The 1980 film, Heaven’s Heroes, is a cop film that takes place in Des Moines, Iowa!

Now, it’s tempting to make a joke about a film taking place on the “mean streets of Des Moines” and I know that I did when the film started and I saw that it was another Russell S. Doughten production.  In the late 70s and early 80s, Doughten directed several low-budget faith-based films, most of them shot on location in Iowa.  (I previously reviewed Doughten’s Nite Song, among others.)  Though Doughten is only credited as executive producer on Heaven’s Heroes, it features all the hallmarks of Doughten’s other films.  The budget is low, some of the actors are a bit amateurish, and the ultimate message is undeniably heartfelt.  What Doughten’s film may have lacked in technical polish, they made up for sincerity.

To its credit, Heaven’s Heroes doesn’t try to present Des Moines as being any more edgy that it actually is.  But the film makes the point that a cop’s life can be dangerous, even in a relatively quiet town like Des Moines.  In fact, the film opens with police responding to the shooting of Officer David Hill (played by David Ralphe).  His wife, Cindy (Heidi Vaughn), is taken  to the hospital where she talks to the comatose David until he dies.  The doctor explains that if the bullet had entered David’s head just a few inches higher, his life probably could have been saved.

The rest of the film is taken up with flashbacks to David’s life before he was shot.  We watch as he and Cindy meet each other in college.  A helicopter hovering over a Des Moines mall leads to a flash to David’s service in Vietnam.  His partner (James O’Hagen) remembers the training that he went through with David.  Through it all, David comes across as the ideal cop, the type who treats everyone fairly and who doesn’t draw his gun unless it’s absolutely necessary.  (At one point, David does fire at a man who is holding a shotgun, just to miss.  Later, he discovers that the man was only holding the shotgun for self-defense.)  David saves the life of a child who has swallowed a button but later finds himself unable to help another child who has been hit by a drunk driver.  Some people thank David and some people call him a pig.  A lot of the film deals with David and his partner trying to deal with the stress of their job.  There’s an interesting scene, early on, in which a lecturer at the Academy explains that a good cop has to be able to deal with the frustrations of the job without taking those frustrations out on the public.  He warns about giving into paranoia and assuming that everyone is looking to commit a crime.  David struggles with stress but never gives in.  Of course, it’s a religious film so David gives all the credit for his success to God and, when he’s later shot, his wife takes solace in the idea that David has gone to Heaven.  Your mileage may vary on that but no one can deny the sincerity of the film’s simple message.  The film, which was based on a true story, was shot on location in Des Moines and featured a lot of actual Des Moines police officers.  The acting is sometimes amateurish but they all bring an authenticity to their roles.

It’s interesting to compare the cops in this 1980 film to the cops of today.  None of the cops in Heaven’s Heroes wear body armor.  None of them patrol the streets in modified tanks.  They don’t shout at suspects or bark orders at bystanders.  They’re not bulked-up gym rats with shaved heads.  Though both David and his partner did serve in the military, both of them understand that they’re not fighting a war on the streets of Des Moines.  Instead, they are there to protect the citizens.  They’re the ideal cops and sadly, they’re almost unrecognizable when compared to much of what we see today.