Uh oh, you've shot a tomato! I'm surprised that someone didn't yell that in the very violent scene in the downtown L. A. grocery store that Elliott Gould and Robert Blake were chasing a suspect in. Much of this film is so deliciously tacky and unintentionally tongue in cheek that I expected Lt. Frank Drebbin ("The Naked Gun's" Leslie Nielsen) to pop in.
Gould and Blake are members of the vice squad, chasing call girls and breaking up after hour shows in gay bars, their methods quite unorthodox even by 1974 standards. But this isn't "Serpico", and the two stars weren't exactly Pacino. Coming out in the era where comics could count on one hand the movies they saw that Gould wasn't in, it's not a flattering reminder of his heyday, and thus Blake comes off better.
So where's the plot? One does pop in, breaking up the prostitution ring run by mobster Allen Garfield, but it's all about the different stakeouts their on, and never dealing directly with the racket itself behind the scenes. The film opens with doctor Logan Ramsey busted for using his examining room for hooker dates, and it's very funny. Other familiar character actors pop up including Antonio Fargas and Michael Lerner, and it's a fun view of the red light neighborhoods of big cities supposedly long gone. But as a movie, just enjoy it for the action, audacious behaviors and excuse the trite plot.
Gould and Blake are members of the vice squad, chasing call girls and breaking up after hour shows in gay bars, their methods quite unorthodox even by 1974 standards. But this isn't "Serpico", and the two stars weren't exactly Pacino. Coming out in the era where comics could count on one hand the movies they saw that Gould wasn't in, it's not a flattering reminder of his heyday, and thus Blake comes off better.
So where's the plot? One does pop in, breaking up the prostitution ring run by mobster Allen Garfield, but it's all about the different stakeouts their on, and never dealing directly with the racket itself behind the scenes. The film opens with doctor Logan Ramsey busted for using his examining room for hooker dates, and it's very funny. Other familiar character actors pop up including Antonio Fargas and Michael Lerner, and it's a fun view of the red light neighborhoods of big cities supposedly long gone. But as a movie, just enjoy it for the action, audacious behaviors and excuse the trite plot.