Ice Cube is one of the most contradictory figures in all of popular culture. On one hand, he’s the guy who said “Fuck tha Police.” On the other hand, he’s the cuddly star of Are We There Yet? And somewhere in the middle of his seminal gangsta rap albums and feel-good family comedies, he also managed to make a handful of damned serious films.
While audiences flock to Straight Outta Compton to see the story of Ice Cube unfold, and as audiences wonder whatever happened to the Ice Cube who starred in Boyz in the Hood and Three Kings and Friday, Now Streaming would like to take this opportunity to point you in the direction of the best Ice Cube movie that most audiences have never heard of: The Glass Shield, written and directed by one of the best directors that most audiences have never heard of: Charles Burnett. The filmmaker is responsible for several great masterpieces of American cinema that hardly anybody saw, including the 1978 drama Killer of Sheep (unavailable for many years due to issues over the music rights) and To Sleep With Anger (unavailable on home video to this day, mostly due to lack of financial success).
Related: Interview | F. Gary Gray on ‘Straight Outta Compton’
Fortunately, The Glass Shield is currently available on Netflix, and although it may not receive quite the same level of critical acclaim as Burnett’s other works, it remains a shocking and powerful thriller, indicting law enforcement agencies for institutionalized racism and pervasive criminal cover-ups. That the issues raised in The Glass Shield are as relevant today as they were when the film was released 20 years ago is unsettling and sad, and make the film feel legitimately – albeit tragically – timeless.
Michael Boatman (The Good Wife) stars as Deputy John Johnson, the first black sheriff’s deputy at his particular station, which is full of officers who still can’t get over the recent appearance of their first female deputy, Deborah Fields (Lori Petty). Johnson is eager to make a difference, to fit in, and to be a credit to his department, so when the opportunity comes to stick up for a fellow officer whose arrest of a high profile murder suspect, Teddy Woods (Ice Cube), was made under suspicious circumstances, Johnson agrees to play ball, even if it means perjuring himself.
Never mind the fact that Teddy didn’t do it, never mind that there’s ample evidence to arrest the victim’s white husband (Elliott Gould) instead, never mind the disturbing behavior of the detectives at Johnson’s department, Gene Baker (Michael Ironside) and Jesse Hall (M. Emmet Walsh). The Glass Shield operates as a proper thriller, complete with mystery and violence, but although the tension ratchets practically from scene one, the real horror show, the real suspense emanates from the casual corruption of this department, and the insidious way that that corruption affects everyone inside of it, and out.
The odds are against Teddy because he is black, and because the department refuses to admit to any wrongdoing under any circumstances, and because the man who could be his savior is too busy trying to be liked to do his job. And when Johnson and Fields do begin to make an effort, and start putting the terrible pieces together, the danger that befalls them is both constant and vicious.
The remarkable thing about The Glass Shield is the way it works as both a familiar crime drama and a damning social document. There’s nothing about Burnett’s film that feels implausible, no matter how grossly pervasive the corruption runs. The attitude that the majority of the characters adhere to, that racial profiling and abuses of authority are just the way things are, feels awful and real. Lines are eventually drawn, standoffs are inevitable, and yet there seems to be no way out for Woods and Johnson. The world was made to work against them, even when all the evidence is on their side.
There are no happy endings in The Glass Shield. Even the heroes go down hard. We see every day on the news that the system still has failings and that abuses of authority still run rampant. Watching The Glass Shield has all of the same impact as a piece of popular entertainment, but that experienced is infused with a righteous anger. “Fuck Tha Police” doesn’t quite cover it, the film is too complicated for that, but the presence of Ice Cube in a film about victimization and compromise does provide Charles Burnett’s film with an added note of significance.
The Glass Shield is one of the great unsung classics of the 1990s, and arguably the best of Ice Cube’s films. Watch it now on Netflix, or for a small rental fee at Amazon.
Images via Miramax
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
