Fuzz (1972)

One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This ambitious but uneven Boston Police action comedy struggles to be serious and superficial at the same time. Although it qualifies as one of Burt Reynolds' more respectable theatrical film releases before he scored with John Boorman's "Deliverance" and Robert Aldrich's "The Longest Yard," "Fuzz" is standard-issue stuff. Affable Burt and his co-stars conjure up a genuine sense of camaraderie that adds credibility to this above-average thriller. Yul Brynner is cast as a ruthless villain with a hearing problem, but he doesn't participate physically in the action until slightly more than an hour has elapsed in this 92 minute law & order epic. Nevertheless, he makes a memorable exit. Sexy Raquel Welch doesn't have as many scenes as she should have had. She has one hilarious scene in a sleeping bag during a stakeout in the park with Tom Skerritt. Future "Cleopatra Jones" starlet Tamara Dobson has a bit part as Brynner's girlfriend. Interestingly, Evan Hunter wrote the screenplay based Ed McBain's literary "87th Precinct" novels. McBain was Hunter's nom de plume. His screenplay moves in circles but laces the loose threads together for a surprise ending. Wait until you learn the truth about the city painters. "Zig Zag" director Richard A. Colla is imitates Robert Altman with the use of an ensemble cast and meandering plot lines and William Friedkin's gritty "French Connection" surveillance and shoot'em up scenes. In one playful scene, Carella and Meyer, garbed in nun's habits, tail a conspicuous man (Don Gordon of "Bullitt") across Boston. Composer Dave Grusin's title music is superb and embellishes the action with its bone-smacking, gut-heaving, pulsative quality of both Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" theme and Quincy Jones' "Dollars" theme. Lenser Jacques R. Marquette's on-location photography in Boston is nice since most thrillers end up on those familiar New York City streets."Fuzz" is a formulaic police procedural that imitates "M.A.S.H." with its multiple characters. Actually, Colla's film looks like the prototype for ABC-TV's sitcom "Barney Miller." Several scenes concern supporting actors and actresses complaining to the detectives while more important activities occur around them. An anonymous phone caller menaces the 87th Precinct with threats of assassinating city officials while a pair of predatory youth roams the streets at night intent on turning drunks into bonfires. The assassins are fodder-as-usual for this kind of cop operas, but the firebugs are just as unsavory as they were back when this film came out. When our heroes aren't dealing with the assassins and the firebugs, they are bickering with a couple of painters painting the precinct premises. Raquel Welch shows up at the precinct to serve as decoy for rapists. This doesn't keep the guys from kidding her. Boston Police Department Detective Eileen McHenry (Raquel Welch of "Bandolero!") listens patiently and grimaces as a woman complains about a flasher. The woman provides almost too many gory details about her assailant. Meanwhile, BPD Detectives Steve Carella (Burt Reynolds of "100 Rifles") and Meyer Meyer (Jack Weston) wheeze with laughter at McHenry's dilemma. She knows that they are playing a prank on her and she realizes it after the woman furnishes so many details. Finally, a group of criminals are planning to rob a liquor store. Consequently, despite the 87th's penetrating investigations, the anonymous phone caller, in reality a deaf man (Yul Brynner of "The Magnificent Seven"), neither vaunts nor tarries about killing police officials. The two youth kindle a couple of drunkards, one being Carella disguised as a rag picker. Carella is momentarily surprised when he sees how young they are before they torch him. Later, an interesting scene occurs as a surveillance technician praises an African-American detective but addresses him invoking the horrendous N-world. The cop belts him out of sight of the camera. The big shoot-out at the end is staged with finesse. Ironically, a couple of liquor store bandits stumble onto the Deaf Man and his accomplice in a police uniform and start shooting. There are some interesting touches. The wife of Detective Carella is deaf, too.

For a 90 minute movie, there sure is hell a lot of plot. We watch as a variety of cases converge at the end as Boston's *cough* finest *cough* set out to make arrests regarding two arsonists who set fire to bums, a trio behind a series of bombings which are killing city public figures, and a duo who plan to rob a liquor store. The punchline is how, not through "solid police work", the cases are solved basically because those who commit the crimes fall right into their laps.This cop comedy doesn't exactly paint a flattering view of a specific precinct whose detectives seem unable to catch a serial bomber, who leaves notes demanding ransom money in exchange for the lives of those targeted. We also see how busy the precinct can be during serious renovations, as the desks are cluttered, phones are ringing, people pass to and fro, and two goofy painters cause mischief as they often get in the way of the daily routines, causing the officers unneeded pains. Good cast has Burt Reynolds, Tom Skerritt, Jack Weston, James McEachin, and Racquel Welch as detectives assigned to various cases, often assisting each other at times. I was rather surprised to see Yul Brynner show up as the infamous "deaf man with the hearing aid", the mastermind behind the bombings.For some reason, Fuzz just didn't satisfy me. It seems that the filmmakers just had too much damn plot and not enough time to dedicate to the endless stream of characters and stories. Trying to provide equal screen time to the actors involved seemed quite daunting. It's a superb cast and if they were given a central case, the mad bombings, maybe this could've been a little more cohesive. The preposterous finale where our heroes get the bad guys gift-wrapped to them must've been quite amusing on paper, but I was shaking my head at the mere absurdity of it..it's quite a coincidence(s)that all the cases burdening the Boston precinct's cops would culminate in one general area in the city, allowing them to close chapters they couldn't do on their own. The cops in the film have their share of bumbling errors, often muscling the wrong people as Brynner constantly fools them. These cops, however, have a camaraderie that's admirable, clowning around with each other to keep the pressures and unpleasantness of the job from getting to them. Welch is almost raped by the man she's assigned to capture. Reynolds is almost burned alive by two teenagers who he's horrified to discover are the serial arsonists. Skerritt is often arresting people who have little to do with his desired suspects. McEachin actually apprehends the painters attempting to steal precinct equipment while in surveillance. We see that police work isn't always cut and dry, that the daily grinds associated with the duties of detectives often result in mistakes, bad judgments, blunders, and situations which they unfortunately inherit while trying to solve cases that are certainly difficult and tiresome.Reynolds works the usual charm and Skerritt is breezy. Chubby Weston is jolly fun as Reynolds oft-humiliated partner falling prey to one problem after another while moving from case to case. Welch, with a rather underwritten role, doesn't have much to work with, probably hired for her sexiness. Brynner is suave and cool, despite being a diabolical killer. I do think where the film does succeed is in capturing the madcap mayhem of a busy precinct, and there's nothing quite as effective as seeing the authentic Boston locations..that's what made the 70s so good, the abilities they once had to capture the atmosphere of the city streets and the array of eccentric people who live within it's confines.

I was expecting a decent police drama out of the movie "Fuzz." With the talents of Burt Reynolds, Yul Brynner, and Raquel Welsh, viewers would anticipate a memorable picture. But considering the acting talent involved, the film is a near disaster with several plot-holes and mood changes in scenes and story lines that confuse, alienate, and annoy the viewer.To the best that I can make out (as I was half-asleep waiting for anything to happen in this picture) Yul Brynner plays a deaf man who has orchestrated the assassination of several high ranking political officials and other selected targets. Bert Reynolds and Jack Weston are the cops who dress up as Nuns. ("NUNS?") to try to stop them, against a backdrop of a discombobulated police station and staff that makes Barney Fife look like an organized lawman! What a mess! There is absolutely no continuity to this film or plot development. You would think that some of the random shooting events would place an element of dramatic suspense, giving the viewers some reason to see this picture. However, in the next scene it's a comedy, than in the following scene it turns serious again. Fuzz is a perfect example of a movie that is only removed from being a 1, because I have given an extra point to the recognition of the actors, and another point for perhaps two good scenes that I liked in the whole movie. However, that's it. Fuzz in my judgment scores a VERY GENEROUS 3.If the script would have stuck to ONE quality serious element, with concern about a strong issue from the cast, Fuzz could have been a passable police film. However, with too much going on at once, a weak and extremely confusing script, and a picture who's writers look like they crammed material from at least three different movies into this one, Fuzz is extremely fuzzy and never comes into focus.

After reading several bad reviews of this film I was almost afraid to watch it. I hate wasting my time on bad movies, but I decided based on the cast to give it a go and I'm glad I did. The movie is not a fast paced comedy by any stretch of the imagination. It is instead, like many movies from it's time, a slow moving style of film along the lines of The Big Fix. It keeps your interest because the characters are interesting. It makes you laugh at times and actually has a little suspense mixed into a story that seems disjointed at first, but ties together so well in the end it makes the whole movie work.The plot centers partially around a bombers scheme to blackmail the city of Boston, but more so around the police precinct he chooses to contact with his threats. We see a group of officers trying to get through their daily routine as they work on several cases at once. Focusing on the bomber but still trying to deal with a myriad of other problems that present themselves as they try to solve other crimes. It presents itself as more of a "day in the life" type movie rather than a film with one main focus. It's well acted, well told and is a good movie for those times when you really want to just relax and get into a story. Sure it has a few weak spots as with most movies but it is certainly worth putting on and I'm very glad I had the chance to see it.In short, if your looking for Starskey & Hutch 2005, this isn't it. If your looking for a slow paced intelligent movie, don't let bad reviews chase you away and give this film a shot.