Q & A

"When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly."

1990 2h 12m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 209

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him.

“When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly.”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Nick Nolte
Mike Brennan
Timothy Hutton
Al Reilly
Armand Assante
Bobby Texador
Patrick O'Neal
Kevin Quinn
Lee Richardson
Leo Bloomenfeld
Luis Guzmán
Luis Valentin
Charles S. Dutton
Sam Chapman
Jenny Lumet
Nancy Bosch

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Sidney Lumet
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sidney Lumet, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Rubén Blades. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Richard P. Cirincione shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nick Nolte and Timothy Hutton and Armand Assante carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0100442 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sidney Lumet directs. Andrzej Bartkowiak behind the camera. Rubén Blades scores. Richard P. Cirincione cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

136 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Directed by Sidney Lumet, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Rubén Blades. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Richard P. Cirincione shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Nick Nolte and Timothy Hutton and Armand Assante carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "When the questions are dangerous, the answers can be deadly.".
8IMDB entry: tt0100442 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Original score: Rubén Blades
Editing: Richard P. Cirincione
Production design: Philip Rosenberg
Costume design: Neil Spisak
Makeup / hair: Joe Cranzano
Sound: Peter Odabashian
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Q & A (1990)

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Sidney Lumet

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-09-10
★ 5/10
Q & A is the third entry in Sidney Lumet’s loose trilogy about NYPD corruption, and by far the most pessimistic. While Al Pacino and Treat Williams are given an admittedly tough choice in Serpico and Prince of the City, here Timothy Hutton comes to learn that one man can’t make a difference after all. The ending is as frustrating to the viewers as it is to he hero, because we find out that the character’s hands were tied all along; instead of going over people’s heads and behind their backs, Al Reilly (Hutton) might as well have played ball from the get-go, which would have at least had the consolation that a low fewer people would have died in the process. In Serpico and Prince of the City, Lumet addressed corruption as a problem that one had to have the balls to attack head-on; in Q & A he seems to have given up, as if saying: "this is the way things are and there is nothing anyone can do about it" — and you know what they say about being part of the problem if you’re not part of the solution. The film is not without its pleasures, though; not surprising considering the people involved. Nick Nolte is the original Bad Lieutenant (he has two great back-to-back scenes in which he tells a scatological anecdote to the same people he is about to relate his official account of an incident wherein he shot a Puertorrican kid to death. In both instances he has the audience — his and the movie’s — eating out of the palm of his hand; needless to say, the shooting is ruled as self-defense), while Armand Assante is a precursor to Pacino’s Carlo Brigante (both Q & A and Carlito's Way are based on novels by former New York State Supreme Court Justice and author of Puerto Rican descent Edwin Torres).

Production companies