An old LAPD leader plays the part in Street Kings

The new Keanu Reeves movie "Street Kings" certainly presents a dark portrait of law enforcement, with outlaw and racist cops roughing up citizens in an out-of-control city that looks strikingly similar to Los Angeles. So it's surprising that in the midst of this movie mayhem appears an LAPD icon: former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, playing the chief of police.

“The film doesn’t put the LAPD in the best light, but there is a strong message of redemption, and I responded to that,”  Gates tells Internet film reviewer Emanuel Levy. “That meant something to me because in my eyes the LAPD is extraordinarily special.”

While "Street Kings" has met with mixed reviews, Gates' brief appearance as a department chief during a cop funeral is  "supreme stunt casting" said one online review.  Reeves said that Gates, who attended the movie's premiere, was "awesome”  and that he was "very cool" to everyone.

Many of the current occupants of Parker Center, however, have been left speechless by Gates' film role, says the Times' Andrew Blankstein. The film, as originally written by James Elroy, was set in the wake of the police beating of Rodney King and the riots that followed. Not exactly a golden era for the LAPD or Gates, who left in 1992 amid intense criticism.

Not only are LAPD officials shaking their heads at seeing Gates in the film, but the movie's producer was equally taken a back when he accepted the part.

“When we called him he asked if the film was pro-police, and we told him that it was for certain types of police," said producer Lucas Foster. "We sent him the script, and he thought it was excellent. We were so shocked and are so grateful that he was willing to do it.”

-- Jesus Sanchez

Photo: AP

Comments

[Brian S. Bentley]

Before Street Kings, before LA Confidential, before Training Day, and before Crash, real LAPD officers sacrificed their careers to maintain honor and integrity in the LAPD. Now it's entertainment. Google me. Wikipedia me. Look me up on Amazon.com Brian S. Bentley LAPD

[Michael A.]

Unfortunately Brian Bentley, not everyone who lived day to day in the heart of L.A. agrees with you. For many years, before "suburbia" confessed to the harsh reality of the Rodney King tapes, REAL racist rogue LAPD cops were practicing their form of judicial punishment on the spot. This came, unfortunately, at the expense of many "minorities" who were beaten, shot, and killed. Remember the Batter ram? Many innocent people had their houses destroyed by these modified tanks who were supposedly going after crack houses. Tanks? Yes, TANKS in the middle of a city! Sounds like a police state. Restless nights were passed by the sounds and lights of helicopters flying overhead many times throughout the night. Minorities who were fortunate enough to live in other "better" parts of the city and drove cars with your namesake (Bentley , how ironic) were frequently stopped and harassed because of the color of their skin and were not supposed to have those "nice things" entitled to "non-minorities". Integrity and honor? Hardly. Watching my friends being stopped and stripped down, sometimes to their underwear in the middle of the street in broad daylight, having done nothing at all except the misfortune of living in that poor part of the city was both terrifying and humiliating. But then again, this was exactly the control objective under the Gates regime. Its a wonder that people have maintain their passiveness and L.A. hasnt had hundreds of riots... I could go on...but in the end, what is now your idea of entertainment... was my day to day nightmare.