The Offence

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The Offence

R,

1973,

1h 52m,

Drama/

Crime

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73%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

73%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

72%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A veteran British police inspector, Sgt. Johnson (Sean Connery), has grown increasingly disturbed by the rapes and murders he has investigated over the years. When he finds a young girl in the woods who has been raped, police begin searching for a suspect. When Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen) is brought in for questioning, Johnson snaps, beating him during an unauthorized interrogation. Lt. Cartwright (Trevor Howard) is then brought in to interview him about the incident.

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Wendy Ide

The Times (UK)

May 12, 2015

4/5

The third collaboration between Sean Connery and the director Sidney Lumet is an unsettling glimpse into the toxic mind of a policeman who has been polluted by the horrors witnessed over the course of his career.

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Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

May 12, 2015

Lumet's direction strives to give to material that is neither edifying nor suspenseful a fake profundity, stretching it to unconscionable lengths.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Apr 4, 2011

There's a powerful confrontation of authority and accused between police sergeant Sean Connery and suspected child molester Ian Bannen in Sidney Lumet's The Offence. A brilliant scene, however, does not in itself make for a brilliant overall feature.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Aug 27, 2025

5/5

…Sidney Lumet's The Offence is a fearless, no-holds barred drama that must have shocked at the time, and is still strong meat today, featuring a career-best performance from Sean Connery as a tortured cop exhausted by dealing with endless sexual offences…

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Christopher Hudson

The Spectator

May 12, 2015

A great disappointment.

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David Parkinson

Radio Times

May 12, 2015

3/5

Gritty police programmes are now so much a part of the TV landscape that it is hard to realise that a feature like The Offence once packed quite a punch.

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Hermione S

Jul 2, 2018

This is a pretty cool old forgotten picture. sean connery is a cop who gets so pissed off that he kills the suspect. its a hell of an acting job from connery

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Rey S

Aug 8, 2017

slow and overly dramatic but Connery gives one of his best performances and that alone is worth the watch.

Rey S

Jul 23, 2017

Badly dated, very self-conscious and wordy police interrogation drama, with lots of ACTING. Connery seems uncomfortable in a part that requires both cruelty and tenderness, and Lumet directs very clunkily in grim dark exteriors that accurately reflect Britain in the early-70s. Only Ian Bannen as the snivelling suspect and Vivien Merchant as Connery's put-upon wife rise above the material.

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Anakin S

May 10, 2017

It does not give the Lumet signature at all.

Anakin P

Aug 27, 2016

Sidney Lumet's The Offence is an exceptionally well done, often stagy drama that, once it gets under your skin, is painfully honest and infinitely disturbing.

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Sidney Lumet

Director

Sean Connery

Detective Sergeant Johnson

Trevor Howard

Lieutenant Cartwright

Vivien Merchant

Maureen Johnson

Ian Bannen

Kenneth Baxter

Derek Newark

Frank Jessard

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Synopsis

A veteran British police inspector, Sgt. Johnson (Sean Connery), has grown increasingly disturbed by the rapes and murders he has investigated over the years. When he finds a young girl in the woods who has been raped, police begin searching for a suspect. When Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen) is brought in for questioning, Johnson snaps, beating him during an unauthorized interrogation. Lt. Cartwright (Trevor Howard) is then brought in to interview him about the incident.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Denis O'Dell
Screenwriter: John Hopkins
Production Co: Tantallon
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Crime
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 4, 2017
Runtime: 1h 52m

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