Cinematic Odd Couple

Posted on Aug 5, 2010

Running Scared (1986)

Directed By: Peter Hyams

Review Written By: Ken Knight
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor
IMDb.com Link

“Where’s my gun….I’ll shoot you first!”

Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal teamed up 25 years ago to bring a funny and action-packed “cop buddy” movie to audiences that hasn’t been re-done (with such magnetism) since!

Chicago Police Detectives Ray (Hines) and Danny (Crystal) are two fun-loving big city cops in wintry Chicago chasing down bad guys and one gangster in particular, Julio Gonzales (Jimmy Smits) who eludes capture and prosecution, wanting to be the “first Spanish Godfather of Chicago” and will kill anyone, even cops, who try to stop him! The comedic bluster between Ray and Danny (Hines and Crystal) was a laugh-a-minute snickerfest throughout the entire movie as these two chuckleheads pursued their criminal targets with less-than-legal techniques that are funny to watch, especially as the two cop-buddies banter back and forth with one another as the action progresses, the chemistry between Hines and Crystal is hilarious and as a fiction film should, makes police work appear to be a lot of laughs when it really isn’t!

Dan Hedaya as their Precinct Captain adds to the humorous tone of the film by breaking their balls whenever he sees the two cops and Ray’s sultry girlfriend Maryann (Actress Tracy Reed) is the eye-candy with a great ass seen as she leaves Ray’s bed when Danny arrives with donuts for breakfast one morning.

Jimmy Smits was not a well-known actor at the time but he did a bang-up job as the sleazy drug lord with a penchant for automatic weapons, and the man can portray a villain just as good as his more famous characters such as “Bail Organa” in Star Wars Episodes II and III. From the beginning to the end, gunfights, laughter, gratuitous nudity, funny one-liners, and justice being done at long last….RUNNING SCARED is in this writer’s opinion, the best “cop-buddy” movie in the past 30 years.

This being the kind of comedy-action film the 80’s decade was known for, RUNNING SCARED meets my criteria for being labeled a “GUY-FLICK” because the humor, action, and rancor throughout (not to mention Tracy Reed’s lovely bare ass) fits the bill 100%!