''Turk 182'' is a 1985 American
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person
* Action principles the heart of fundamental physics
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video gam ...
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film directed by
Bob Clark
Benjamin Robert Clark (August 5, 1939 – April 4, 2007) was an American film director and screenwriter. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was responsible for some of the most successful films in Canadian film industry, Canadian film history such ...
and starring
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees#Youngest winners 4, youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he ...
,
Robert Urich
Robert Michael Urich (December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was an American film, television, and stage actor and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series.
Urich began his car ...
,
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British, Canadian, and American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominati ...
,
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010) was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on ''I Spy (1965 TV series), I Spy'' ( ...
, and
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. He is known for his character actor roles in film and television and received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. ...
. It is also one of the first movies to receive a
PG-13 rating.
Plot
34-year-old
firefighter
A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...
Terry Lynch (
Robert Urich
Robert Michael Urich (December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002) was an American film, television, and stage actor and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series.
Urich began his car ...
) lives with his 20-year-old brother Jimmy (
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees#Youngest winners 4, youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he ...
) in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. They have spent most of their respective lives taking care of each other as both of their parents are deceased. Terry, while off duty, rushes from a neighborhood bar into an apartment fire to rescue a young girl, when firefighters inadvertently aim the fire hose at him. The force of the stream pushes Terry, with the child in his arms, through a window and some four stories down, landing flat on his back on the roof of a parked car. The girl is uninjured, but Terry is seriously hurt.
Six months later, and after countless rejections from welfare, workers' compensation and others, Jimmy goes to City Hall with the letters to show to Mayor John J. Tyler (
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010) was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on ''I Spy (1965 TV series), I Spy'' ( ...
). But when Tyler rebukes him, calling Terry a drunk, Jimmy promptly sneaks into Tyler's office and pastes all the letters on the office walls while security is diverted by a fire set in a nearby bathroom.
Believing Terry was behind the vandalism (as Terry's name was on all the letters), the police, led by Lieutenant Ryan (
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. He is known for his character actor roles in film and television and received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. ...
), Tyler's chief security officer, come to Hooly's, the brothers' hangout, to arrest Terry. When Terry, drunk and high on pills, takes a swing at Ryan, he roughs Terry up while Jimmy is clubbed by another officer when he tries to help. While posting Terry's bail at the police station, Jimmy meets Danielle "Danny" Boudreau (
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British, Canadian, and American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominati ...
), a social worker assigned to Terry's case; she tells Jimmy that Terry is hospitalized in a body cast after a suicide attempt.
Jimmy goes to
Battery Park
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...
to again confront Mayor Tyler at his anti-graffiti speech, but is pushed away by police. After seeing Tyler unveil a giant apple, which slowly revolves to show handiwork by vandals saying "Zimmerman Flew, Tyler Knew" to the delight of protesters at the speech, Jimmy is inspired to start a campaign of his own.
Earlier, the ''
Daily News'' ran a story about Tom Zimmerman, the city's former public works commissioner, who had fled the country to avoid trial for an unspecified crime. The report implies that Tyler not only knew of Zimmerman's fleeing, but masterminded it, referring to Tyler's ordering a continuation of Zimmerman's trial until after the upcoming election; Tyler denies all knowledge and responsibility.
Armed with this knowledge, Jimmy, adopting the alter ego of "Turk 182", begins his personal battle of wits with the mayor by, among other things, leaving his mark on a supposedly graffiti-proof subway car to be used by Tyler in an anti-vandalism campaign; surreptitiously exchanging an
airplane banner ad for one that says "Tyler Knew! Turk 182!"; and hacking into a scoreboard computer (with a friend's help) at
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...
during halftime of a football game at which Tyler and New York's governor make an appearance.
Jimmy's goal to embarrass Mayor Tyler broadens to the point where "Turk 182" begins leaving his mark in numerous places, capturing the imagination of the city's entire population, most of whom revere Turk as a hero. But Jimmy soon develops an ulterior motive for his actions: impressing Danny. When Jimmy and Danny return to his apartment after the
Giants
A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore.
Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to:
Mythology and religion
*Giants (Greek mythology)
* Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...
game, Jimmy goes back out for pizza, and Danny explores the brothers' apartment. Looking through photo albums in their keepsake trunk, she finds an award for Terry with a nameplate on the front bearing Terry's nickname "Turk". When she finds Terry's fireman's cap with badge number 182 on it, she realizes that Jimmy is "Turk 182". Jimmy returns to find a thoroughly impressed Danny waiting for him in his bed, and the two engage in sexual intercourse.
Police Detective Kowalski (
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin (born William Lyle Richardson; May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006) was an American actor.
McGavin began his career working as a set painter for Columbia Pictures. In 1954, he originated roles in Broadway productions of '' My Three ...
) opens up a case file on "Turk 182", while Jimmy pleads guilty to papering the Mayor's office and is given a nominal fine. When Jimmy and Danny visit Terry in the hospital, Terry tells Jimmy that he's going to try to kill himself again when he is cut out of his body cast.
After spotting Kowalski and Ryan waiting outside his apartment, Jimmy decides to reveal himself as Turk. But when he and Danny arrive at the
Daily News Building
The Daily News Building (also the News Building) is a skyscraper at 220 East 42nd Street in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The original tower, designed by Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells in th ...
they find themselves waiting in line behind several other crank characters all claiming to be Turk. Just as Jimmy leaves in exasperation he is intercepted by a TV reporter who suggests that if Jimmy is the real Turk, he should give an interview on camera. On the evening news, a reporter reveals Jimmy as "Turk 182", but describes him as a disgruntled civil servant seeking a pension. Angered that the interview was not aired and he is being called a "nut case", Jimmy decides to put Turk to rest once and for all, but he tells no one, not even Danny, what his final act will be.
Mayor Tyler appears at a dedication ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the
Queensboro Bridge
The Queensboro Bridge, officially the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens with the Midtown Manhattan ...
. Ryan, his job now on the line after the Giants Stadium debacle, clamps down security on and around the bridge in preparation of the ceremony. With all local media on hand, the mayor throws the switch lighting up the bridge sign. The lettering on the bridge, which is supposed to say "Queensboro 1909 1984", instead reads gibberish; Jimmy, disguised in an electrical worker uniform, is up on the scaffolding rearranging the words.
All hell breaks loose when spotlights and cameras catch Jimmy on the rigging; TV stations break into regular programming to cover the incident live, and the rally crowd, aroused by Turk's presence, begin chanting "Turk! Turk!" much to Tyler's mortification. Ryan dispatches all police to climb up in the scaffolding to catch Jimmy, but they cannot reach him because he greased all the bridge's lower girders.
At the hospital, Danny and Kowalski are with Terry when a group of patients barge in with a TV tuned to one of the channels showing Jimmy on the bridge. The news anchor then shows Jimmy's interview at the Daily News. Now focusing on his brother's safety instead of his own troubles, Terry, Danny, and Kowalski go to the Queensboro Bridge to get Jimmy down. Tyler also catches a part of Jimmy's interview; seeing it was "that kid", Tyler can only turn away from the TV in total defeat.
Still frustrated in efforts to stop Jimmy, Ryan goes to the bridge power house and orders the sign turned off. But when the foreman, citing union and safety issues, refuses, Ryan draws his gun and shoots out the controls and knocking the power off. After Ryan leaves, the foreman turns on the auxiliary power. Undaunted, Ryan climbs aboard an industrial forklift and, when in range, opens fire on Jimmy himself. Kowalski, having arrived with Danny and Terry moments earlier, goes to the lift and disables the hydraulics, knocking Ryan unconscious. Jimmy, now unhindered, completes his task, and reconnects the power to the 25-foot-high letters which now read "TURK 182", all to the wild cheering of the crowd and the TV audience.
Amid the cheering, Tyler says to Deputy Mayor Hanley, "As soon as
immygets down we're gonna find him and tell him we've been rooting for him the whole time!"
Cast
Then-current and former members of
WABC's
Eyewitness News
''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, instead of the older ,"man-on-camera" style of newscast, and is most prominently featured in the New York City metropolitan area.
Hi ...
team portrayed television journalists reporting on Turk's exploits, including
Roger Grimsby,
Bill Beutel
William Charles Beutel (December 12, 1930 – March 18, 2006) was an American television reporter, journalist, and anchor. He was best known for working over four decades with the American Broadcasting Company, spending much of that time anchorin ...
,
Roseanne Scamardella and
Tom Dunn.
Production
In 1980
Dyan Cannon
Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, filmmaker, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sh ...
announced she would direct and star in the film. It was not made for another number of years, with Tim Hutton starring and Bob Clark directing.
"For me, it's a comedy," said Hutton, "because I smile in the movie... He's very much a kid, a kind of naive guy with a twinkle in his eye who goes around thinking he can get away with everything."
Reception
''Turk 182'' was panned by critics. It holds a rating of 20% on
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 ...
based on 10 reviews.
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' gave the film zero stars out of four, calling it "a laughably bad, offensive movie with holes in its story that you could drive a truck through."
Patrick Goldstein
Patrick Goldstein is an American former film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' who wrote about movies in a column titled ''The Big Picture''. Colleague Tom O'Neil described him as the newspaper's "chief Oscarologist" as his colum ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote, "Just why anyone thought this garbled, improbable saga of sweet revenge would captivate moviegoers' imaginations is a mystery that calls for a studio detective, not a critic ... Bob Clark's broad brush-strokes —which worked so well in his comedies— rob the picture of what little moral authority it might originally have had, turning its characters into sitcom-style bozos and giving the story all the emotional wallop of a light-beer commercial."
Geoff Brown of ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote, "Clark's film lacks even the broad logic required of a wish-fulfillment fantasy, and skewers any conviction Timothy Hutton's aggrieved crusader might have by granting him the omnipresence and magic skills of Superman or Captain Marvel."
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 ...
of ''
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 ...
'' stated, "Timothy Hutton has turned into an actor worth watching in anything — even in 'Turk 182!,' a movie with a sloppily sentimental heart that's as big as the city in which its story takes place."
Clay Warnick of ''
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 ...
'' was somewhat positive, writing, "The struggle is interesting not because the heroes are appealing, or because their cause seems particularly valid, but because of Robert Culp's expert performance as the villainous mayor of New York."
In one of the film's rare wholly positive reviews, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' stated, "Besides its compelling storyline, 'Turk 182' features outstanding performances across the board, with Hutton perfect in the role of the determined unassuming hero. He and Urich are very convincing as brothers with an unusually strong bond, and Urich draws a very accurate and sometimes moving picture, particularly during hospital scenes."
["Film Reviews: Turk 182". '']Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''. February 6, 1985. 18.
See also
*
List of firefighting films
The following criteria qualify a film for inclusion on this list:
* Primary plot of film regards firefighting or related fire/rescue service work in general.
* Primary plot of the film involves firefighters or their personal lives as affected by t ...
*
TAKI 183
TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American graffitist who was active during the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City. The graffitist, whose given name is Demetrios, has never revealed his full name.
Biography
TAKI 183 was a graffiti tagg ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Bob Clark
1985 films
1985 action comedy films
1980s action comedy-drama films
American action comedy-drama films
1980s English-language films
English-language action comedy-drama films
Films about firefighting
American films about revenge
Films directed by Bob Clark
Films scored by Paul Zaza
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Interscope Communications films
20th Century Fox films
1980s American films