The films of Christopher Nolan are more than just visual spectacles. The Oscar-winning director behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, Memento, and Oppenheimer often casts the most talented actors in the world to play complex, challenging characters. Though he never had the opportunity of working with the legendary Sean Connery, Nolan’s appreciation for the star can be narrowed down to arguably the darkest performance of his career: A PTSD-ridden Scotland Yard cop in The Offence.
The 1973 crime drama based on the 1968 John Hopkins play This Story of Yours was directed by frequent Connery collaborator Sidney Lumet (The Anderson Tapes, Murder on the Orient Express). It was greenlit by United Artists as part of the star’s lucrative contract to reprise James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever. With Connery having any project of his choosing for the studio to produce, The Offence offered the Oscar-winning actor an opportunity to stretch his talents with a character blurring the line between good and evil. The bleak tone and ambiguous third-act twist make The Offence just as psychologically gripping as any Nolan masterpiece.
‘The Offence’ Stands Out Among Popular ‘70s Cop Dramas
Veteran British cop Johnson (Connery) has spent twenty years on the force investigating various murders and other violent crimes. His latest case involving the violation of an underage girl leads him to a potential suspect, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen). The years of trauma from Johnson’s exposure to heinous crimes explode into a violent rage when he viciously assaults the suspected child molester in the interrogation room.
After Baxter dies from the beating, Johnson gets suspended from the force. The detective is ordered to undergo psychiatric help from Detective Superintendent Cartwright (Trevor Howard) to recall the events surrounding Baxter’s interrogation. What gets revealed about Johnson’s state of mind becomes more disturbing than the very crime that Baxter is accused of.
The cop movie genre was evolving at the time The Offence hit cinemas in 1973. The days of cut-and-dry procedurals were being replaced by gritty cop stories in Dirty Harry and The French Connection, featuring rough-edged detectives bending the law in the name of justice. A few of these films examined such intense lawmen from a psychological standpoint in the way that The Offence does. It takes a slow-burning approach to its storytelling with no true thrills or action-heavy setpieces. The true thriller elements of The Offence come straight from Connery’s unsettling performance, which Nolan singled out in an interview with Dans le Video Club as the star’s best because it’s “a level of craft from Sean Connery just you won’t have seen anywhere else”.
Why ‘The Offence’ Remains Sean Connery’s Darkest Role
In the role of Detective-Sergeant Johnson, Connery tackles a bleak character study about the long-standing aftereffects of investigating sex crimes, specifically ones involving children. Early scenes of Johnson on the job through the assault on Baxter play to the familiar man-of-action persona that Connery is known for as a movie star. But gradually, he suffers a mental breakdown driven by rage and dark inner desires that he struggles to suppress. The lack of self-control that Connery responds to is highlighted by the intense sequence of Johnson lashing out at his wife, Maureen (Vivien Merchant), upon his suspension. There’s a sense in their interaction that Johnson has kept his true nature from her as a way to avoid sharing the disturbing details of his cases. Yet, in trying to open up his feelings to Maureen, which horrifies her, Johnson’s explosive outburst stems from the lack of support and affection for his personal struggles. It’s a powerful display of acting gravitas from Connery that puts James Bond in the rearview mirror.
For a filmmaker like Nolan to single out The Offence as Connery’s best work and an “absolutely stunning” picture speaks to the kind of complex protagonists in the Oscar-winning director’s filmography. Nolan’s take on Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy shares a similar troubled hero trait with Connery’s Detective-Sergeant Johnson. They both seek justice with brutal methods that often cross the line, resulting in greater inner conflict about justifying their actions. Additionally, Nolan’s use of time manipulation throughout his career can be traced back to The Offence through Johnson’s numerous flashbacks of previous cases and images of his inner thoughts, which create greater mystery as the internal barriers that keep him from becoming a lowlife fall apart.
The Offence is streaming on Tubi in the U.S.
- Release Date
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May 11, 1973
- Runtime
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112 Minutes
- Writers
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John Hopkins
