The old man that I used to live with watched a lot of television.  Though I have made this point before, with Striking Distance (1993) it bears repeating.  As I observed his broadcast habits, I came to the conclusion (half-jokingly) that every show was a cop show.  Now that I have seen today’s film, I am revising that statement to say that every Bruce Willis movie is a cop movie.  This is, admittedly, a stereotype.  There are a lot of common traits to the roles he has filled, though we do see one unique one here that has a historical dimension, with him being Catholic.  Many immigrants and their descendants from Catholic countries went into law enforcement, and that is an aspect to a few of the characters here.  Please understand this is not a reason to watch this one, and be prepared for a rather confusing synopsis.

Some of the confusion with Striking Distance at the beginning is purposeful.  There is a killer on the loose in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he taunts the police by calling them before he dumps the body, playing “Li’l Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs while the female victim screams in the background.  Meanwhile, Detective Jimmy Detillo (Robert Pastorelli) is on trial for his brutal practices while pursuing justice.  What they are, who knows?  What his fellow officers are more concerned about is the fact that the person who turned him in is his partner and cousin, Detective Tom Hardy (Bruce Willis).  The men in blue consider Detective Hardy to be a traitor, even if the disgraced policeman’s father, Captain Nick Detillo (Dennis Farina), supports his nephew.  We see all this play out on the evening news while Detective Hardy is preparing to go to the Pittsburgh Police Department’s (PPD) ball with his father, another cop, Captain Vince Hardy (John Mahoney).  On the way, a call comes over the radio about a suspect being chased through the city, which everyone assumes is the Polish Hill Killer, the nickname given to the criminal who is offing women.  Hence, the Hardy boys (sorry) put their evening plans on hold.  Unfortunately, it ends with the suspect getting away following their two cars being involved in a simultaneous roll-over accident.  Worse, as a severely injured Detective Hardy is being pulled from the wreckage, he is told by Captain Detillo that the elder Hardy has been murdered.  As Detective Hardy is recovering, an arrest is made in the case.  Limping into the courthouse, the accused, Kesser (Robert Gould), is paraded past with a bewildered look on his face.  Detective Hardy takes one look at the man and knows Kesser is innocent, but Captain Detillo insists they have the right person in custody.  We then cut to two years later and now Officer Hardy (henceforth just Tom to save me some typing), has been reassigned to river patrol.  He is not thrilled with the new job, and does not take kindly to the jeers of his comrades.  During his first cruise on which we see him, he is called to help fish a body out of the water.  The scene is reminiscent of the Polish Hill offenses down to the corpse being someone who once had ties to him.  Oh yeah, this is a development they do not mention until well into the film, that the killer is hunting only women with which Tom had been involved.  Because of this and the department believing him to be an alcoholic, the next morning he is given a new partner, Officer Jo Christman (Sarah Jessica Parker).  Though she is more of a rule follower than he is, insisting that they ticket a few unruly young boaters, she soon proves her mettle.  On their second day, they pass a coal barge and notice armed men onboard.  As he surreptitiously gets onto the problematic vessel, she calls for backup.  She then returns in time to call to him and save him from a man with a gun on him.  Despite the trust this engenders, he is still hesitant to tell her about the murderer calling him in the same style as a few years ago.  Thus, it is not surprising when they are called to where another person who had a romantic connection with Tom has been thrown into the river.  This time, he decides to take matters into his own hands, going to the precinct to take the Polish Hill files.  They lead him to Chick Chicanis (Gareth Williams), the witness who had put Kesser in prison.  Tom wants answers and has a gun on Chick before Officer Christman stops him.  Tom is not happy about being foiled, and she spends some time familiarizing herself with the case.  With greater sympathy for him, she convinces him to go to the ball with her.  Doing so only leads to more fighting with the rest of the force, and they proceed to spend the night with one another.  Now fully convinced of his innocence, she is ready to back him up when they pass somebody throwing what looks like a body into the water.  The suspect manages to get away and the item turns out to be a carpet roll.  Because they had also blown up a car in the process, Tom is called into an Internal Affairs (IA) hearing.  During it, Officer Christman is called upon to testify, and she is revealed to be an investigator with the state police named Emily Harper, who had been brought to Pittsburgh to keep an eye on Tom.  Though he is betrayed, he accepts her apology and they are prepared to carry on with their relationship.  However, she is kidnapped from her apartment that night.  When another floater turns up at his place, he finally realizes where the killer is operating from and speeds to that location.  The perpetrator is revealed to be Jimmy, though Captain Detillo, who also shows up on the scene, had been the one to murder Captain Hardy.  A brief chase ensues between Jimmy and Tom, with the latter killing the former in the course of the apprehension.

The final scene in Striking Distance features Tom visiting his father’s grave.  He apparently says a prayer before getting up and crossing himself, then departing with Emily and her daughter.  Setting aside many of the assumptions one has to make about this conclusion, or the rest of the disjointed story, I appreciated the brief insertions of Catholicism into the movie.  It is good to visit the gravesites of our loved ones, and to pray for their souls in general.  Unlike other Christian faiths, Catholics believe that doing so has a benefit for the deceased and the living.  As for those who have gone before us, because the Church believes in the concept of Purgatory, we hold that our supplications on their behalf help alleviate their time there and quicken their entry into Heaven.  Further, this has a knock-on effect for ourselves.  I have no idea if this motivated Tom’s actions at the end, but it is fair to discuss it as a possible contextualization.  After all, he tells us that he is Irish, so it tracks.  The Detillo side of his family is Italian, another Catholic people.  To that point, there is a moment when we see Captain Detillo wearing a Crucifix ring.  While I am happy to see this outward symbol of Faith, his actions are not entirely praiseworthy.  Still, he appears to be willing to do the right thing by the end.  In that vein, Captain Hardy gives his credo early on: “Loyalty above all else except honor.”  I like to think this is the realization Captain Detillo comes to when he gets to the cabin to arrest his son, saying that they will be going into custody together.  Such a move would be ruinous for the elder Detillo, but like the jewelry on his finger, doing the right thing is not always easy.

Another Catholic moment in Striking Distance is Captain Detillo saying a “Hail Mary” before being gunned down.  It is a great prayer, but otherwise, there is little value to this film.  Skip.