Tag Archives: Richard Lynch

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Cops use unorthodox methods.

Buddy (Roy Scheider) is a police detective who runs a group of renegade cops who employ unusual and sometimes questionable methods to nab crooks. Once apprehended the criminals they arrest usually end up serving 7-years or more in the penitentiary, which gives their group the nickname of the ‘Seven Ups’. The groups most recent mission is investigating kidnappings occurring in the city and Buddy uses the help of Vito (Tony Lo Bianco) a childhood friend who works as an undercover informant for the police, but who unbeknownst to Buddy is actually behind the recent crimes going on and even the orchestrator.

After the success of The French Connection producer Phil d’Antoni became inspired to produce another similar crime film dealing with the true-life event that occurred in the 50’s in New York that had mobsters being kidnapped by criminals posing as cops. He wanted William Friedkin, who had done so well with the first film, to direct this one, but Friedkin didn’t like the script and passed as did several other directors, which eventually lead the studio to choose d’Antoni to take the helm himself in his one and only foray behind the camera with results that are both good and bad.

The production lacks cinematic flair and shot in a flat way almost like a documentary, which to some degree actually helps it. It was filmed between January and April of 1973 and the crisp, gray, frigid look helps build an atmosphere by accentuating the grimy, cold life of the underworld and how the detectives themselves get foisted into it. The plot is basic and linear, so it’s easy to follow and not cluttered with unnecessary mystery angles and tangents as the viewer knows right away who’s behind everything. There’s also a tense scenes inside a car wash, not exactly sure the perpetrators would’ve been able to pull-off as effortlessly as they do, but it definitely keeps you riveted as you feel the same unease as the two guys in the car though having another scene come later that also takes place in a car wash wasn’t needed.

The film though doesn’t have the interesting characters like in The French Connection where Popeye Doyle’s lifestyle and temperament contrasted in fascinating ways with the man he was pursuing and in fact it was Doyle’s fractured personality that made the movie so compelling. Here, through no fault of Scheider who plays the part well for what is asked, but his character is quite one-note. We learn nothing about him, or his home life. He’s just a typical New York cop obsessed with getting the bad guys, which is fine, but doesn’t have the multi-dimensional quality to help make him memorable.

The supporting characters aren’t necessarily much better, but the actors who play them at least help give them some life. Larry Haines, probably best known for playing one of Felix and Oscar’s poker playing buddies in The Odd Couple, has a good turn here as a crime boss who’s nonchalant initially when he thinks he’s being taken to the cop station for a routine arrest only to cower in fright when he realizes he’s been duped and then when he survives shows no mercy in his unrelenting pursuit for revenge. My only quibble though is that Scheider and his cohorts are able to break into Haines’ house too easily and even able to catch him and his wife sleeping in bed, but you’d think with him being a well-known target with the police he’d have burglar alarms set-up all over his home to detect anyone trying to get in and since he’d just had a traumatic kidnapping incident earlier you’d think he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly again, or paranoid enough to sleep lightly and aware of any noise.

The car chase sequence is by far the best moment, and some may say the only real reason to watch it. It certainly has you holding your breath, but in a lot of ways is too similar to Bullit, another film produced by d’Antoni, so it really doesn’t stand out as much as it should. There’s also the issue of Scheider pursuing the bad guys even as there’s pedestrians all around. Most real-life cops will stop chasing after a culprit’s car if they feel  it will put others at too much of a risk and this comes to a horrifying moment when school children are playing on the street and must quickly run to the curb when the bad guys drive their car through only a few seconds later to almost get hit by Scheider’s car as he plows through at high speeds without even a thought of putting on his breaks making him seem more like an irresponsible cop who’s more of a problem than a solution.

Nonetheless it’s gripping and I enjoyed how it ends with Scheider ducking under the windshield just as his vehicle hits the underside of the backend of a truck in an intended ‘homage’ to Jayne Mansfield’s wreck. It’s also great watching Richard Lynch’s facial expressions as he plays the crook sitting in the passenger’s side of the fleeing car. Some could say it’s great acting, which maybe it was, but I believe his looks of nervousness and fear was genuine, which just helps to make these shots of his face, which get intercut throughout the chase all the more entertaining and help to have a human side to the action as I and almost anyone else would be reacting the same as he does if we were in the same situation.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: December 14, 1973

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

Rated R

Director: Philip D’Antoni

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Available: DVD, Blu-ray