Remake of The Grilling (1981), directed by Claude Miller with Lino Ventura, Michel Serrault and Romy Schneider.
The pictures behind the desk, when Morgan Freeman interrogated Gene Hackman, was the actual Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rossello, and the other pictures was the Superintendent of the Police, Pedro Toledo.
Detective Owens (and possibly younger viewers as well) doesn't realize that Henry Hearst is insulting him. Early on, Hearst repeatedly gets Owens' name wrong and keeps calling him "Obie". The name "Obie" refers to real-life policeman William Obanhein. Obanhein arrested Arlo Guthrie in Stockbridge MA for littering in 1965. The officer got zealous in performing his duties. He had Guthrie handcuffed and removed the toilet from his jail cell to prevent Guthrie from committing suicide: for littering. Thus, Hearst is insulting Detective Owens by telling him that he's overstepping his authority except that Owens is too young to get the joke.
The incident with Officer Obie was immortalized in the song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" and later the movie Alice's Restaurant (1969). Obanhein played himself in the movie saying "I'd rather have myself look like a fool than somebody else make me look like a fool."
Henry Hearst is actually calling Detective Owens "Opie" not "Obie," as in "Opie Taylor" from The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although the mouth shape is the same, he clearly enunciates the "p" sound.
The incident with Officer Obie was immortalized in the song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" and later the movie Alice's Restaurant (1969). Obanhein played himself in the movie saying "I'd rather have myself look like a fool than somebody else make me look like a fool."
Henry Hearst is actually calling Detective Owens "Opie" not "Obie," as in "Opie Taylor" from The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although the mouth shape is the same, he clearly enunciates the "p" sound.
Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman previously appeared in "Unforgiven" (1992).
The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman.