NY DAILY NEWS

Hollywood got it wrong again.

"Brooklyn's Finest," a police drama being released today, stars Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke in a tale of demoralized cops who turn a blind eye to crime, grab every chance to rip off drug dealers, and befriend the gangs who are ostensibly running the neighborhoods.

But to the cops and detectives who were on the front lines of the city's war on crime -- paying the price of their dedication in blood, sweat and tears -- the movie is a slap in the face.

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"I just wish once they would do a story about a guy who comes in and does an honest day's work, but that would never sell," fumed retired homicide detective Louis Savarese, who spent 33 years in the Brooklyn neighborhoods featured in the film.

Savarese said it would be naive to think that some cops don't succumb to corruption or indifference.

"But it's less than 1 percent who get involved like that," he said.

"I'm retired, but if I saw something going down today, I'd take action. It's in my blood."

James Killen, a retired homicide and narcotics detective throughout Brooklyn, said the story behind "Brooklyn's Finest" is a familiar attempt at cop-bashing.

"It's more of liberal Hollywood trashing the people who protected people who want to be protected," said Killen.

"Brooklyn's Finest" is directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose film "Training Day," about a corrupt Los Angeles detective, also starred Hawke, and won an Oscar for Denzel Washington.

For his latest effort, Fuqua turned to a script written by Michael Martin, who once lived in East New York and has worked as a toll collector and a signalman for the subway system.

Martin told The Post's Reed Tucker that the impetus for the script came from a former roommate who was in the Police Academy.

"Every police officer thinks they'll put a badge and a uniform on and change the city. Then they face this harsh reality," Martin said.

Never mind that since the early 1990s, thousands of young cops have transformed Gotham from the nation's crime capital into America's safest big city.

And nowhere was that felt more than in neighborhoods like Brownsville, where cops in the 73rd Precinct have slashed murders by 87.5 percent since 1993.

Comments (5)

Roga: ... Martin , you dumbass, every good cop I know wants to do their part, not and try to change a whole city , you moron 1 March 08, 2010 CPDBRANCH: ... Not to take away from the cop bashing thing, but the movie wasnt even entertaining. It sucked, training day was atleast a well written drama. That aside I agree that I would like to see a movie about honest hard working cops. 2 March 10, 2010 mae: ... Go see Alice in Wonderland instead. At least it is entertaining 3 March 12, 2010 karrington: ... 'He once lived in East New York and was a toll collector, a signalman and his roommate at the time was in the Police Academy.' I fail to understand how that translates into enough experience to write this screenplay. 4 March 22, 2010 enke: ... You cannot police a community that does not want to be policed. I am so tired of the liberal media and movie stars using their platform to bash LE, military, the war,,,,ETC. You can bet none of them have ever served OUR COUNTRY in any capacity. Keep up The Good Fight. God Bless. 5 April 06, 2010

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