Mike Figgis‘s Internal Affairs (’90) has been Bluray-ed, but won’t be out on disc until 10.8. It’s apparently viewable right now via Amazon Prime but all streaming downloads (AP, Netflix, HBO Go) are blocked in Europe. This is precisely the kind of cop drama — character-driven, psychologically layered, smartly written — that the big studios have more or less abandoned and the indies have trouble doing with any pizazz or flair. It’s hard to believe it came out 23 years ago. Richard Gere‘s performance as the psychopathic Dennis Peck is certainly one of his career peaks and Andy Garcia‘s self-righteous, internal-affairs prig is arguably his all-time best. (Garcia is 57 today — he was about 33 when the Figgis film was shot.)

I love the scene in which Gere tries to get Garcia’s goat by talking about how married yuppie couples never seem to make love to each other with any passion after two or three years, about how they almost have to make an appointment to do it, and how wives like Garcia’s (played by Nancy Travis) are maybe a little too skinny for Gere’s taste but on the other hand they give good head. Garcia pops him a half-second after he says the word “head.” Every time I think of Internal Affairs this scene that flashes through my head. It’s all the more remarkable because Gere’s doing most of the talking, and with great perverse charm. But Garcia owns it with his silent slow burn. Unfortunately the scene is no longer viewable on YouTube.