This film was a hit when first released and still manages to have a decent following even though it NEVER turns up on tv and it took years to finally get a dvd release. I've been hearing about this film for ages but I've never been able to track it down. Maybe now that the dvd is out I'll finally locate it but, still, I'll never get why, with all of the cable channels nowadays, I've never seen it on tv.
shareIt's odd that this movie fell through the cracks because it seemed to be very popular on TV in the late '70s and early '80s -- or at least they showed it plenty of times. Of course, it was edited significantly for TV. There was even a TV series that ran briefly (starring Hector Elizondo at the Bean, I just learned).
Probably the racial and sexual jokes have banished this to forgotten-land. Too bad, because it's a pretty good cop buddy/action flick.
Yeah--the racist and sex jokes don't play as well today as they did back then. Also it's homophobic with the murderous transvestite. Truthfully I hate this movie. It's unfunny and just disgusting BUT I think it should be available if people want it.
shareI'll take the unPC humor over most of the crap that passes for movies these days.
Dr. Peter Venkman: NOBODY steps on a church in my town.
"Probably the racial and sexual jokes have banished this to forgotten-land."
And how's that any different from films made today? There is an over-abundance of movies with "N**GA" this and "N**GA" that, so what make this case any different. I feel it's a lack of thought from Warner execs, there's clearly SO much crap available on DVD/Blu and yet this gem is MIA.
"Too bad, because it's a pretty good cop buddy/action flick"
I'd say it's easily one of the first and best buddy cop movie which has spawned many b*st*rd offspring without the proper credit that is due.
Rant over.
This movie is a frikkin' classic and if you flvck you if you can't take a joke. It's a platonic love story between these two men who share everything in their lives. So, it's not PC like most crap these days. More power to it. Freebie and the Bean is an equal opportunity offender. It's like the Archie Bunker of buddy cop movies. What is it with Richard Rush and cross dressing plotlines?
shareI don't think I have ever laughed so hard from any action movie in my life. Who cares the jokes are un PC. PC is ruining films these days because they have reduced comedies to juvenile sex and toilet humor. I'll take this comedy over the crap we see these days. Thats why many comedies and movies in general from the seventies are held to such high regard, they're fearless.
Dr. Peter Venkman: NOBODY steps on a church in my town.
Being a man well into middle age, I have NEVER come across this movie randomly on cable. So I'm guessing that the movie has been put on some sort of "hit list" by special interest groups. True it could be because it lacks star power or that it is now close to 50 years old, or other legal reasons as why I have never seen it. But it is vey strange that even pay channels like HBO/Showtime never carry it. Another more recent movie that I suspect is on a "hit list" taken from random encounters is Porky's (81).
I had to buy the DVD to see it, and I'm glad I did.
I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of this film.
shareOne of the earliest cop-buddy movies, a decade before it went off the hook with Lethal Weapon.
Kubrick said it was his fav movie of 1974.
Good dialogue that rings true..some incredible stunt work.
Best just to watch it without reading more posts that will spoil the movie.
I try to read as little as possible before watching movies. As long as it’s from a time period and genre I like I’ll go with it. I’ll search this one out tonight.
shareI was looking at the top grossing movies of '74 and I'd heard of most of them, but not this one. It really was forgotten. Most of the movies from that year on the list got some play on TV or showed up in video stores when I was growing up in the 80s.
shareFilms like this are often forgotten because there's much going on in the world to destract from this and in the end, they get swept under the rug as Generations go by
shareIts more likely to do with rights and distribution issues.
It's a movie that did well in its brief initial run, but the humour and attitudes date it, so much so that it's not looked back on with much fondness.
It's largely forgotten by the public, and therefore the company who own the rights are not going to spend money re releasing it on different formats, or doing documentaries etc for a special edition. However it is now available on blu ray.
That said I love it. Very un PC and with a ton of action...and it is funny as long as you are broad minded.
My fave gag is Caan on the phone when his car crashes off the freeway into an old couples apartment. He is on the phone to his boss trying to explain what happened. He is asked a question on the phone which we don't hear, he opens the door of the apartment, looks out, and replies "7th floor..."