50
An interesting but not entirely rewarding inversion on Lumet’s continued study of law enforcement.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
75
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
Few genre films come as close to entering the abyss as Sidney Lumet’s The Offence, which effectively plays out as one elongated interrogation both of a single witness and the tortured psyche of Sergeant Johnson (Sean Connery).
80
The Offence is almost the definition of murk, unrelenting and unforgiving.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
A splendid, unjustly neglected 1973 British film in which Sean Connery, at his very best under Sidney Lumet's direction, plays a veteran police sergeant haunted by years of contact with terrible crimes and on the brink of a total breakdown. [27 May 1990, p.10]
70
The New York Times by Vincent Canby
The revelations explode predictably, like the ingredients of a 24-hour cold capsule, but the dramatic impact is real while one is watching it.