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Vice Squad (1982)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
2/26
2/26:
I struggled between '5' and '6' before settling on the former for Vice Squad in spite of being better
than Angel in all aspects.
It has a lot to do with my willingness to tolerate how bad the movie was. The opening credits sequence seems
to promise a gritty tale of prostitution on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, but quality drops steeply
thereafter along with occasional terrible editing. What caught my eye in a big way is that John Alcott handled
the cinematography. Hello! This is the same guy who won an Oscar for Barry Lyndon.
Of the cast, Gary Swanson gives the worst performance and is in dire need of acting lessons. At the same time,
I'm surprised that nobody laughed at his black partner's ridiculous hair. Regardless, Maurice Emanuel never acted
again, having seen his screen time diminish over time in Vice Squad. When he's shot in the leg at the
end, it becomes a "who cares?" moment. If these two could be removed, my rating would've been a point higher.
Season Hubley is okay and gets to encounter a couple of weird situations. Afterwards, she got divorced
from Kurt Russell and saw her career vanish quickly after appearing in a couple of films by John Carpenter:
Elvis and Escape from New York.
Stealing the show effortlessly is Wings Hauser as Ramrod, and he's the sole reason why this one is merely
watchable.
All in all, Vice Squad is a B picture more than anything with some elements of grade-Z filmmaking.