This is an early, poorly paced entry in the buddy-cop genre that was still basically in its infancy. Sure it's better than Freebie and the Bean, the frenetic, try-hard mess starring Alan Arkin and James Caan in 1974. But slow and serious in this case doesn't mean cool and it certainly doesn't mean noir.
I'm too young to remember I Spy, but Culp and Cosby aren't really to blame here, as actors. They're believable is hardluck private investigators. They're just stuck in throwaway junk.
Compared to real noir, or all the gritty New American Cinema films from the mid 60s to the mid 70s, this is little more than a marginally upgraded two-parter from an average 70s TV cop show.
Glacial pacing. Banal dialogue. Cardboard cutout bad guys lacking any menace. Laughably inept action. A cliche aggrieved police captain. Second-rate musical bed.
And not a single interesting shot in the entire movie. It takes a special kind of talent to make Los Angeles look so boring. The California Tourism Board should have sued Culp. Instead, my bet is that they made sure he never got to direct another film.
I'm too young to remember I Spy, but Culp and Cosby aren't really to blame here, as actors. They're believable is hardluck private investigators. They're just stuck in throwaway junk.
Compared to real noir, or all the gritty New American Cinema films from the mid 60s to the mid 70s, this is little more than a marginally upgraded two-parter from an average 70s TV cop show.
Glacial pacing. Banal dialogue. Cardboard cutout bad guys lacking any menace. Laughably inept action. A cliche aggrieved police captain. Second-rate musical bed.
And not a single interesting shot in the entire movie. It takes a special kind of talent to make Los Angeles look so boring. The California Tourism Board should have sued Culp. Instead, my bet is that they made sure he never got to direct another film.