Running Scared (1986)

Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal play two wise-cracking Chicago cops who are trying to take down the local drug kingpin played by Jimmy Smits...

But honestly….the plot doesn’t really matter in this as it’s ALL about the chemistry between our two leads, along with some very memorable action sequences.  

This ‘80’s action romp is directed by Peter Hyams while also starring ‘80’s mainstays Dan Hedaya, Darlene Fluegel, and Steven Bauer – it might very well be among the best buddy cop movies ever!

Host: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

RUNNING SCARED - 1986

Directed by Peter Hyams (Audio clip)

Starring Gregory Hines, Billy Crystal, Dan Hedaya, Darlanne Fluegel, Jimmy Smits, Joe Pantoliano, Steven Bauer, and Jon Gries

Genre: Buddy Cop Action Comedy

I probably watch this around once a year and it never gets old - one of the best buddy comedies AND Chicago movies of its era....or any era. It all comes down to such great chemistry between the two leads - Hines and Crystal just play off each other so well and whether you buy both of them as wild-man cops, you at the very least buy them as long-time drinking buddies. :) (Audio clip) 

The banter is good and the action is well-staged...as for the story? Nothing you haven't seen dozens of times before - they're trying to take down the biggest drug dealer in Chicago, I think...well the story's just not important at the end of the day. Not when you have pre-LA Law Jimmy Smits hamming it up as local drug kingpin Julio Gonzalez (yes really) and post-Goonies Joey Pants stealing every scene he's in as Snake, the sadsack bagman who our protagonists have WAY too much fun tormenting in the first half....in scenes that probably haven't aged that well. (Audio clip) 

Because Hines and Crystal are not playing real cops, they're playing MOVIE cops named Hughes and Costanzo - they sometimes shoot first, they blackmail suspects, they frame suspects (for parking violations to be fair), and they even steal property from suspects - and they're just having such fun playing these guys, it gets to be truly infectious. (Audio clip) 

Journeyman director Peter Hyams makes great use of Chicago locations for some pretty impressive set pieces including an exciting car chase on "The L" and the now-legendary multi-level climactic shootout inside the William Thompson Center....a building that all these years later, I STILL feel the need to visit whenever I'm downtown. 

And finally, there's Michael McDonald's "Sweet Freedom"...this song might be the most shamelessly catchy soundtrack song of the '80's NOT sung by Kenny Loggins or Tina Turner. 😛 It's used perfectly as the soundtrack for the Key West montage halfway through which is just bizarrely entertaining and gorgeous to look at...even when you consider that we're witnessing our two protagonists spend time with a wide array of women which would put James Bond or even Wilt Chamberlain to shame. :o Likely STD's aside, these guys are a great pair and I wish they did more movies together.

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout the runtime of the film): 

Of course, it’s “Sweet Freedom” – if any song was ever designed to just put you in a good mood, it’s this one!  Not only that but it fits the sequence perfectly - our heroes are clearly beside themselves with joy being able to get away from the snowy, grimy grind of Chicago for a couple of weeks though….hopefully, they took some Penicillin at the end.  And the contrast of Michael McDonald’s soothing baritone with a boisterous horn section just nails the tone those scenes are going for.  

Bonus: The official video for this song featuring McDonald singing the song in a beachfront bar before he’s visited by Hines and Crystal….and we see them dancing around the bar and doing schtick for the camera, even trying to recreate one dual dance sequence from White Nights at one point….it’s DELIGHTFUL and remains one of my favorite music videos.  There’s actually a full version of it on YouTube which I did share on our Facebook page this week. 

 (Audio clip)    

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

While this was early in his career and at the time there were unfortunately limited opportunities for Latino actors who weren’t named Estevez or Julia, it’s STILL a bit sad to see Jimmy Smits in such a cliched role with SUCH a cliched name – Julio Gonzalez really?? - where he doesn’t have much to do but boast, threaten, and/or obsess about his latest cocaine shipment.  I get it….he’s just there to be the villainous foil for our heroes, Hughes and Costanzo.  At the very least, Smits nails all of the notes he’s supposed to hit and his character seems sufficiently menacing when he needs to be – he serves his purpose but with an actor the caliber of Smits, this role was just a flat-out waste of his talent. 

 (Audio Clip)

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie): 

Just SO many fun moments in this film but the one that always gets me is an exciting sequence I referenced earlier: our heroes are staking out the airport watching for Julio Gonzalez to pick up his latest shipment which they just got a tip on….they see him meeting at the terminal with a priest and nun who give him a mysterious package and then he sees them and drives off in a fury.  As they chase after him, they pick up the priest and nun who THEY believe is a fake priest and nun.  The chase ramps up on local streets until….Julio pulls his car on the local train tracks and then we’re off with two sedans driving furiously on an elevated train….not just any elevated train but “The L” which takes towards downtown Chicago – for anyone who’s been on the L a bunch, I’m pretty sure they end up chasing Gonzalez on the Brown Line.  They’re going through tunnels, evading trains, their passengers are getting freaked out – it’s hard to know what the endgame is here for Gonzalez OR our protagonists but neither are getting off the track.  

Hyams just directs the shit out of this sequence and to his credit, he was one of THE most underrated action directors of the ’70s and ’80s….I have been revisiting his stuff lately, genuinely inventive stuff ranging from an out-of-control-driving-without-breaks sequence featuring Elliot Gould in Capricorn One to a harrowing space-walk sequence in his 2001 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact.  And he outdoes himself with this sequence as we get track-level shots, fun interactions within their car, and even a helicopter shot of the two cars speeding down the tracks to nail the authenticity…..just hearing Crystal’s Costanzo update radio dispatch on their latest location as we pull away, THAT’S your trailer moment! (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

As I said earlier, Hines and Crystal are just magic in this – yes they’re dishing out quips left and right but they also just feel like genuine friends and/or partners in crime (pun sorta intended since they ARE cops)….there’s genuine affection there and that just can’t be faked.  You wouldn’t know it from Crystal’s acting career after this but he holds his own in the action sequences with Hines who has always been a gifted physical actor.  And along those lines, their camaraderie even translates into easy shorthand between them during those action sequences – there are at least two moments in the film when someone else with a gun seemingly has the drop on both of them and then - just by pretty much half-nodding at each other - they just know how to respond and neutralize their threat.  And yet my favorite scenes in this movie just involve these guys chatting it up….often at a bar of course.  (Audio clip)   

Considering that this film was pretty successful and that the mid-’80s was just THE time for more films featuring dueling cops, it’s still pretty disappointing in retrospect that Hines and Crystal never teamed up for a sequel….there was talk a couple of years later of bringing them back for a new adventure in London or something along those lines.  Me personally, I would have loved to see them back on the streets of Chicago again but hell, I would have paid to see them team up again even at an insurance seminar…I don’t care, these guys were just TOO good together!  I suspect that one reason this didn’t get sequel-ized was that within the next couple of years of its release, you had several more successful buddy cop movies released which kind of stole its thunder – Lethal Weapon, Midnight Run, Stakeout, Turner & Hooch (seriously) – and pretty much of all of THESE properties were spun off into sequels and/or TV incarnations so maybe the buddy cop marketplace just became too crowded? I don’t know….I LOVE those first two Lethal Weapon films and Midnight Run, all three of them are probably better films than Running Scared overall.  But at the end of the day on the pure chemistry scale, I would rank the team-up of Hines & Crystal…Hughes & Costanzo up there with any of them! 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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