Disciplined after blowing the cover on an undercover operation, two Chicago cops consider retiring and opening a bar until an opportunity arises to capture the drug lord who they had been after for years in this action comedy starring Bill Crystal and Gregory Hines. The pacing of the movie is all over the place with a montage of the pair vacationing coming off as a particular distraction from the crime thriller central subplot, but the film survives on account of the great chemistry between Crystal and Hines. The pair's constant bickering and bantering over who fired which shots works very well and there are several memorable moments, ranging from the pair stripping down to their long underwear at gunpoint to the pair coaxing a henchman (a young Joe Pantoliano) into letting them arrest him. While there are highlights for sure, the climax is unfortunately not one of them, and everything seems so ludicrous and overblown at the end, with a key supporting character conveniently being kidnapped no less, that it is difficult to become immersed in the action. The rivalry between the pair and another duo of more athletic police officers also only works around half the time since the other two severely lack charisma. Overall, 'Running Scared' may be a bit of a mixed bag, but it is at least curiously different to the original script, conceptualised as a vehicle for Gene Hackman and Paul Newman (!). The film is often credited as sparking the buddy-buddy cop action comedy trend of the 1980s, though 'Freebie and the Bean' might deserve that honour instead.
Review of Running Scared
