Law And Order

Frederick Wiseman

Law and Order surveys the wide range of work the police are asked to perform: enforcing the law, maintaining order, and providing general social services. The incidents shown illustrate how training, community expectations, socio-economic status of the subject, the threat of violence, and discretion affect police behavior.

A presentation and restoration by Zipporah Films with the participation of the Library of Congress.

New version restored in 4K from the 16mm image negative and sound elements. Digitizing and color grading work carried out at DuArt and Goldcrest laboratories in New York. Digital restoration by Jane Tolmachyov, supervised by Frederick Wiseman and produced by Karen Konicek.

Festivals & Awards

Emmy Award for Best Documentary – 1969

Cannes Film Festival 2024 – Cannes Classics (new 4K version)

Press

LAW AND ORDER was the most powerful hour and a half of television that I’ve seen all year…

Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

… a vivid impression of (the policemen’s) working lives and through this a complex sense of what it means to be in their position in a large American city… There is the implicit threat of violence in any radio call. Moreover, the cops are expected to dispose of countless routine problems — drunks, accidents, family quarrels — that can’t be ‘solved’ to anyone’s satisfaction and that most ‘decent’ people don’t want to touch.

Gary Arnold, The Washington Post

Law And Order

Frederick Wiseman

Stills

Artwork

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