Viewed in
2010
Formats
Netflix streaming (Xbox 360)
Premise
A detective (Nick Nolte) is forced to team up with a petty thief (Eddie Murphy) to catch a couple of cop killers.
Loved
The chemistry between Murphy and Nolte.
Thoughts
It started off as a standard 1970's gritty cop drama, then Murphy finally showed up. Watching both play off each other, launching racially-charged ball-busting venom made me laugh out loud non-stop. Best scene ever was was Murphy pretending to be a police officer in a very vanilla redneck bar, and he proceeded to undress everyone with wit.
Even though it was made in 1982, it had a lot of 1970's sensibilities. As mentioned, the story and style was gritty and realistic, I liked the how it was full of police jargon and it never bothered to dumb it down for the audience. Another moment was the artsy-fartsy elongated single shot of Nolte interacting with multiple characters as the choreographed camera had to weave through and pan to different actors non-stop.
Shockingly, this was the first time I've seen Nick Nolte act, but he was really effective here as the growling grumpy gumshoe, playing low-key next to Murphy's fast-talking jive. It was kind of unintentionally funny that Nolte's character was alcoholic.
Another amusing thing was James Horner's unusual, distracting score. I had already known him for his wood-wind heavy orchestral score, so I was surprised that he could do old gritty cop dramas (including the obligatory lonely saxophone). What made it distracting was the experimentation with incongruous instruments, like synthesizers and calypso drums, even though they were in San Fransisco.
The cop drama stuff was okay, but it was all about Nolte and Murphy flinging hatred, bile and venom at each other that made this hilarious and entertaining.
What I would change
Nothing.
Random
Continuity error in the first act: Nolte and a handcuffed Murphy get into Nolte's convertible, next shot is a long shot of them driving in the streets, and Murphy's arms are clearly not cuffed, followed by them reaching their destination, and Murphy is cuffed again.
