Fuzz (1972)

★ 5.4 1h 33m IMDb

Comedy Drama Crime

Police in Boston search for a mad bomber trying to extort money from the city.

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Cast

Burt Reynolds as Det. Steve Carella Died 2018 · Lansing, Michigan, USA Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, director, and producer, considered a sex symbol and icon of American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to pr...

Jack Weston as Det. Meyer Meyer Died 1996 · Cleveland, Ohio, USA Jack Weston (born Jack Weinstein; August 21, 1924 – May 3, 1996) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Weston usually played comic roles in films such as Cactus Flower and Please Don't E...

Tom Skerritt as Det. Bert Kling Age 92 · Detroit, Michigan, USA Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor who has appeared in more than forty films and more than two hundred television episodes since 1962. He is known for his film roles in M*...

Raquel Welch as Det. Eileen McHenry Died 2023 · Chicago, Illinois, USA Jo Raquel Welch (née Tejada; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first garnered attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she signed a long-term...

James McEachin as Det. Arthur Brown Age 95 · Rennert, North Carolina, USA James McEachin was born on May 20, 1930 in Rennert, North Carolina. At the age of 18 he joined the US Armed Forces and served in the Korean War earning many medals of valor to include the Purple Heart...

Director Richard A. Colla

Cast Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, Tom Skerritt, Raquel Welch, James McEachin, Steve Ihnat, Dan Frazer, Bert Remsen, Stewart Moss, H. Benny Markowitz

Wuchak 6/10 Dec 08, 2020

_**87th Precinct yarn set in Boston with Burt Reynolds, Tom Skerritt and Raquel Welch**_

Detectives in Boston have to deal with several typical crime issues in the big city, including a money-hungry killer bomber (Yul Brynner). Burt Reynolds, Tom Skerritt, Raquel Welch and Jack Weston head the cast.

"Fuzz" (1972) is an 87th Precinct tale based on the book of the same name and written by the author, Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain. It’s similar in some ways to other big city detective flicks of that era, like “Bullitt” (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “Deathwish” (1974), but it’s easily the least of these because (1) the attempt to shoehorn humor into the life-or-death proceedings, à la “M*A*S*H” (1972), seems forced and (2) the script tries to juggle too many separate incidents with too many characters.

One example of the strained humor is the painters working in the headquarters throughout. But some of the humor works. If they would’ve toned down these kinds of artificialities the movie would’ve worked better. But working out the kinks in scripts take time and time means money.

In any case, if you can adapt to the movie’s peculiar tone there’s a lot to appreciate here, including the great cast, which includes many recognizable faces, like Charles Martin Smith, Steve Ihnat and Cal Bellini. It’s also worth noting that the film gets better as it moves along with the last act being the best. It was the obvious inspiration for the TV show Hill Street Blues.

Fifteen months after its release, 24 year-old Evelyn Wagler was shockingly murdered in the rundown Blue Hill district of Boston in what might have been a copycat crime based on this movies’ depiction of bums doused with gasoline and set ablaze. What made this incident worse was that it appeared to be a racial hate crime, the victim being white and the six teen perps being black, as witnessed by Wagler before she succumbed to her injuries four hours after the crime. The thug scum were never caught.

The movie runs 1 hour, 32 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+