Cops and Robbers (1973)

Disturbing yet enthralling

Best movie of this year hands down!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Disgruntled police officers Tom (the extremely affable Cliff Gorman) and Joe (the equally engaging Joseph Bologna) decide to steal ten million dollars worth of untraceable bonds in order to improve their lackluster lots in life. However, things don't go as smoothly as planned.Director Aram Avakian keeps the enjoyable and engrossing story moving along at a brisk pace, makes fine use of gritty New York City locations, grounds the premise in a thoroughly plausible blue collar reality, stages several exciting action set pieces with flair and skill (a chase sequence in Central Park involving a bunch of angry bicyclists rates as a novel and thrilling highlight), and maintains a playfully audacious tone throughout. Donald E. Westlake's clever script slyly subverts crime cinema conventions by making the crooks a pair of highly likable and sympathetic average working class guys who the viewer can't help but identity with and subsequently root for to get away with their daring heist. Gorman and Bologna display a natural and convincing chemistry in the leads; they receive sturdy support from John P. Ryan as formidable mob fence Patsy O'Neill, Richard Ward as hard-nosed flatfoot Paul Jones, Sheppard Strudwick as shady businessman Mr. Eastpoole, Ellen Holly as nervous secretary Mrs. Wells, Dolph Sweet as the hearty George, and Joe Spinell as intimidating enforcer Marty. Both David L. Quaid's sharp cinematography and Michael Legrand's tuneful score are up to speed. A racy treat.

Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna play 2 cops but they can be just about anyone else in any profession. Just 2 guys trying to make a living and support their families in the craziness of New York City. Even though they are corrupt, you can't help but feel sorry for them because all they are trying to do is survive. We soon find out that everyone else is just as corrupt, from the grocery store manager who justifies walking out of the store each day with a sack of groceries as a "prerogative of my managerial position", to the executive and his secretary at a Wall St. securities firm padding the amount stolen so they can keep a little for themselves to the crooked mobsters who weren't going to let anyone keep the money in return for the stolen bonds.This was just a nicely made, lighthearted movie with a good cast of actors and takes us back to the 70's. There's no sex scenes, no wild ridiculous explosions, no actors doing the physically impossible, no computer generated graphics, just a nice clean (and corrupt) movie. It's movies like this that Hollywood needs to go back and remember a time that you had quality, and not quantity with the garbage they are throwing into them today.I would like to see this movie released in Blu Ray and with the scenes added that regular DVD version cut.

New York City cops Tom and Joe are in the mist of burn out. Why me syndrome eats at them in every way including getting in the wrong lane on the highway. They decide on a bold move to remove themselves from the relentless rat race by stealing and selling security bonds to the mob while remaining untraceable themselves.Cops and Robbers is a very decent suspense comedy overachiever. Lack of star power works in its favor with Cliff Gorman and Joseph Bologna as the two rogue cops as non-descript everydays they ooze New York and are not required to perform acts of cool bravado to protect their careers. They are not master thieves, instead learning as they go along and it's this thin ice approach that gives the film it's well paced balance of humor and suspense. Made during the Serpico era when the NYPD was swimming in corruption it's hard not to root for these dirty cops being squeezed on both sides. It may be a low rent sting but it does have the benefit of bluffing the audience deeper into the final moments than predictable outcomes reserved for superstars like Newman and Redford.

Two cops have had enough of the 'system' and decide on a high level robbery. This theme is presented in a somewhat light hearted manner. The film is an effective period piece of New York in the early Seventies. And of the work-a-day person in general.The video (and current tv version) however...Whatever soulless bonehead was allowed to prepare this movie for video release should be thrown in a lake. The story line is still there. But apparently the plodding nature of the film prompted cutting and editing. Many scenes have been awkwardly shortened, re-mixed or completely removed. Hopefully an original copy still exists on the premium cable channels.