While not a complete failure, Robert Aldrich's neo-noir thriller is still not very good. Burt Reynolds plays a hard-bitten LA cop shacking up with call-girl Catherine Deneuve. He starts to question his home life while investigating the murder of another hooker. Surprisingly, there's little chemistry between Reynolds and Deneuve, and although they get into a couple of tussles --- physical and otherwise --- they're really not all that convincing as a couple. Would she REALLY stay away from Paris so long for HIM? Does he, a COP, REALLY find her aloofness so appealing that he would overlook her profession? HUSTLE is very slow going and the script by Steve Shagan is simply not compelling.
Although Reynolds and Deneuve seldom rise above their respective movie personas --- he's the bad cop to partner Paul Winfield's good cop and Deneuve, in a VERY rare Hollywood film, is pure ice --- the supporting cast is terrific. In addition to Winfield, the film features Eddie Albert, Norm Crosby, Eileen Brennan, and, in a throwaway cameo, Ernest Borgnine. Ben Johnson is misused and grossly overacts as the dead girl's distraught father. Aldrich lets him run amok!
Aldrich, who directed a lot of stylish movies in the 50s and 60s, lost his way by the 70s with movies like THE GRISSOM GANG and THE CHOIRBOYS. His direction here is flat, almost TV crime show level. At one point Reynolds and Winfield resemble Starsky and Hutch when they leap into action, jump into their car and screech away!
Although Reynolds and Deneuve seldom rise above their respective movie personas --- he's the bad cop to partner Paul Winfield's good cop and Deneuve, in a VERY rare Hollywood film, is pure ice --- the supporting cast is terrific. In addition to Winfield, the film features Eddie Albert, Norm Crosby, Eileen Brennan, and, in a throwaway cameo, Ernest Borgnine. Ben Johnson is misused and grossly overacts as the dead girl's distraught father. Aldrich lets him run amok!
Aldrich, who directed a lot of stylish movies in the 50s and 60s, lost his way by the 70s with movies like THE GRISSOM GANG and THE CHOIRBOYS. His direction here is flat, almost TV crime show level. At one point Reynolds and Winfield resemble Starsky and Hutch when they leap into action, jump into their car and screech away!