Busting (1974)

Director: Peter Hyams

Writer: Peter Hyams

Composer: Billy Goldenberg

Starring: Eliott Gould, Robert Blake, Allen Garfield, Antonio Fargas, Michael Lerner, Sid Haig, Ivor Francis, William Sylvester, Logan Ramsey, Richard X. Slattery

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What this film exposes about undercover vice cops can't be seen on your television set.

Plot: LA cops Gould and Blake get in over their heads when they don't heed orders from above and go after a big crime boss. While higher ups in the police department want the cop duo to just focus on nabbing petty criminals, the team does so while still going after LA kingpin Rizzo. Various fist fights, chases, shootouts and other carnage occur as the two cops go after Rizzo's crime syndicate.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I dig a lot of Peter Hyams' work.  This is his first feature film and it's impressive for a first picture.  The teaming of Gould and Blake isn't as good as it could've been.  Gould doesn't play menacing anger well but he's got a lot of likability and that goes a long way.  The story has these guys in a seemingly futile quest to take down a big crime kingpin and they come up short at every turn despite their penchant for breaking the rules.  The tone of the film isn't necessarily an action crime comedy.  It does have one foot firmly in the gritty cop action drama but the other one inches closer to the funny without actually being funny which feels intentional.  These two guys are wisecracking hard-nosed cops swimming in their own frustration at how difficult it really is to bust the big guys and keep them down.  There's a foot chase that goes through a food market that is fucking outstanding.  It's worth watching the movie for that scene alone.  The camera is constantly moving and rolling along, following the action in almost a seamless and tension-filled manner.  It's brilliant.  There's a chase at the end of the picture that uses the same technique but it's considerably shorter but the intensity is there.  I was frozen with excitement and the former chase is rather long.  It's a good flick that's worth a look and do be sure to stick around for the ending when the bad guy is laughing with a gun pointed at his face.  What happens right after that and as the credits roll was fucking outstanding.  Man I dig 70s cinema!