Police detectives are a troubled lot.
Plot summary (with spoilers): It's 1971, and cops in the movies and TV were heroic and flawless and always caught the bad guy and brought him to justice. But Jimmy "Popeye" (ugh...really?) Doyle is not heroic or flawless. He's a bad egg, obsessed with getting his man, no matter what the cost. Rumor has it he even sleeps with women who are not his wife. He also swears. At the start, he and his partner Buddy Russo bust into a funkadelic club for brothas and collar one guy. Another races out of the club and into the street. Popeye and Buddy pursue. No, fuck that. I'm calling him Doyle. How does one expect to be taken seriously calling oneself "Popeye"? Might as well just call himself Mighty Mouse. Anyways, Doyle and Russo finally jump on the guy, and tackle him, though he manages to cut Russo's arm with a knife. Russo beats on him a little until he's subdued, then Doyle wants at him to beat the living shit out of him, but Russo mainly blocks that effort. They bully him and smack him around until he gives up the name of the guy who sold him the drugs. Oh yeah, they're looking for drug dealers, on account of being narcotics detectives.
Later that night after the arrest is made (Cops 1, Drugs 0; victory is at hand!) Doyle and Russo go out to a club to celebrate. Doyle notices a table full of Godfather central-casting extras and decides that they must be mobster types. The lead guy, a young handsome Italian, is passing money out to the waitstaff like the currency is about to no longer be held to the gold standard and thus soon become useless paper. Doyle knows he's the leader because he's at the head of the table and the camera keeps focusing on him. Doyle asks Russo if he wants to work tonight. They decide to follow the guy and see what he's up to. They follow him all night long, as he and his entourage go from club to club. Finally, the man and his wife are the only two left. They drive around awhile. Doyle and Russo follow. This goes on for a while. But I'll give the movie this, they're still in the set-up phase. It's not like the whole movie is just going to be Doyle following people around. That would be silly! The man and his wife park their car on the street, then walk a block and climb into a much less fancy car. Doyle smiles. His hunch has paid off, these people are definitely shady! The couple park in front of a convenience store, or actually a little mom and pop grocery store, like you see in movies set on the east coast. They take a bundle of newspapers from out of the car...and then go inside the store, unlocking it. Doyle and Russo realize they're setting up shop for the day, that this is their business.
Meanwhile, in France.
People drive by in little scooters, just like when I was there last year! Ooh, and there's those little alleyways, and the old buildings. Not much has changed in 40 years, I'll tell you what. I love the water. It's so beautiful. Oh sorry, the plot. Some French guy kills another guy. A third older French Guy (who Doyle later will refer to as Frog One, and so shall I) meets up the the murdering French Guy (Frog Two). They discuss their recent plan to smuggle heroin into the United States. It involves duping a B-level actor named Henri, who is travelling to New York to be in a movie. Frog One convinces Henri to bring along a car to New York. (Henri is traveling by boat). He tells Henri he doesn't want to pay all the customs fees and shipping, and if he (Henri) takes the car for him, those fees will be waived by the permit the movie company got. Henri seems to know that something isn't totally kosher, but doesn't specifically know about the heroin, and clearly doesn't want to know.
And back to America. Russo has done some intel on the shopkeeper and his wife. Their names are Sal and Angie Boca, and they have minor criminal records. Doyle and Russo watch the shop for a week (off camera, thankfully), and see them meet with a variety of shady characters, including a criminal lawyer named Weinstock, who's known for being more criminal than lawyer. This is enough for them to beg their captain for a wiretap. The captain grumbles and is reluctant and basically seems to not like catching bad guys before finally agreeing to ask the DA for a warrant. He also assigns another cop named Mulderig to tag along with Doyle and Russo. Mulderig and Doyle have a troubled unspoken backstory, and Mulderig doesn't want to work with Doyle, and he natters on to the captain for awhile about it. The captain natters back. Their dialog seems weirdly ad libbed, all "I don't wanna", "well, you have to", "yeah yeah yeah" and it goes on forever.
Another black disco club, another bust-in by Doyle and Russo. They rough up the locals, making them give up all their maryjane. Not cool, man. But it's all just a ruse to allow Doyle to speak in private with an undercover cat with a three-foot fro, who tells Doyle that no one has any hard stuff because it's all dried up. No heroin in all of Manhattan.
One of the wiretap people (let's call him Lester Freamon, just for funzies) records a call between Sal and a suspicious frenchman, agreeing to meet at a hotel the next day. Doyle and Russo are stoked. The next day, they show up outside the hotel, and see Sal and Weinstock meet up with Frogs One and Two. Frog One gives Sal a briefcase. Doyle and Russo split up, Doyle following the Frogs, while Russo follows Sal. This goes on for a while. Doyle is definitely a follower. Finally, Doyle sees Frog One enter another hotel. He watches him go into an elevator, and gets his name from the hotel clerk. Literally, Doyle says, "the guy who just walked into the elevator...what was his name?" Oh, 1971. How adorable.
Meanwhile Russo follows Sal back to another building. He can't see what's going on inside, but Sal and Weinstock have brought their sample of heroin to a truly gross looking drug expert/nerd guy. Seriously, he has like, very black and thin teeth, that look like they would crumble into ash if he tried to eat an apple. The nerd guy tests the heroin and determines that it's 89% pure, which is still quite a bit less pure than Dial Soap, but plenty pure apparently for heroin. Weinstock approves and recommends that Sal make the buy.
The next day, Russo shows up at Doyle's apartment. He knocks, Doyle calls out and says to let himself in. Russo uses a credit card to jimmy the lock and enters. Doyle is lying on his bed, his handcuffs are around his ankle and attached to the bedpost. He yawns tiredly, asks for the key on the dresser. Russo gives him the key, then sees a naked girl appear in the hallway. They girl squeaks and runs away. OMG you guys, Doyle is totally a womanizing kinky freak! We know that because he's clearly into handcuffs and nudity.
It's time for some more following! Doyle waits for Frog One outside his hotel. He sees him leave on foot. Doyle pursues, hanging back, trying not to look conspicuous. Doyle loses Frog One in the crowd. Fortunately, he's got a cane with a big golden tip, so he's easy to spot again. They go in and out of buildings, and finally down into the subways.
Okay, this next part is super awesome and hilarious. Frog One gets on a crowded subway car. Doyle walks past him to the second door, and enters the car. Frog One looks at his watch and suddenly steps off the car. Doyle turns, sees Frog One's not on the subway anymore, and hurriedly steps back onto the platform. He strikes up conversation with a random confused woman, pretending to have just stepped off the subway with her. Frog One isn't even looking at them. The subway leaves. Doyle uses the pay phone to call Russo, and learns that Russo has lost the tail on Sal. As he's bitching out Russo, Frog One walks right by him to a little concession stand. Doyle pretends he's talking to his boss at the office, and hangs up. Frog One orders a hot dog. Doyle goes to the other side of the stand and orders a candied apple. A new subway pulls up. Frog One leaves the stand without his hot dog, and gets on the the car. Doyle waits until his back is turned, then hurriedly grabs the candied apple and attempts to look casual while speed-walking to the second door again. He gets on. Frog One notices a napkin in his hand from the concession stand, and walks off the car and throws it away in a trash can. Doyle looks over, sees he's off the car again, and jumps off himself. Frog One walks back onto the subway car. Doyle, needing a reason to have left the car, hurriedly runs over to the trash can, throws away his apple, then hurriedly runs back into the doorway. Just as he's getting back in, Frog One fucking casually walks off again. He stares at his watch. Doyle sees this as the doors slide closed. He uses his umbrella to keep the doors from closing all the way, and pries them open. Just as he does this, Frog One steps back onto the subway car at the precise moment Doyle steps off. The doors close. The subway starts to move. Frog One gives Doyle a little wave and a smile, while Doyle rages impotently at the cruel and unforgiving sky. I may not have done it justice, but trust me, that scene was fucking hysterical. It was the forced nonchalance of both of them, always inventing a reason to get on and off the subway that sold it.
The police captain tells Russo and Doyle that the wiretap has been removed and the case is dead. Doyle's pissed all over again. Mulderig taunts him and they almost come to blows.
Meanwhile, Frog One meets up with Sal and Weinstock. They're both spooked, Weinstock having "made" Russo. They want to wait before buying the heroin, but Frog One's temporary Visa only allows him to stay in New York until Friday. They tell him that's too soon. Frog One meets up with Frog Two, cursing Doyle's name. Unbeknownst to both of them, the wiretap is over already. Frog Two volunteers to "take care" of him, if you know what I mean. Bwa ha ha.
Doyle's walking down the street in public. He passes a woman pushing a baby stroller. A shot rings out. The woman goes down. Damn. Doyle runs for cover. People are screaming and running everywhere. Doyle hides behind a tree. More shots ring out. Doyle sees Frog Two on the rooftop with a sniper's rifle. He takes another shot at Doyle, misses. Doyle races to the side of the building, then scoots along it until he can get inside. He rushes up the stairs and bursts onto the roof. The rifle is sitting there on the ground. Doyle peers over the top and sees Frog Two running down below. Doyle runs downstairs, and gives chase. They both dash over to a nearby subway station. A subway car is just pulling out. Frog Two leaps onto the subway, Doyle is too far to catch up in time. As the subway starts moving, Doyle calls out "Stop that man! He's a killer!" A beat cop on the subway car hears Doyle, but doesn't really know if what he's saying is legit, or even to whom he's referring. He looks around at the passengers suspiciously. Doyle runs onto the street and commanders a car. He starts racing down the road underneath the subway. (The subway's above ground. Is it still called a subway? Maybe a monorail?) Doyle weaves in and out of traffic, in a fairly thrilling and obviously non-CGI sort of way, often on the wrong side of the road. He comes swerving around a corner and sees another woman and a damn baby stroller. He swerves and crashes, but immediately starts driving again. On the subway, the beat cop looks suspiciously at Frog Two, who's doing himself no favors by looking all squirrelly and sweaty and French. Frog Two stands up to go to another car, and the cop says "excuse me sir, can I help you?" and Frog Two has no poker face at all apparently, because he turns around and shoots the cop. People scream. Frog Two races to the front of the subway, and puts a gun in the conductor's back, threatening to shoot if he brakes.
Doyle drives below, crashing into random shit all the while.
Finally, another subway employee and some brave tough-guy passengers try to jump Frog Two. Frog Two shoots a couple of them. The conductor passes out in fright, and now the subway is careening towards the end of line, about to crash. The automatic breaks kick in, and everyone is thrown about. Frog Two staggers to his feet, all bloody and weak and climbs out of the subway car.
Below, Doyle brings the car to a stop, having ran into multiple cars and shit at least three or four times. He's also beat up and weak. He sees Frog Two above, getting out of the car. He runs over to the stairway at the same time Frog Two does, and the meet at the stairs. Frog Two sees him, turns around and BAM! Doyle shoots him in the back. He tumbles down the stairs, stopping by Doyle's feet, and Doyle collapses in exhaustion. Good scene. Well done.
Some time later, (the next day, maybe?) Russo is, yes you guessed it, following Frog One. He sees him leave a parking garage in Henri's car and follows him to a shady neighborhood in Brooklyn. Doyle meets up with him, and they watch the car for awhile. They see another car circle the block a few times, slowing in front of Henri's car. They get out and hassle the guys, who turn out to be car thieves. Since their cover is blown, they haul in the car. Doyle's convinced the car is "dirty", but the sourpuss captain has his doubts, because he's just randomly a dickhole. They search the car for four hours, and finally find 125 pounds of heroin inside the paneling.
Henri is waiting at the station to pick up "his" car. He's flustered and angry. Russo appears and gives Henri the keys, "sorry about the wait, sir". Henri tells Frog One he wants out. Out! Frog One drives the car to meet up with Sal and Weinstock and some burly extras with guns in an old abandoned warehouse outside of town. Creepy ugly teeth guy inspects the heroin with his magic heroin-inspector fluid and determines it legit. Sal makes the deal. Frog One and another associate get in their car to drive away. They drive down the road about a mile, and meet a roadblock of about twenty cop cars. Doyle is out of his car standing in front. He gives Frog One a wave. Because yes, they've been followed once again. Frog One flips a U, and drives back to the warehouse where Sal and his goons are celebrating. The cops pursue. Everyone holes up in the warehouse and starts shooting at the cops, and the cops shoot back. Doyle, Russo, and Mulderig sneak into the building and split up. Doyle searches for Frog One desperately. The cops all storm the warehouse, killing Sal. Frog One is nowhere to be found. Doyle sees movement off in the distance, and fires. He races to the body, and sees that it's Mulderig. He barely reacts, racing off again to find Frog One, if it's the last thing he ever does. (And yes, he says, "if it's the last thing I ever do!") Fade to black.
Really? Wow. Title cards tell us Frog One was never found, and Doyle was soon after reassigned. Most depressing title cards ever.
Review: Supposedly the grandfather of the modern-day anti-hero action star. The first time a movie attempted to be realistic in its portrayal. It's hard to know how to review stuff like that. Honor its historical importance, or simply give a review based on 2011 sensibility? I'm going with the latter. And besides, I've seen Dog Day Afternoon, and it doesn't come off nearly as dated as this. Though the acting is top-drawer, and the set-piece chase scene was excellent, there was still a lot of silliness. Like if your mom was told to write about the seediest sex scene she could think of, it would probably involve one pair of handcuffs and some alcohol. Vic Mackey and Andy Sipowitz and Jimmy McNulty would think Doyle was a pussy, and would probably beat him up on a regular basis, even though they might not have ever existed without him.
Characters like Russo, Manderig, and the grumpy captain may not have been cliches then like they are now, but there's still no excuse for them to be so underdeveloped. Doyle and Frog One are the only two people in this whole movie that come off at least as two dimensional.
And the following...so much following. Enough with the following!
Stars: Two and a half out of five.
Does it deserve "Best 100" status: Nah. If you're gonna pick an old-school action movie, why not Die Hard?
Next up, Goodfellas, then Sophie's Choice. Practically the same movie.
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