“Forever questioning the relationship between the individual and the institution, Law and Order is among Frederick Wiseman’s most enduring works. Embedding himself with officers of the Kansas City Police Department in 1968, Wiseman turned his camera to law enforcement as the civil rights movement was nearing its end and demonstrations more and more frequently resulted in violence. Winner of a 1969 Emmy for Best News Documentary, Law and Order follows the Kansas City officers as they answer domestic disturbance calls, wantonly harass a Black sex worker, banter with each other in their patrol cars, and manage the administrative duties of the station. With an ease only Wiseman is capable of, the film exposes horrifying moments of police brutality and captures gentle instances of police serving their communities productively.” -MoMA
—
“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
