tricked into starring in “Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot,” their career would be over. But just like Rocky Balboa himself, Sly has always risen from the ashes and the early ’90s was a prime example of his ability to stay the course. In 1993, a year after “Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot,” Stallone fronted “Cliffhanger” and “Demolition Man,” which helped put things back on track. 1995’s “Judge Dredd” — the stupidest sci-fi movie to predict our terrifying present — didn’t exactly help, but the ever-determined Stallone kept working, and in 1997 led a crime drama that turned out to be a modest hit and a critical success.
“Cop Land” was written and directed by “A Complete Unknown” filmmaker James Mangold, and starred Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the sheriff of a small New Jersey town just across the Hudson from New York City. The town offers the perfect escape for corrupt NYPD cops looking to avoid the jurisdiction of their department’s internal affairs. But Heflin, who always harbored dreams of joining the NYPD, isn’t about to turn a blind eye to corruption, and when he discovers a conspiracy spearheaded by senior officers, he and Robert De Niro’s Internal Affairs officer Moe Tilden do all they can to bring the dirty cops to justice.
Alongside its two biggest stars, “Cop Land” also benefitted from supporting performances by Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, and Michael Rapaport, all of which added up to box office success and a solid critical response. In the years since, “Cop Land” hasn’t exactly gone down as a classic, but in the streaming age, there’s always the chance for a brief renaissance — which is exactly what Mangold’s crime drama is experiencing over on Paramount+.
