WÓJCIK, WOJCIECH

(Jerzy Wojciech Wójcik, 1943-).

Director and scriptwriter specializing in crime films. After graduating in 1967 from theŁódź Film School, Wójcik worked for several years as assistant to the director or second director on seventeen films beginning withKazimierz Kutz'sRobbery(1967/1969) and includingSalt of the Black Earth(1970, Kutz),The Wicked Gate(1974,Stanisław Różewicz), andDeath of a President(1977,Jerzy Kawalerowicz). Although at the beginning of his directorial career he made a psychological drama,Window(Okno, 1981/1983), and a postwar drama,Alone among His Own(Sam pośród swoich, 1985), his action filmKarate Polish Style(Karate po polsku, 1983) set the pattern for his later works.They were mostly action-oriented crime films that incorporated the style of American cinema to describe unglamorous Polish reality. InPrivate Investigation(Prywatne śledztwo, 1987),Roman Wilhelmiplayed a character seeking revenge after his family was killed by a drunken truck driver. It was followed by a crimecomedy,To Kill at the End(Zabić na końcu, 1990), and a psychological crime drama,Three Days without Conviction(Trzy dni bez wyroku, 1991). Wojcik's most popular film was thetelevisioncrime seriesThe Extradition(Ekstradycja, 1995-1996, 1998), withMarek Kondratstarring as a stereotypi-cally hard-bitten Warsaw police inspector named Olgierd Halski who fights international drug gangs. Apart from other crime films, such asBermuda Triangle(Trójkąt Bermudzki, 1988) andThe Last Mission(Ostatnia misja, 2000), Wójcik also directed a political drama set in the 1960s,There and Back(Tam i z powrotem, 2002). The film, winning Wójcik Best Director at theFestival of Polish Films, tells the story of a Polish physician (Janusz Gajos) who uses desperate measures to be reunited with his English wife and daughter.

Other films:No Mercy(Bez litości, 2002),The Pack(Sfora, TV series, 2002),The Forgerers:Return of the Pack(Fałszerze. Powrót sfory, TV series, 2006).