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PURCHASE THE DVD: Internal Affairs (1990)

Richard Gere has always been known for his handsomeness and charisma, but it took director Mike Figgis to show the darker side of Gere’s seductiveness in this tense, but sometimes phantasmagoric thriller from the mid-90’s. Gere plays Dennis Peck, a dirty cop who is under investigation by a new Internal Affairs officer named Raymond Avila, expertly played with possessive intensity by Andy Garcia. Avila and partner Amy Wallace (Laurie Metcalf) cut through reams of red tape and police “brotherhood” to uncover Peck’s various shady dealings, but the closer they get to him, the more fearless he appears. Soon, Peck is boasting about how he will seduce Avila’s wife (Nancy Travis with lots of Aqua-net) just as he had done with another cop’s woman (played by the fetching Faye Grant). The threat blows a hole in Avila’s marriage and leads to a classically cathartic showdown that is expertly staged by Figgis.

While certainly not breaking any new ground plot-wise, Internal Affairs is a comepetant and sexy thriller starring Gere at the peak of his usually limited acting powers. Using his good looks for evil is a masterstroke by the casting director, and positioning him opposite straight-laced (but equally intense) Andy Garcia only furthers the overall mood that things are going to reach a serious boiling point.

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: March 9, 1999
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Production Company: Out of the Town Films, Paramount Pictures