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Narc
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Joe Carnahan
Produced by	Ray Liotta Michelle Grace
Written by	Joe Carnahan
Starring	Jason Patric Ray Liotta Chi McBride Busta Rhymes
Cinematography	Alex Nepomniaschy
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 17, 2002
Running time	105 min.
Country	U.S.
Language	English
Budget	~ US$7,500,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Narc is a 2002 film about dirty cops involved in policing the drug trade. It was released to critical acclaim and, for an independent film, moderate success. It was written and directed by Joe Carnahan. Tom Cruise was one of the producers. The plot centers around the efforts of Detectives Nick Tellis and Henry Oak to find the murderer of an undercover cop. As they proceed in the investigation they engage in suspect tactics and give viewers a glimpse into the seedy side of undercover work. Joseph Aaron Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American independent film director best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane and Narc. ... Ray Liotta[1] (born December 18, 1954) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor. ... Joseph Aaron Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American independent film director best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane and Narc. ... Roger Ebert, Peter OToole, and Jason Patric at the 2004 Savannah Film Festival. ... Ray Liotta[1] (born December 18, 1954) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor. ... Chi McBride (right) on Boston Public Chi McBride (born September 23, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor. ... Trevor Smith (born on May 20, 1972), better known as Busta Rhymes, is an American hip hop musician and actor. ... Alex Nepomniaschy is an award-winning Russian cinematographer. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... For other uses, see Police (disambiguation). ... Panamanian motor vessel Gatun during the largest cocaine bust in United States Coast Guard history (20 tons), off the coast of Panama. ... Joseph Aaron Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American independent film director best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane and Narc. ... Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962) is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and film producer. ...

Plot

The film opens with an intense scene of undercover narcotics officer Nick Tellis chasing a drug dealer through the streets of Detroit after his cover has been blown. After the dealer fatally injects a bystander with heroin (who Tellis was forced to leave behind), he holds a young child hostage. Tellis manages to fire off several shots and kill the dealer before he could hurt the child. One of the bullets inadvertently hits the child's pregnant mother, causing her to eventually miscarry. The term narcotic, derived from the Greek word for stupor, originally referred to a variety of substances that induced sleep (such state is narcosis). ... Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Wayne County, Michigan Founded Incorporated July 24, 1701 1815  County Wayne County Mayor... Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the natural or spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or the fetus is incapable of surviving, generally defined in humans at a gestation of prior to 20 weeks. ...

Eighteen months later, Tellis is persuaded by the Detroit Police Department to return to the force to investigate the murder of another undercover narcotics officer, Michael Calvess. Tellis is reluctant as his wife disapproves of him risking his life, and wants him to spend more time at home with their baby son. However, realizing there's very little else he can do for a living, he decides to read the files on the case and eventually agrees to come aboard, on two conditions. The first is that he will receive a desk job at the station if he secures a conviction. The second is that another detective, veteran Henry Oak, whom Tellis becomes aware of through reading the investigation files on Calvess' death, is assigned to the case as well. Tellis' reason for wanting Oak is his opinion after reading the files that the only useful pieces in the investigation thus far came from him. Tellis is also informed by the department chief about Oak's reputation within the department being that of a driven and effective cop, but fairly unstable individual. However, despite reservations, Oak is assigned to the case.

The two begin to rapport whilst carrying out a violent investigation. Here we learn that Oak is a dedicated, although haunted cop, who uses an excessive amount of violent force when facing criminals. Oak also believes that the Department just wants the case buried and forgotten. During the investigation, Oak reveals that his wife died of cancer, and that they never had any children together. He recalls a drug bust decades prior, where he found a ten year old girl naked, who had been sold for prostitution by her stepfather for rent money. Oak became enraged and beat the man to a bloody pulp. He sees that case as being similar to the current one. Meanwhile, Tellis' wife becomes increasingly distressed for her husband's wellbeing. Tellis visits Calvess's widow Kathryn, and asks her questions about the relationship between the two of them while he was on the street, hoping to make a decision about his own private life. Oak turns up at the house during the conversation, and is furious that she is being persistently interviewed by police. He seems increasingly protective of Kathryn and her children's safety. Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... Whore redirects here. ...

Tellis and Oak visit the scene of an apparent murder of a drug dealer and gun collector, who was shot dead in his bath. Tellis discovers the bullet had no fire-pin mark, and surmises that the man was using it as a bong forgetting that it was loaded. The shotgun heated up and discharged, killing him. After this lead turns out to be fruitless, Tellis and Oak visit the house of a man who was involved in the shootout eighteen months ago that started the film. They find incriminating evidence, but nothing concrete that suggests he carried out the murder of Calvess, although they do find a police badge. However, the man impulsively turns a gun on them both, wounding Tellis in the neck, before Oak kills him in self-defense. A bong, also commonly known as a water pipe, is a smoking device, generally used to smoke cannabis or tobacco, but also other substances. ... For other uses, see Badge (disambiguation) NY NJ Port Authority Police Department Badge. ...

Tellis returns home to be confronted by his wife, who leaves him as she can no longer bear to see him endangering his life. Tellis and Oak are told that the case has been closed, as the deceased suspect is quickly written off as Calvess's killer. They are furious as they believe the killer has yet to be found, and continue their investigation independently. Oak determines that the main suspects are hiding out at an auto body shop. Once there, Oak finds and disarms one suspect while Tellis chases one outside and shoots him in the leg. After they are both tied up, Oak attempts to force a confession out of both of them. Tellis is getting increasingly suspicious of some of Oak's tactics, especially after viewing many files that suggest Oak had been repeatedly discharging a lady who has been arrested on several occasions. Oak finds many police issue guns in the trunk of one of the men's cars (after he shoots the tires the other's car), including that which belonged to Calvess, and attacks both men violently, at which point Tellis steps in to calm him down and tells him to get CSI tools from the car outside. When he leaves the room, Tellis locks the door, turns on the tape recorder, and asks for the truth. The dealers explain that Calvess was the one who blew Tellis' cover eighteen months ago, causing the shootout. They also recount Calvess's degeneration into chemical dependency. On the day of the murder, Calvess tried to make a deal with the two dealers, but it went badly. At that point, Oak arrived at the other end of the tunnel, trailing Calvess to confirm rumors that he had become an addict. Calvess went for his weapon, which was the dealers' justification for attacking him. The two men then ran off as Oak neared and began firing at them. A confession is where a suspect in a crime admits their guilt to the crime. ... For other uses, see Arrest (disambiguation). ... This article is about firearms and similar devices. ... This 1931 Ford Model A features a separate trunk on its rear trunk rack. ... Forensics redirects here. ... Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder. ... This article is about gun battles. ... A chemical dependency is such a strong dependency on a substance that it becomes necessary to have this substance just to function properly; The need of a substance developed from abusing the substance, requiring the substance for survival, like the need for food, or water See also: addiction drug tolerance...

Tellis leaves the room and confronts Oak, telling him that the dealers claim that Oak shot at both of them four times, leaving a wound on one dealer's shoulder, before murdering Calvess himself for being a drug addict. Oak denies this, but the issue of his relationship with Calvess's wife Kathryn is then brought up. As it turns out, Kathryn was the ten year old girl Oak found all those years ago who was being prostituted. Based on Oak's earlier accounts, he considers her a daughter he never had, and has remained close all this time. He has since been protecting her by covering up several crimes that she committed in her teenage years. Tellis then tells Oak that he is going to make the arrest on his own, but Oak beats him with his shotgun and resumes brutalizing the dealers. He turns the tape recorder back on and attempts to beat a confession out of the two men, while threatening to shoot them. Tellis breaks into their car, retrieves a gun, and enters the building. He is forced to shoot Oak when he refuses to put his gun down. Tellis runs to aid Oak and, realizing he's dying, pleads with him to tell him the truth about what happened on the night Calvess died. Foster care is a system by which a certified, stand-in parent(s) cares for minor children or young people who have been removed from their biological parents or other custodial adults by state authority. ... For other uses, see Shotgun (disambiguation). ...

Oak explains (silently, shown in flashback)that it was Calvess who shot at the dealers as they ran away from Oak, leaving the shoulder bullet wound. Oak had an argument with him, explaining that he had finally had enough of defending Calvess and was going to turn him in to the Department. In a moment of despair, Calvess took his own gun and shot himself in Oak's presence. Oak had been protecting his name and family ever since, so Calvess's wife can have his pension and support her two daughters. Oak then dies in Tellis's arms, leaving the confession on tape. The two dealers are arrested outside, and Tellis has a few minutes to decide whether to hand the tape over to the police, a decision we never discover as the film's closing credits roll. In literature, film, television and other media, a flashback (also called analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... For the lodging, see Pension (lodging). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Cast

Roger Ebert, Peter OToole, and Jason Patric at the 2004 Savannah Film Festival. ... Ray Liotta[1] (born December 18, 1954) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor. ... Chi McBride (right) on Boston Public Chi McBride (born September 23, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor. ... Stacey Annabelle Farber (born August 25, 1987) is a Canadian actress. ...

Miscellanea

• The film had a record of 21 producers.
• The word "fuck" and its variants are used 297 times in this film. See also: List of films ordered by uses of the word "fuck".
• The word "Sensitivity" was misspelled in the close-up of the tape-recorder in the very last scene
• Though set in Detroit, only one of the 29 filming days occurred there; the majority of the film was shot in Toronto.

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Detroit redirects here. ...

External links

• Narc at the Internet Movie Database
• PopMatters review