Great police interview/interrogation scenes

I should have said, “Another great interrogation.”

In The Kids in the Hall, there is a series of interrogation scenes through season 5 episodes 1 and 2.

“Did you kill that guy?”

“Nope.”

“Damn, this guy’s tough.”

Muppets most wanted

Also consider the Basic Lupine Urology episode of Community, a straight-up spoof of Law & Order. Sample interrogation:

The actual interrogation that leads to the confession is during a court room scene though.

In addition to the interplay between Wagenbach and Taylor, there’s the context of the other detectives watching the interrogation, including the show’s protagonist Vic Mackey, who’s a dirty cop. The detectives in the station, led by Mackey, have treated Wagenbach as a laughingstock.

When Wagenbach breaks Taylor and gets him to confess, the other detectives congratulate Wagenbach. Mackey does so as well but we can see Mackey coming to the realization that he’s made a serious mistake. He’d always taunted Wagenbach, thinking he was no danger. But Mackey now realized that Wagenbach is a skilled detective and would be able to discover Mackey’s crimes if he ever had reason to look in that direction - and Mackey is worried that he has given Wagenbach a reason by his past harassment.

There was a fascinating BBC documentary, back in 2015, The Detectives that showed the entire investigation into a pedophile. Of particular interest were the scenes where the detectives discussed British interview techniques and planned for their interviews with Teret. A good slab of it is here: The Detectives 2015.

I got to thinking about the interrogation scene in The Matrix
Interrogation of Mr. Anderson | The Matrix [Open Matte] - YouTube
Keanu Reeves does a good job of speaking defiantly, while showing his fear, nonetheless.

That got me thinking about sci-fi police scenes in general, as a potential source for the OP.

The Evil Voice!

Jack Webb and Johnny Carson:

That is exactly what I was going to recommend! It’s been a long while since I’ve seen it, but that film is one long incredible interrogation scene. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere. I think I have it on a PAL DVD from way back.

Thanks for the recommendation! Just added that onto my Netflix watch list.

Well, you would recommend that, wouldn’t you… :smirk:

Not surprising, considering your avatar!

:grin: Indeed!

OP needs to check out Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in the hot seat in The Interview, an often overlooked Australian film well worth your time. The entire film is him in a chair in an interrogation room, and your feelings about the man will change as the interrogation goes on.

ETA: HA! It’s be recommended also by The Eyebrows of Doom himself!!!

Yep. and they would stop her from smoking. Not to mention, you dont get to be up on a stage.

To be realistic, the true “best” realistic interrogation would be:

“Ok scum, explain this…”

“I want to speak to my lawyer”.

end.

Ha! Yet as often as you see this in media, you’d think more people would lawyer up rather than subject themselves to endless police interrogations.

Line of Duty has already been mentioned, but I wanted to add that the interrogation scenes have become a kind of hallmark of the show. They are famously shot in one continuous take - and in the most recent series there was one 15 minutes long.

It seems to back this year - or at least the BBC are trailing something with the same name and premise.

The movie as a whole is certainly garbage. However, the shoddy police work is the point of that scene.

Oh, that’s comforting.

Someone recommended that film to me because I write romantic thrillers. That’s… not what I do. These movies tend to have sex-negative messaging and a good bit of misogyny. I can’t remember too much about Basic Instinct, but I remember the sex scenes being pretty cringe.