Cop Land & Heavy

These two screenplays by James Mangold are the bases of two stylistically different films that both demonstrate his powerful sense of character and place. Copland, which stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro, has as its protagonist a small-town New Jersey cop (Stallone) who has for years looked the other way when fellow officers have run roughshod over law and order -- and who now is unwilling to do so one more time. Heavy stars Liv Tyler in her debut role as a young waitress who becomes the obsession of the overweight, lonely young man who owns the rural bar where she works. Both films are imbued with sympathy for their deeply flawed characters and rooted in a strong feeling for the reality of life in small-town America. Film

Softcover. English. Faber & Faber. 1997. 309 pp. Book No: 19715