On L List of Movie Reviews

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The Laughing Policeman (1973)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 6/23

6/23: "Eight people know who the killer is—and they're all dead."

If they're dead, shouldn't the verb "know" be in the past tense? Besides, not all "knew" who the killer was; it was a random mass murder hit with most of their backs turned. In fact, after the killer was caught and killed, there's no explanation of why he did it.

Shot on location in San Francisco, The Laughing Policeman is an odd title because I never saw Watter Mathau laugh, deadpan face and all. He's okay but likes to chew gum a lot for who-knows-what-reason. Louis Gossett, Jr., is fair, but Bruce Dern stands out the most. I thank him for enlivening things because the movie wasn't getting anywhere many times.

The story is ordinary with shades of The French Connection. By now, the look is dated with some interesting insight into routine police procedure. There's a stretch of the detective beat that works well on the neo-noir side. Then, all of a sudden, a random attack is initiated, ruining the momentum. As a result, the movie never recovered from it.

All in all, the DVD cover of The Laughing Policeman may seem interesting, but it's actually not.

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