While other action franchises ("Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon") are more well remembered, this film (which did have one sequel) was extremely popular in its day, and holds up as a 30+ year old film. It also gives Richard Dreyfuss one of his most unique characters, a Seattle cop with a lot of humor who will get down and dirty to capture the bad guy, even if it gives him the fishy stank eye. In fact, the opening scene is just that, with Dreyfuss and a suspect fighting in a big bin of flipping waterless fish, and him going through the conveyor belt which gets hysterical reactions from the women sorting the good fish from the bad. Guess which one is not a good fish.
Assigned to watch Madeleine Stowe (whose old boyfriend Aidan Quinn has escaped from prison) with Emilio Estavez, Dreyfuss pretends to be a phone company worker to get inside her house while Estavez watches from across the street. Spending time together has them starting to have feelings for her, and by the time Quinn shows up, the two men find that they have to protect her as well as themselves.
There's lots of chases, filled with action and comedy, including one with Dreyfuss being chased by a dog while wearing one of Stowe's hats. This is quite a crowd-pleasing movie, and the characters are pretty well developed for this type of action popcorn movie. Quinn is quite the bad guy, with a clean cut appearance but deadly intentions, reminding me of Tony Goldwyn in "Ghost". Forest Whitaker and Dan Lauria get some good moments as fellow cops who keep laughing at the antics that Dreyfuss keeps getting into. Estavez doesn't have all that much to do, but he's definitely important to the plot. Stands the test of time and is equivalent to the higher popularity of more classic action classics, with Dreyfuss a top notch action hero, a complete surprise.
Assigned to watch Madeleine Stowe (whose old boyfriend Aidan Quinn has escaped from prison) with Emilio Estavez, Dreyfuss pretends to be a phone company worker to get inside her house while Estavez watches from across the street. Spending time together has them starting to have feelings for her, and by the time Quinn shows up, the two men find that they have to protect her as well as themselves.
There's lots of chases, filled with action and comedy, including one with Dreyfuss being chased by a dog while wearing one of Stowe's hats. This is quite a crowd-pleasing movie, and the characters are pretty well developed for this type of action popcorn movie. Quinn is quite the bad guy, with a clean cut appearance but deadly intentions, reminding me of Tony Goldwyn in "Ghost". Forest Whitaker and Dan Lauria get some good moments as fellow cops who keep laughing at the antics that Dreyfuss keeps getting into. Estavez doesn't have all that much to do, but he's definitely important to the plot. Stands the test of time and is equivalent to the higher popularity of more classic action classics, with Dreyfuss a top notch action hero, a complete surprise.