisses or other audio anomalies. In a film with unspectacular sound, Miramax has provided an unspectacular mix.

There are also English and French subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

This is Copland's second go-around on DVD and while the previous version was guilty of various inadequacies, this time we're in a bit better shape.
The main reason to care is the audio commentary from director James Mangold, Sylvester Stallone, Robert Patrick and producer Cathy Konrad. What's notable here is how honest and intelligent Stallone is. Not coming off as a sheltered superstar, he clearly understands that his "delicate touch", as he sarcastically calls it, was opposite what the character of Freddie needed. Putting on the weight helped him push away the vision audiences had of his other iconic characters. The once and future Rocky even admits carrying a bone-carved turtle in his pocket during filming, because he likened Freddie to the slow, deliberate, hard- shelled animal. It's a terrific commentary made memorable by the participation of Stallone.

Copland: The Making of an Urban Myth is a 14-minute fluff piece that compares the film to a Western, especially the High Noon climax, when Freddie must face his enemies alone. We hear producer Cathy Konrad claiming that when she got the script at 2am, she opened it up and COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! All we're really interested in is how Mangold and the producers secured the amazing cast. Stallone, who was looking for a change, was the first biggie to sign on, followed by Ray Liotta, who was a longtime fan of the script. Copland: The Making of an Urban Myth is standard stuff, but worth a skim.

Storyboard Comparison is a split-screen affair involving the climax of the film. We see the storyboards run simultaneously with the scene's final cut. All we learn here is that Mangold stuck very closely to the storyboards. Unfortunately, we're never told if Mangold drew his own storyboards, or if in fact, they were created last week by Harvey Weinstein's daughter.

There are two deleted scenes that can be played with or without audio commentary by Stallone, Mangold, Robert Patrick and producer Cathy Konrad. The first, "Car Chase", is a three-minute scene involving Garrison's off-duty cops chasing some African-Americans guilty of playing their car stereo too loud. Watching this scene, we realize two things: it's too much of a tangent to make the final cut and also, Stallone really was very good in the film. The second scene, ‘Profile', expands on Copland's barely- explored racial dynamic. Here, Freddie defends his record of arresting so many African-Americans. As with the first deleted scene, it's well- played, but the film has enough story threads as it is.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

There are no ROM extras on the disc.

Parting Thoughts