Sharky und seine Profis (1981)

Sharky und seine Profis: Directed by Burt Reynolds. With Burt Reynolds, Vittorio Gassman, Brian Keith, Charles Durning. Tom Sharky is demoted to vice after a bust goes terribly wrong. He and his team stumble across a mob murder tied to prostitution and government.

“In a departure from his customary late u0026#39;70u0026#39;s/early u0026#39;80u0026#39;s fare (and sporting a new, close-cropped toupee), Reynolds directed and starred in this tough, lurid crime drama. He plays a narcotics cop who, after slightly botching a drug bust, is demoted to the vice squad. Here, he becomes involved in the surveillance of a high-priced call girl (Ward) who is linked to a gubernatorial candidate (Holliman.) This leads to all sorts of violence and intrigue as it is discovered that the call girl is but one piece in a puzzle of corruption and criminal behavior. Reynolds does a decent job, both in the directoru0026#39;s chair and in front of the camera. He wisely surrounds himself with an array of strong character actors and gives each of them the opportunity to register with the audience. His familiar brands of charm u0026amp; sarcasm are present, but in a much more toned down way. Casey gets one of his most significant big screen roles, Keith has a few amusing moments and Durning bellows and mouths off in his enjoyable, expected way. Gassman is an appropriately sleazy crime lord and Silva is a chilling (if sometimes unintentionally funny) assassin. Wardu0026#39;s performance is a matter of taste. Many viewers are swept away by her looks and find her acting strong. Others see her as pretty, but unspectacular as an actress. In either case, this was a major showcase for her which did not translate to a major big screen career. Drawbacks of the film include a muddled storyline in which the bad guysu0026#39; motivations arenu0026#39;t made particularly clear. Also, the sound effects and the blaring song score are cranked up much higher than the dialogue which makes for an uncomfortable audio situation. There is some nice aerial photography, notably containing shots of Atlantau0026#39;s Peach Tree Tower. The music varies from classic tunes by top talent to loud, horrific and agonizing u0026quot;musicu0026quot; by inferior singers whose voices are almost as bad as Reynoldu0026#39;s torture on the boat. Though the film is engrossing and stylish, just a nip and tuck along the way would have made it even better.”