Great Movies
The latest edition of Scout Tafoya’s “The Unloved” video essay series focuses on Ron Shelton’s “Dark Blue,” as based on a story by James Ellroy and a script by David Ayer. Receiving mixed reviews on its release, the film offers a tough look at a racist, militaristic police force that resonates 15 years later. Kurt Russell stars as a bad cop from the same Los Angeles of Daryl Gates, the infamous L.A.P.D. chief during the Rodney King era. As Tafoya describes him, Russell’s character Eldon Perry is “a man used to fabricating evidence, arresting innocent people, and covering up murders all for his superiors. Human life means nothing to him anymore … he’s keeping the machinery of injustice alive, so that white men can stay on top.” With reference to the recent presidential pardoning of the racist sheriff Joe Arpaio, Tafoya proclaims: "Our government and its precincts are still run by the Daryl Gates and Eldon Perrys of the world, and thus they have no authority over us. Those who don’t see us as equals, humans, cannot govern us.”
The Unloved - Dark Blue from Scout Tafoya on Vimeo.
To watch more of Scout Tafoya's video essays from his series The Unloved, click here.
Scout Tafoya is a critic and filmmaker who writes for and edits the arts blog Apocalypse Now and directs both feature length and short films.
