Internal Affairs (1990)

The most dangerous criminal is often the one wearing a badge, especially when he knows exactly how to get under your skin. Mike Figgis' taut police thriller "Internal Affairs," which he also scored, stars Andy Garcia as Raymond Avila, an ambitious, intense new investigator in the Los Angeles Police Department's internal affairs division, and Richard Gere as Dennis Peck, a charming, highly decorated street cop with several ex-wives and a small army of children to support. Beneath his easygoing smile, Peck is secretly running a web of corruption. He launders money, runs scams, fixes trouble for the right price and even arranges murders for hire, all while pulling the strings of fellow officers who owe him favors. Avila and his tough, no-nonsense partner (Laurie Metcalf) begin investigating Peck's volatile young partner (William Baldwin), a cop with a drug problem and a violent streak, and the trail leads straight back to Peck. When they start digging deeper, Peck fights back ruthlessly, sensing Avila's insecurities and targeting his career, his marriage to his wife (Nancy Travis) and even his sanity, taunting him with hints that he's seducing her. As Avila's jealousy and rage spiral out of control, he risks becoming the very thing he's trying to stop. Gere is chillingly effective as the slick, cold-blooded manipulator, in one of the finest performances of his career, and Garcia matches him with smoldering intensity.