Two U.S. army veterans teamed up to commit a series of violent crimes in South Florida in 1985-86. Dick Lowry’s TV movie In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders presents those crimes and the law enforcement’s pursuit of the culprits.
Michael Platt (David Soul) and William Matix (Michael Gross) maintained a close friendship while repeatedly engaging in violent crimes using guns like some trigger-happy gunslingers. The two-man gang goes on a rob-and-shoot spree in Miami area, which poses a challenge to the FBI at a time when cell phones and other digital fingertip tech weren’t a thing yet. The feds struggle to get helpful clues that would lead them to the deadly duo.
Lowry’s In the Line of Duty makes a good true crime drama and case study of what is considered one of the deadliest shootouts in FBI’s history. While the backstory of the two lead characters – Platt and Matix – doesn’t go all the way back to the origins of their motives, the movie brings out the similarities and contrast in their personal lives. Platt is shown as more levelheaded with a stable family life while Matix is not only abusive to his women but is also suspected of killing his first wife. The movie hints at their possible motive fueling their vehicle of violence, namely the sensation of dominance over their victims as well as the law enforcement.
The Platt-Matix pair has parallels with Bonnie and Clyde and stands in 180 degrees to the buddy cop stories in crime dramas. While the movie doesn’t overtly try to glorify the duo, they remain the anti-hero leads of the story and make the FBI team members look like extras for most of the movie’s runtime.
For a TV movie of the time, it comes as rather violent particularly for the shooting scenes, of which the final shootout is the most extended and thrilling. In the Line of Duty is thus an unrated action crime drama based on true events. Fans of true crime won’t be disappointed to spare this retro TV flick their 90 minutes.
