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Q & A
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Q & A (1990) -- A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuse to help him in this gritty crime film.

Overview

User Rating:
6.4/10   1,909 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 28% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Sidney Lumet
Writers (WGA):
Edwin Torres (book)
Sidney Lumet (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Q & A on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
27 April 1990 (USA) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly.
Plot:
A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Golden Globe. more
User Comments:
New York Confidential more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Nick Nolte ... Captain Michael Brennan

Timothy Hutton ... Asst. Dist. Atty. Aloysius 'Al' Francis Reilly

Armand Assante ... Roberto 'Bobby Tex' Texador
Patrick O'Neal ... Kevin Quinn (Chief of Homicide)
Lee Richardson ... Leo Bloomenfeld

Luis Guzmán ... Det. Luis Valentin (as Luis Guzman)

Charles S. Dutton ... Det. Sam 'Chappie' Chapman (Homicide) (as Charles Dutton)
Jenny Lumet ... Nancy Bosch / Mrs. Bobby Texador
Paul Calderon ... Roger Montalvo
International Chrysis ... José Malpica

Dominic Chianese ... Larry Pesch / Vito / Lorenzo Franconi (as Dominick Chianese)
Leonardo Cimino ... Nick Petrone (mob boss)

Fyvush Finkel ... Preston Pearlstein
Gustavo Brens ... Alfonse Segal
Martin E. Brens ... Armand Segal
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
132 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Filming Locations:
New York, USA more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
In the gay club dressing room where Bobby Texador, his wife and bodyguards are meeting Roger Montalvo, "I Love Paul C." is written and circled on the message board directly behind Montalvo, played by 'Paul Calderon'. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: Chief Quinn asks ADA Reilly why he did not attend St. John's Law School. Hutton says his father didn't like the Jesuits. St. John's University is not a Jesuit institution. It is conducted by the Vincentians. more
Quotes:
Preston Pearlstein: [getting introduced with Bloomenfeld's friend] How do you do? I'm delighted!
Leo Bloomenfeld: That's it Perlstein! Don't spoil my appetite, we haven't eaten yet.
Preston Pearlstein: [laughing] what a character!
[laughing again, louder]
Leo Bloomenfeld: Look at that son of a bitch.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Finding Forrester (2000) more
Soundtrack:
QUE SERA SERA (WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE) more

FAQ

Does anyone know why Nick Nolte was not nominated for the Oscar? He was awesome in the movie, the least he deserved was a nomination
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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful:-
New York Confidential, 17 November 2005
8/10
Author: paul2001sw-1 (paul2001sw@yahoo.co.uk) from Saffron Walden, UK

Guess the film from the following description of its characters. A young man investigating misdeeds in the police force, motivated by the memory of his father (a legendary policeman) but also by the pain of having lost the affections of a woman he loves to another player in the drama. A renegade cop, rampaging violently through the city, but revered on the force for standing up to the scum on the streets. And the renegade's boss, who protects him, partly because he himself is on old-school Irish policeman; but partly because he appreciates having his own private bag-man, especially in his dealings with organised crime. Throw in some prostitutes for a little background colour, and it sounds like a perfect description of 'L.A. Confidential'. But it also describes this tough and underrated movie made by Sidney Lumet some years before Curtis Hanson's film.

Whereas Hanson's film was stylised, and glamorised violence (provided the cause was just), Lumet has gone for a more realist approach, and his bad cop (played mesmerisingly by Nick Nolte) is completely rotten, in fact resembling Harvey Kietel's 'Bad Liutennant' in Abel Fererra's movie. The film is dated by its ghastly electronic soundtrack, and more interestingly by its portrait of New York at a time when the city was at its lowest ebb. But it's a very well assembled thriller, exploring issues of race, mixed loyalties and the meaning of good policing without flinching from a grim picture of life on the margins of law abiding society. Lumet has had a long career, but this is one of his better films, and ultimately more truthful than Hanson's stylish charade. Each are good, in their own way: why is only one so appreciated?

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Q & A (1990)
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The Ending superb201
Bobby Tex or Carlito Brigante (Spoilers) MWD7
Last words. (Spoiler) chunkychop
The much better version of this film! The_Crow_I
Alan Smithee??? zep4
Some vague trivia for you janus_keinaerts
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