The Seven Five

3/15/18. A decent documentary about the dirtiest cop on the NYPD. As Dowd says in the end, he didn't start out wanting to be a bad cop. Who starts out that way? With easy money on one side and temptation on the other side one can see how easy greed can grease those wheels that will just slide right through that tunnel to hell. Worth catching.

Gave this documentary 10 stars but I would have to give the American Government and NYPD 0 after seeing this. If you want to be a gangster it is painfully obvious what step one should be. That being said, if you can get over the depressing reality of this documentary, this was an incredible watch and a very eye opening film. It was like The Departed but in real life.

Michael Dowd took the oath to uphold the law and protect the citizens of New York. He was assigned to precinct seven five and, at the time, it was the toughest the city had to offer. He soon found that his small pay check was far from adequate recompense for the life he was leading and so helped himself to some dirty money. After that there was no turning back.

This film features archive footage of the trials and the scenes of the time through the 1980's up to 1993. We also have more recent interviews with the main players. This includes his erstwhile partner Kenny Eurell and even some of the gangsters who 'worked' with these dirty cops.

It is disturbing to think that so many cops could be so blatant in their breaking of the laws they were supposed to uphold. It was also not an isolated incident or two but seemingly endemic with a culture of collaboration with other so called 'good' cops. Being 'good' meant not 'ratting' on your fellow cops and thereby allowing their criminal activities to flourish. There are some stunning black and white still photography of the time and some of these photos look like they belong in a gallery – absolutely stunning. This is a documentary that shows how powerful films can be and how fiction is often far behind where truth actually is – absolutely recommended.

Cop gets badge. Cop tries to stem the flow of crime. Cop gets hit HARD with the hammer of reality. Cop gets frustrated,& disillusioned. Cop sees opportunity to make actual money. Cop says 'f$&k it',& life will never be the same.not a unfamiliar story,&/or plot line of many movies.....but this aint no movie,it's real life,& it will shock you,Amaze you,and have you wanting the 'bad guy' to get away with it. I work for the Chicago PD,& the first time i heard this story,was in audiobook format,& i just started it over,as soon as it was finished. Ok,first,Mike was bad dude with a badge...sort of. Kenny was a rookie cop,wet behind the ears type of guy.a good dude,& slowly but surely gets sucked in the 'life'.as a cop,i can't hate Mikey,and i can't love Kenny.he's a rat. He could not ever be trusted. Mikey,on the other had,i suit up,& ride with him right now.it's a cop thing,& i don't expect you to get it. Ok,the film was done well,edited well,all boxes checked,yadayadayada. Justbtry not to be shocked too much,by remembering this.....police corruption has been the standard.it has gone on forever,& will continue.this was quite a while ago,&, trust me,it continues to this very day,& this is only the beginning of the start of the tip of Mt. Everest!!

I found this gripping from start to finish, an amazing insight into outrageous police corruption, I can't recommend enough, well worth a watch.