Paul Newman Holds His Own: “Fort Apache, The Bronx”

Paul Newman was well known tomost movie fans (as well as to Hollywood casting directors) as the epitome ofthe tough, sexy American male, sometimes an iconoclast and a loner but alwaysthe most attractive guy in the room. Fellow macho-man Steve McQueen lumpedhimself with Newman when worrying that, in the wake of The Graduate,“ugly” guys like Dustin Hoffman might threaten the careers of classicallyhandsome types. The funny thing is that my first awareness of Paul Newman mademe categorize him as the wimp who doesn’t get the girl.   

Newman made his Broadwaydebut in 1953, in a featured role in William Inge’s explosive play, Picnic. Setin a small midwestern burg, it’s about the local beauty who defies conventionwhen a handsome drifter comes to town on the eve of the annual picnic. Leftbehind in her passionate connection with the drifter is her longtime beau, agood guy but one who bears the limitations of his small-town upbringing. Newmanwould seem to be obvious casting as the hunk (that role went to Ralph Meeker),but instead he played the rejected boyfriend. Since I—living thousands of milesfrom New York City—was an inveterate reader of Broadway plays I never saw onstage, I jumped to the conclusion that Newman came off as a weakling.

 Not hardly, as fans of suchlandmark films as The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, and ButchCassidy would be quick to point out. Newman’s signature character is notalways smart in his behavior, but he’s crafty, highly physical, has a disarmingsense of humor, and (whatever his weaknesses) you can’t help but love him.These movies were all made in the Sixties, but in 1981 a gracefully ageingNewman (age 56) brought some of those same qualities to a nice little copthriller called Fort Apache, the Bronx.

 Fort Apache, The Bronx appropriates the name of a 1948 John Ford western todescribe a much-beleaguered police precinct house in New York City. (A formerBronx cop had used that same name in his published memoir, leading to a lawsuitthat plagued the production.) Newman plays Murphy, a veteran cop with anex-wife and a drinking problem. His partner, played by Ken Wahl, is somethingof a newbie, but the two are devoted to one another. They have far lessaffection for their fellow law officers, some of whom are bottom-of-the-barreldiscards from other precincts. The new precinct captain, played by EdwardAsner, wants to run things by the book, but fails to understand the challengesof a neighborhood in which drugs, guns, and prostitution rackets areeverywhere. (Really, he should have stuck to journalism!) Not only does hetrigger a riot but his new policies lead to a heinous crime by one of the boysin blue.

 The action of Fort Apache,The Bronx, kicks off with the apparently senseless murder of two rookiecops sitting in a squad car. The police never solve the crime, though we in theaudience know from the start who’s behind it and why the culprit will never bebrought to justice. This is just one of the indications that the problems spelledout in this film will not be solved anytime soon. It’s a grim message, butNewman’s character (despite the bitterness that leads him to consider an abruptretirement) is a cop through and through. I’m grateful to director DanielPetrie and screenwriter Heywood Gould for leaving us in the coda with a glimpseof Newman and his partner joyously doing what they do best.