When I saw the film company for `Cop-Out' was AIP, I got pretty nervous. I had just watched another AIP movie, `The Final Sanction,' the night before, and my mood was not very positive. But actually, `Cop-Out' wasn't bad at all. It was really almost good. Yes, I said almost. It is a close shot, and I will try to tell you why.
Cop Bobby (Dave Buff) is struggling with the current ordeal of his brother being tried for the murder of the mayor's drug addict son. He knows his brother is innocent, so he is tracking down the hoodlums that may have had a connection to the murder victim. When his brother's lawyer gets sick, public defender Evelyn (Kathryn Luster) is brought in to represent Bobby's brother. Together, they start to piece the puzzle together, knowing the crucial key is figuring out how the mayor's son was shot with Bobby's brother's gun. But someone is lurking about, making sure Bobby doesn't get too close by murdering people. That's about all that could be said about the plot without giving away important details, but there really isn't much more plot than that. You might be thinking that this sounds like another boring cop movie full of cliches, and you'd be right. What caught me completely off guard was the way writer/director Lawrence L. Simeone provided us with a complex scenario. The crime, when it is finally unraveled in the end, is more detailed and complicated than you would expect from this type of movie. Yet it makes sense if you were paying attention. It looks like Simeone was working with as small of a budget as possible, and he manages to make a lot of elements work through his writing.
His direction, on the other hand, is not so hot. I could see the moments where the budget was holding him back, but there were also moments that even the budget cannot be blamed. It's something you have to see for yourself, but it usually involves quick cuts, long and drawn out scenes of simple actions, or cliched scenes of people undressing. There is also the unnecessary and unfunny insertion of bad comedy in the form of two dopey beat cops that are always touching things at crime scenes. It brings a chuckle the first time, but that's all. **Minor Spoiler Here** And then there is one major goof where a woman is murdered and spells a word in cough syrup before she dies which helps point the finger at the killer. Thing is, she doesn't actually see the person that shoots her, so there is no way she should have written what she did. These flaws are hard to ignore. In effect they make a low-budget effort that is almost a gem fall short of the mark. Still, if you catch this on television late at night, you might want to check it out. Despite his funny name, Dave Buff is pretty good in the lead and his supporting cast isn't bad either. You could surely do much worse. Zantara's score: 5 out of 10.
Cop Bobby (Dave Buff) is struggling with the current ordeal of his brother being tried for the murder of the mayor's drug addict son. He knows his brother is innocent, so he is tracking down the hoodlums that may have had a connection to the murder victim. When his brother's lawyer gets sick, public defender Evelyn (Kathryn Luster) is brought in to represent Bobby's brother. Together, they start to piece the puzzle together, knowing the crucial key is figuring out how the mayor's son was shot with Bobby's brother's gun. But someone is lurking about, making sure Bobby doesn't get too close by murdering people. That's about all that could be said about the plot without giving away important details, but there really isn't much more plot than that. You might be thinking that this sounds like another boring cop movie full of cliches, and you'd be right. What caught me completely off guard was the way writer/director Lawrence L. Simeone provided us with a complex scenario. The crime, when it is finally unraveled in the end, is more detailed and complicated than you would expect from this type of movie. Yet it makes sense if you were paying attention. It looks like Simeone was working with as small of a budget as possible, and he manages to make a lot of elements work through his writing.
His direction, on the other hand, is not so hot. I could see the moments where the budget was holding him back, but there were also moments that even the budget cannot be blamed. It's something you have to see for yourself, but it usually involves quick cuts, long and drawn out scenes of simple actions, or cliched scenes of people undressing. There is also the unnecessary and unfunny insertion of bad comedy in the form of two dopey beat cops that are always touching things at crime scenes. It brings a chuckle the first time, but that's all. **Minor Spoiler Here** And then there is one major goof where a woman is murdered and spells a word in cough syrup before she dies which helps point the finger at the killer. Thing is, she doesn't actually see the person that shoots her, so there is no way she should have written what she did. These flaws are hard to ignore. In effect they make a low-budget effort that is almost a gem fall short of the mark. Still, if you catch this on television late at night, you might want to check it out. Despite his funny name, Dave Buff is pretty good in the lead and his supporting cast isn't bad either. You could surely do much worse. Zantara's score: 5 out of 10.