Wednesday, February 18, 2026, 7:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre
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(Bill Duke, US 1992, 107 min., DCP)
Blurring the lines between right and wrong, Russell Stevens (Laurence Fishburne) is recruited by the DEA to go undercover as a drug pusher, working his way up the distribution ladder to end the supply of cocaine at its source. But the deeper he goes the more he wonders if he’s a cop pretending to be a drug dealer or a drug dealer pretending to be a cop. Nodding to both the “bad cop noir” cycle of the 1950s as well as early prison films that show a good man going bad, the screenplay by Michael Tolkin (The Player the same year) is brought to life by actor-turned-director Bill Duke with a style that updates the shadowy noir aesthetic for the 1990s.