The Rookie

The Rookie is a 1990 American buddy cop action drama thriller film directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Howard G. Kazanjian, Steven Siebert and David Valdes. It was written from a screenplay conceived by Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel. The film stars Charlie Sheen, Clint Eastwood, Raul Julia, Sônia Braga, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Tom Skerritt. Eastwood plays a veteran police officer teamed up with a younger detective played by Sheen (the rookie), whose intent is to take down a German crime lord in downtown Los Angeles, following months of investigation into an exotic car theft ring. The Rookie premiered in the United States and Canada on December 7, 1990, grossing $21,633,874 in ticket receipts, just under its budget of $30 million. The film was overshadowed by the continuing success of Home Alone, which opened three weeks earlier and ended up being one of the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time. A financial disappointment, The Rookie was met with generally lackluster reviews. Critics considered it formulaic and shallow, and questioned the casting of the Puerto Rican Julia and the Brazilian Braga as Germans; a scene in which Eastwood was raped by Braga also generated some controversy. The stunts and special effects, however, were met with praise. Plot Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) and his partner Powell attempt to bust some criminals loading a truck with stolen luxury vehicles; in the gunfight, Powell is killed. Nick pursues the fleeing truck, but the gang detaches the trailer with him on it. Now classified as a homicide case, Nick is taken off of it and assigned a new partner, "rookie" cop David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen). Nick and a confused David continue investigating the gang; they go to a country club for lunch and see the criminals' leader, Strom. Nick confronts him and gives him Powell's broken and bloodied badge. Later, they go to a bar so Nick can talk to his informant, Felix. David gets in a brawl at the bar during which his badge is stolen; Nick, a regular, defuses the fight. Nick moves to enlist another gangster, Morales, by destroying his car at a junkyard. Morales succeeds in placing a bug in Strom's apartment but, upset at his earlier failure with the truck of stolen cars, Strom and his girlfriend Liesl kill him.