One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 1, 2025

Bruno Barreto's "One Tough Cop" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection. The only supplemental features on it are several vintage TV spots and original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Dietl

The catalyst of the drama that is unleashed in Bruno Baretto’s One Tough Cop is the same disgusting rape case that is at the center of the drama chronicled in Abel Ferrara’s cult film Bad Lieutenant. In 1981, in East Harlem, a man tortured and raped a nun, and then disappeared without a trace. NYPD cop Bo Dietl and several of his colleagues cracked the case on October 26, 1981. Baretto’s film is loosely based on Dietl’s novel One Tough Cop: The Bo Dietl Story, which is about a lot more than the hunt for the rapist.

Steven Baldwin’s character, a very loose replica of Dietl, is a middle-aged loner who constantly roams the most dangerous streets of New York with his partner Duke Finnerly (Chris Penn). The two are like brothers, but could not be any more different. Dietl only occasionally has a drink and stays away from the city’s seemingly endless temptations, while Finnerly is a hardcore boozer and compulsive gambler. Like an older brother, Dietl understands perfectly that his partner has been flirting with trouble and tried to help him bounce back to safety, but has not treated him like an immature, stubborn knucklehead from his old neighborhood.

But this is exactly how Dietl’s best friend from his old neighborhood, Richie La Cassa (Michael McGlone), a respected mafioso, sees and thinks of Finnerly. La Cassa has even admitted to Dietl that he has allowed Finnerly to continue visiting his establishments, some of which are favorite destinations for various high-rollers, only because of him. However, after recently mistreating some of his men and causing big drama with Frankie ‘Hot’ Salvino (Paul Guilfoyle), La Cassa has had enough of Finnerly. Now, Dietl must finally knock some sense into his partner, or Salvino, or someone like him, will knock him out for good.

While looking for credible leads that would reveal the identity of the rapist from East Harlem, Dietl is squeezed by FBI agents trying to figure out a way to place a bug in La Cassa’s car. When Dietl refuses to work with them, the FBI agents threaten to ruin his career and even send him to jail for having a relationship with La Cassa. Around the same time, La Cassa and his men bring before Dietl and Finnerly a shady character who can assist them during the hunt for the rapist, but as they begin to make progress, Finnerly’s bad habits transform Salvino into an angry animal, and soon after all hell breaks loose. Behind La Cassa’s back, Dietl also begins spending time with his on-again, off-again mistress, Joey O’Hara (Gina Gershon).

Despite their overlapping of identical themes, One Tough Cop and Bad Lieutenant are very different films. In the latter, Harvey Keitel plays a suicidal character who just happens to have a badge that allows him to move quickly in the sewer and impose his will on those that are supposed to fear it. Keitel’s suicidal character is also a hardcore addict.

Baldwin’s character is a good cop trying to make a difference inside and outside the sewer, surrounded by plenty of bad people, some flashing badges that are more powerful than the one he keeps in his pocket. He is also a pragmatic cop, not a nihilist or delusional idealist, who sees clearly and judges fairly the many layers of New York. As a result, his deconstruction of the good and bad that define New York is drastically different than that of Keitel’s character.

In the late 1990s, One Tough Cop had only a limited theatrical release, and various critics were unimpressed with its loose treatment of the original material from Dietl’s novel. However, it is very easy to conclude that One Tough Cop was never meant to be an accurate cinematic adaptation of Dietl’s novel. It is just another very gritty, very good, police procedural/semi-biographical crime drama, paying tribute to such genre classics as Serpico and The New Centurions.

*The real Bo Dietl steps in front of the camera playing Detective Benny Levine. However, this is a minor part, so Dietl is very easy to miss.

One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, One Tough Cop arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection.

The entire film has an attractive organic appearance of the type that a master struck from an interpositive would deliver. However, I do not know if the master that was used to produce this release was struck from an interpositive.

Delineation, clarity, and depth range from good to very good. Some darker areas could and should reveal superior nuances, but there is still a lot to see, and different ranges of shadows are managed pretty well. Density levels are very good, though this is another area where small improvements can be made. Color reproduction is convincing. I liked all primaries and supporting nuances. However, I must mention that during daylight footage, in select areas, some brighter highlights can be rebalanced. The best news is that there are absolutely no traces of problematic digital corrections. Grain exposure can be more even, but I still liked what I saw on my big screen a lot. Image stability is very good. I noticed a few nicks and blemishes, but there are no large and distracting cuts, debris, marks, warped or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

All exchanges are clear and easy to follow. However, there are many areas, and not only areas with action material, where it feels like the audio should be fuller and lusher. For this reason, I must speculate that a fully remastered audio track will be more satisfying, and likely in several ways, too. There are no distortions, hiss, dropouts, etc.

One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promotional Materials - presented here are three vintage TV spots and an original theatrical trailer for One Tough Cop.

One Tough Cop Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ignore old mainstream reviews of One Tough Cop, claiming that it should have done better with the original material from Bo Dietl's novel. One Tough Cop is another very gritty, very good, police procedural/semi-biographical crime drama, paying tribute to such genre classics as Serpico and The New Centurions. This recent Blu-ray release from the MVD Marquee Collection offers a slightly rough but very satisfying organic presentation of it. It is Region-Free, too. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.