The Super Cops (1974)

Admirable film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Blistering performances.

A Street-Wise Production with Authentic NYC Locations Highlight this Cop/Comedy based on the True Story of the Two Policemen Nicknamed Batman and Robin and The Super Cops by the Media.It is a Fast Paced, almost Highlight Reel, and the Ghetto Backdrop is in Deep Contrast to the Bouncy, Lighthearted Way the Cartoonish Cops go about Their Business of Busting Drug Dealers and other Assorted Criminals.The Institutionalized Corruption and Apathy also play a big part in the Picture but The Film Never gets too Deep into that Sensitive Situation or for that Matter it Hardly Slows Down Enough for the Drug Busts and Implications of the Effects these Scum are having on the Population. It could be Faulted for Being just a bit too Smiley Considering the Devastating Subject Matter.Given that almost Unforgivable Whitewash, the Movie taken on its Own Terms of being an Entertaining and Superficial Take on the Whole Broad Strokes of the Inner Story both on the Streets and In the Precinct, it can be Forgiven as a Lightweight and Sometimes Succinct, Well Directed, Acted, and Written Piece of Faction that Results in a Popcorn Movie with that Seventies Grit and Realism that makes it Hold Up.

Two rookie cops join forces to try and make a difference fighting crime on the streets of New York. They quickly learn they must also fight the corruption and bureaucracy in their own police department.Entertaining and offbeat crime drama from Gordon Parks which served as his first follow-up feature after directing the two successful Shaft films with Richard Roundtree. Like that series, Super Cops is given a big lift by some great on-location shooting in New York City which really captures the gritty look and feel of 1970's street life.It also benefits from two likable performances from Ron Leibman and David Selby as the rookie duo "affectionately" nick-named Batman and Robin by the locals. The rest of the cast is a solid mix of familiar faces from the crime and blaxploitation films from that era. Standing out is Pat Hingle as a gruff inspector trying to bring down the boys and Sheila Fraser - fresh off her appearance in the Super Fly films - as a prostitute.The screenplay is based on the real life exploits of NY police officers David Greenburg and Robert Hantz (who both have cameos in the film) and frequently veers between comedy and drama - albeit somewhat unevenly. It is still held together by the engaging story and the smart direction of Parks.

Director Gordon Parks' excellent buddy-cop corruption comedy, with a cast of great genre and character actors - this seems most often compared to Serpico, Dirty Harry and The French Connection from what little I could find on it. But really, it bears more resemblance to The New Centurions and earlier blaxploitation classics in terms of comic tone, racial politics and groovy yet tough protagonists. Curiously, there is a brief but enjoyable gunfight and chase through a building under demolition, making me involuntarily compare scenes and buddy mechanics with Starrett's The Gravy Train of the same year.Funny that it concerns a couple of unconventional cops nicknamed Batman and Robin, given that the screenwriter worked on the '60s series. Also, the presence of bulldog-eyed genre fave Pat Hingle, who would go on to repeatedly play Commissioner Gordon.Frazier has great inter-racial sexual tension with the also funny Leibman, and her scream session suggests that she could have had a terrific career in horror. Maybe now that this is getting screened at the New Bev in L.A. by Edgar Wright, one hopes that we could eventually see it surface from MGM for an HD broadcast.

Gordon Parks, the prolific black Life magazine photographer, made a true ticking-timebomb of a movie here - one that does not mess around! Based upon the true story of two NYC cops - later dubbed Batman and Robin - who singlehandedly employed radical tactics to clean up their precinct neighborhood of drugs, this is a cop-buddy movie before that term became a repetitive formula. Lightning paced, there is not one unimportant throwaway scene here.Man, early '70s NYC must have been a terrible place to be a police officer, from the looks of movies like this and "Serpico." These two cops start out as safety-division rookies, busting dealers in plainclothes in their spare time. But instead of receiving applause from the city police department, they receive nothing but resistance and antagonism from their peers. They have to singlehandedly navigate a minefield of police and legal corruption, boneheaded assignments meant to keep them from their work on the streets, ruthless drug kingpins, and a nasty ghetto neighborhood.Both David Selby and Ron Leibman are fantastic in the leads; part of the entertainment is watching Leibman's eyes darting around crazily in every scene in what is a flawless comic performance, and Selby's acting is low-key and wry. These two make all the comedy aspects of the story work - displaying a palpable frustration mixed with gutsy determination. Director Parks, who was already known for his coverage of controversial subjects in his photography, does not shy away from the grittiness of the story. Rather, the movie is uncompromising in portrayal of the toughness of the world of police and streets criminals that these two men inhabit. Adding to this realism is the fact that the real Hantz and Greenberg acted as technical advisors for the film, and even appear in surreal cameo roles as two fellow officers who ridicule the protagonists. It is a real tribute to the effectiveness of Parks' direction that he manages to perfectly balance this depressing mileu with bright comedy.