''Deep Cover'' is a 1992 American

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

starring

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

as a cop who goes undercover to bring down a Los Angeles drug cartel. It was directed by

Bill Duke William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. As a ...

based on a screenplay by Henry Bean and

Michael Tolkin Michael L. Tolkin (born October 17, 1950) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and director. He has written numerous screenplays, including ''The Player (1992 film), The Player'' (1992), which he adapted from his own 1988 novel of the same name ...

Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum ( ; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. Goldblum ...

, and Charles Martin Smith also feature. ''Deep Cover'' was released in the United States on April 15, 1992, by

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

. The film received positive reviews, being likened by some critics to a modern

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

. It is also notable for its theme song of the same title, composed by

Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and co-founder of ...

and released as his debut solo single, which also features then-newcomer

Snoop Doggy Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

making his studio debut.

Plot

In 1972, Russell Stevens Jr. witnesses his drug-addicted, alcoholic father getting shot and killed while robbing a liquor store. Traumatized by his father's death, Stevens swears that he will never end up like him. Nineteen years later, Stevens is a

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

police officer. He is recruited by DEA Special Agent Gerald Carver to go

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, claiming that his criminal-like character traits will serve him better in this capacity than they would as a uniformed cop. Stevens poses as drug dealer "John Hull" in order to infiltrate and work his way up the network of the West Coast's largest drug importer, Anton Gallegos, and his uncle Hector Guzmán, a South American politician. Stevens relocates to a cheap hotel and begins dealing

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. One day, Stevens is arrested by the devoutly religious

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

Narcotics Detective Taft and his corrupt partner, Hernández, as he buys a kilogram in a set-up by Eddie Dudley, Gallegos' low-level street supplier. At his arraignment, Stevens discovers that he bought baby laxative instead of cocaine and his case is dismissed. His self-appointed attorney David Jason, who is also a drug trafficker in Gallegos' network, rewards Stevens' silence with more cocaine and introduces him to Felix Barbosa, the

underboss Underboss () is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the Crime boss, boss. The un ...

to Gallegos. Felix kills Eddie when he finds out he's working with the LAPD and enlists Stevens as his replacement. Stevens develops a romance with Betty McCutcheon, the manager of an art dealership which is a front to launder Jason's drug money. When one of Stevens' dealers is murdered by a rival dealer, he is informed by Jason that if he doesn't retaliate, other street dealers will view it as a sign of weakness and in turn murder him. Stevens follows the rival dealer to a nightclub, corners him in a bathroom and kills him. Jason then partners with Stevens in his new business: distribution of a synthetic chemical variant of cocaine. It is revealed that Barbosa is a

confidential informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

working with Hernández. After a falling out, Jason becomes more sadistic, and Stevens correctly deduces that Barbosa wants Jason killed to eliminate his competition. Felix immediately gives up Stevens, Jason and Betty to Hernández, and wants Jason killed during the arrest. Carver knows about this but refuses to interfere, forcing Stevens to violate orders and stop the murder himself by exposing Felix, which results in a vengeful Jason killing him. The killing results in Betty reneging on the drug business, with Stevens' protection. Gallegos comes to meet with Stevens and Jason, informing them that they have inherited Felix's debts to him. Later that day, Stevens meets with Carver to tell him about his meeting with Gallegos. Instead, Carver pulls a gun on Stevens and orders him to surrender his weapon and get in his car. Angrily, Stevens disarms Carver and forces him to admit that the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

has decided to leave Gallegos alone because Guzmán may someday be useful as a political asset to them; Carver has decided to play along in exchange for career advancement. Disillusioned, Stevens abandons his undercover status and vows to take down Gallegos and Guzmán alone. Stevens and Jason learn that Gallegos is going to kill them anyway, so they kill him first and steal a van storing over $100 million in cash. They then invite Guzmán to a shipyard and offer to return 80% of Gallegos' money if he agrees to invest the remaining 20% in their synthetic cocaine operation. Taft, who has been tailing Stevens, interrupts the deal and has his gun taken by Guzmán’s men. Since he is unable to arrest Guzmán because of his

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

, Guzmán leaves. Taft orders Stevens to surrender but is shot by Jason after attempting to brandish his backup weapon, forcing Stevens to reveal himself as a police officer as he tries to radio in for an ambulance to help Taft. Stevens tries to reason with Jason as the latter tries to convince him to just take the money and go rogue. Jason shoots Taft in the chest, killing him. Throwing all reason out of the window and seeing no other alternative, Stevens attempts to arrest Jason. When Jason shoots at him, a tearful Stevens returns fire and kills Jason in

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...

as the cops arrive. Afterward, Carver coerces Stevens into testifying in favor of him and the DEA in return for not charging Betty with money laundering. He produces a videotape of the incriminating conversation with Guzmán at the shipyard during his testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee, ruining the State Department's intentions along with Guzmán and Carver's careers. Later, he contemplates what to do with the $11 million of Gallegos' money he secretly kept.

Cast

* Larry Fishburne as DEA Agent Russell Stevens Jr. / John Hull **Cory Curtis as Young Russell Stevens Jr. *

as David Jason * Yvette Heyden as Nancy Jason * Charles Martin Smith as DEA Agent Gerry Carver * Victoria Dillard as Betty McCutcheon *

Gregory Sierra Gregory Joseph Sierra (January 25, 1937 – January 4, 2021) was an American actor known for his roles as Detective Sergeant Chano Amengual on ''Barney Miller''; Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor of Fred G. Sanford on '' Sanford and Son ...

as Felix Barbosa * David Weixelbaum as Chino *

Glynn Turman Glynn Turman (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. First coming to attention as a child actor in the original 1959 Broadway production of ''A Raisin in the Sun'', Turman is known for his roles as Lew Miles on the prime-time soap opera '' ...

as Russell Stevens Sr. * Arthur Mendoza as Anton Gallegos *

Clarence Williams III Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor. He played the character of Linc Hayes in the police television series ''The Mod Squad'' from 1968 to 1973. He also appeared in films such as '' Purple Rain'', '' 52 P ...

as Detective Taft *

Roger Guenveur Smith Roger Guenveur Smith (; born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee. Early life Roger Guenveur Smith was born on July 27, 1955, in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guen ...

as Eddie * James T. Morris as "Ivy" * Alisa Christensen as Ivy's Driver * Roberto Luis Santana as Dealer * Kamala Lopez as Belinda Chacon * Lira Angel as Bijoux * Rene Assa as Hector Guzman * Alex Colon as Molto * Jaime Cardriche as "Shark" *

Sandra Gould Sandra Gould (July 23, 1916 – July 20, 1999) was an American actress, known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom ''Bewitched''. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season. Life and caree ...

as Mrs. G. * Sydney Lassick as "Gopher" * John Boyd West as "Cal Tech" *

Julio Oscar Mechoso Julio Óscar Mechoso (May 31, 1955 – November 25, 2017) was a Cuban- American actor who played detective Ruiz in '' Bad Boys'' and appeared in such films as '' Blue Streak'', ''Jurassic Park III'', '' The Legend of Zorro'', '' The Lost City ...

as Detective Hernandez * Paunita Nichols as Jacquiline *

Clifton Powell Clifton Powell (born March 16, 1956) is an American actor who primarily plays supporting roles in films, such as in '' Ray'' (2004), for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture nomination. Ca ...

as Officer Leland * Lionel Matthews as Officer Winston Director Bill Duke makes an uncredited appearance in a photograph on a cork board displaying Gallegos' chain of command.

Reception

''Deep Cover'' was released on April 17, 1992 in 901 theaters, and grossed $3.4 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $16.6 million in North America. The majority of critics responded favorably towards ''Deep Cover''. Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praised the voice-over narration as "poetic and colorful. That's part of the process elevating the story from the mundane to the mythic".

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

, in her review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', praised the "quietly commanding Larry Fishburne and the wry Jeff Goldblum, who make an interestingly offbeat team". In his review for '' The Chicago Reader'',

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

wrote, "What emerges is a powerhouse thriller full of surprises, original touches, and rare political lucidity". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine's

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

wrote, "Duke ('' A Rage in Harlem'') makes the perks of the drug lifestyle palpably seductive. But this time there's something new in the snortscrew-slay formula: a working conscience". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the film a "B−" rating and

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

wrote, "The movie peels away every layer of hope, revealing a red-hot core of nihilistic despair. Fishburne, with his hair-trigger line readings and deadly reptilian gaze, conveys the controlled desperation of someone watching his own faith unravel. And Goldblum reveals a new dimension of comic rottishness". In her review for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', Sheila Johnston wrote: "The disappointment of '' Night and the City'' has left some critics lamenting that

is dead in the water, but ''Deep Cover'' displays many hallmarks of the genre, down to the diffuse paranoia (perhaps the entire operation is a high-level Washington cover-up). It was the most unexpected pleasure to arrive here in many a month". In its 2021 retrospective, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

''s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote "As a depiction of crime, law enforcement, and drug dealing, the film is a cartoon; as an exploration of the Man's ulterior motives, it's trenchant and angry. Stylistic and attitudinal cues come by way of

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

, anti-heroic

Blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

, and the politicized, independent-minded B-films of

Samuel Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and actor. He was known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made outside t ...

." However, not all critics liked the movie. In his review for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', Desson Howe wrote, "With ''

Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube (in his film debut), Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fis ...

'', Fishburne broke through to the big time. Here, his acting career takes a step backwards". Despite this, of Jeff Goldblum he stated that "Oddly enough, Goldblum's so wildly out of place in this misbegotten movie, he becomes its greatest asset". Richard Harrington, also of ''The Washington Post'', gave a mixed review, saying: "While Fishburne is generally riveting -- his facial disguise is basically hardness layered onto strength -- and Goldblum is intriguing -- his wannabe urges are quite curious -- the film itself is only occasionally visceral. On the one hand, it's refreshing and commendable that a major film casts a black actor not only as a detective (rather than as a criminal), but in the lead role." On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 87% from 31 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "''Deep Cover'' rises above standard-issue crime thriller fare thanks to a smartly cynical script and powerhouse performances from its unorthodox but well-matched leads."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average to critics' reviews, gave the film an average score of 67 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack, ''

Deep Cover Deep Cover may refer to: * ''Deep Cover'' (1992 film), a 1992 American crime film starring Laurence Fishburne. * ''Deep Cover'' (2025 film), a British action comedy film about improv actors going undercover for the police * ''Deep Cover'' (soundt ...

'', was released by

SOLAR Records SOLAR (acronym for Sound of Los Angeles Records) was an American record label founded in 1978 by Dick Griffey, reconstituted out of Soul Train Records only three years after it was founded with ''Soul Train'' television show host and creator Do ...

and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

on April 4, 1992. The album's

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

introduced

as a recording artist, who featured alongside

on the song. The album, containing a mix of hip-hop, reggae and R&B tracks, peaked at No. 166 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 9 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

Home media

Deep Cover made its home media debut via

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

on November 4, 1992. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

debuted on September 14, 1999 in a barebones snapper case with

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...

5.1 and 2.0 tracks for audio. The film was then released on

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

for the first time by the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

on July 13, 2021, featuring a new 4K digitally restored transfer and lossless DTS HD MA 2.0 audio.The Criterion Collection
/ref>

References

External links

* * *
Official trailer''Deep Cover: Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?''
an essay by Michael B. Gillespie at the

{{Bill Duke 1992 films 1990s English-language films 1992 crime drama films American crime drama films American crime thriller films American gang films American neo-noir films Films about the Drug Enforcement Administration Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department Films about Colombian drug cartels Films about drugs Films directed by Bill Duke Films scored by Michel Colombier Films set in 1972 Films set in 1991 Films set in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Michael Tolkin 1990s hood films New Line Cinema films African-American films 1990s American films English-language crime drama films English-language crime thriller films