Directed by: Peter Hyams
Starring: Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Smits, Steven Bauer, Dan Hedaya, Jon Gries, Joe Pantoliano, Darlanne Fluegel
Running Scared isn't the first or last cop buddy movie ever made. What distinguishes it from lesser films of the genre is its energy and smooth chemistry between Crystal and Hines, who play Chicago detectives longing for retirement mostly to avoid being killed on the job. After a bust of dangerous drug dealer Julio Gonzales (Smits) goes awry, the detectives vacation in Key West and put a down payment on a bar. The sun, women, and the daily possibility of not being shot fuels their desire to relocate, but not before they finish with Gonzales.
The subplots, which include Crystal's unresolved feelings for his ex-wife Anna (Fluegel) and the two detectives training two hotshot rookies (Gries and Bauer), are introduced and resolved more or less as expected. The story will not win any prizes for originality, but the tangible rapport between Crystal and Hines is reliably fun. They aren't just longtime partners, they are best friends and they truly like each other, which makes us like them. Sure they bicker over how good a shot each is, ("I hit the windshield six times in a row, I don't even know where you were,") and the humiliation of having to surrender their pants in order to save a hostage (you will have to see it to believe it), but that is part of their bromance. They seem to let off steam by producing glib one-liners at will during shootouts and car chases, one which takes place on the tracks of the Chicago L. We get a sense that we are dropped into the middle of their familiar partnership, which started before we came in and will continue on long after we're gone.
Smits is a particularly slimy villain, while the inimitable Joe Pantoliano provides some early laughs as a Gonzales flunky who carelessly carries around $50,000 of Gonzales' drug money and sports a spray-painted punk haircut. And I would be remiss not to mention the work of the stellar character actor Dan Hedaya as the guys' no-nonsense captain, who trusts their competency while distrusting their methods. He delivers the best line in the movie, "You are the detectives, go and detect," with exquisite timing.
What we have is an above-average cop buddy comedy with the wattage amped up and two funny guys we can easily root for. Crystal is a gifted comic actor, of course, while Hines smoothly transitions from previous work as a dancer and dramatic actor to the role of sidekick with ease. Or is Crystal the sidekick? We don't know, nor do we particularly care. We just like to see them in action.
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