After his friend’s death, Vietnam War veteran Mitch Garnett (Tommy Lee Jones) decides to enact his comrade’s last request:
Take over New York’s Central Park by force.
The first movie to be made for HBO, The Park Is Mine is more akin to a drive-in movie in its mix of genre ingredients.
A blend between First Blood and the vigilante thrillers which followed Death Wish, The Park Is Mine also feels like a spiritual cousin to Larry Cohen’s Q the Winged Serpent, in its cynicism about institutions of power, except without that film’s sense of satire.
I cannot speak to the geographical differences with the real park, but that only adds to the sense of this movie being a scrappy exploitation movie.
The exploitation feel extends to the movie’s foregrounded political message: Garnett’s intention is to make people recognise and remember everyone who died during the Vietnam War. He plans to hold out until Veteran’s Day.
In his latter years, Jones has become a bit of a known quantity. In The Park Is Mine Jones is more fragile. The hard-nosed, deadpan quality he is synonymous with is vaguely in evidence, but he is more stilted and faltering. His Garnett is struggling to maintain his stoicism, caught between his professional training as a killer and a discomfort with his fellow human beings.
The late, great Yaphet Kotto also stars as a police officer trying to work out how to de-escalate the situation while his bosses find new ways to make it worse.
There is a cynicism to the political machinations of the city and the police department which feels evergreen: the Mayor is not even in the city, and his underlings are more concerned with retaking the park and restoring their own reputations than engaging with Garnett’s concerns.
The Park Is Mine is a weird little thriller that punches above its weight. Despite the stigma of TV, it never feels small. The scenes of Garnett taking over the park are exciting, and there are a couple of solid action set pieces - including a duel between Garnett and two City-sanctioned mercenaries - which give it a sense of scope.
Boosted by an atmospheric score from Tangerine Dream and Jones’s all-in performance, The Park Is Mine is worth seeking out.
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