Law and Disorder (1974)

• 51%
• 1974
• Comedy
• Crime
• Ivan Passer
• Carroll O'Connor
• Ernest Borgnine
• Karen Black

During the 1970s, New York City is plagued by a wave of crimes. Fed up with the situation and with the police's inaction, friends Willie and Cy complain to the local police precinct. Police captain Ed Malloy explains that his forces are stretched thin and cannot be everywhere all the time. He suggests that residents from various neighborhoods join the Police Auxiliary Force and patrol their own neighborhoods themselves. Willie and Cy organize a large group of volunteers from their neighborhood into a police auxiliary force. They are issued with uniforms and batons but no firearms. However, the resourceful men get hold of various personal firearms and even manage to obtain a few walkies-talkies. Later, Cy obtains a disused police car and paints the auxiliary police insignia on it. The patrol car also has a police radio installed. During the day, Willie and Cy go to their normal day jobs but at night they meet the other auxiliary policemen and patrol the streets of their neighborhood. Willie and Cy also use their auxiliary police car to roam the streets in search of criminals. Duped by their uniforms and patrol car's official appearance, many residents and criminals believe Willie and Cy to be real cops. They react accordingly. In the beginning, Willie and Cy are pleased with their volunteer work but later they discover that it is tough to be a cop in New York. They start taking their volunteer job too serious. The other auxiliary policemen too they suffer from over-zeal and commit many errors of judgment while acting as cops. Innocent residents become unfortunate victims of these weekend cops while real criminals thumb their noses at the auxiliaries. To make matters worse, their unauthorized carry of firearms puts them into the danger zone.