Burt Reynolds

Jack Weston

Tom Skerritt

Raquel Welch

James McEachin

Steve Ihnat

Dan Frazer

Bert Remsen

Stewart Moss

H. Benny Markowitz

James Victor

Royce D. Applegate

Tom Lawrence

Norman Burton

Vince Howard

Jake Lexa

Britt Leach

Brian Doyle-Murray

Peter Elbling

J.S. Johnson

Harry Eldon Miller

David Dreyer

William Martel

Yul Brynner

Peter Bonerz

Cal Bellini

Don Gordon

Charles Tyner

Gary Morgan

Charles Martin Smith

Tamara Dobson

George Reynolds

Albert Popwell

Ron Tannas

Barry Hamilton

Roy Morton

Felipe Turich

Gino Conforti

Gerald Hiken

Robert Jaffe

Neile Adams

Martine Bartlett

Peter Brocco

Mia Bendixsen

Christopher Wheeler

David Fresco

Vincent Van Lynn

Jack Perkins

Bunny Summers

Russ Grieve

Cay Forester

Athena Lorde

Patty Byrne

Cynthia Lane

Dominic Chianese

Richard Stahl

Charlie Picerni

Larry Barton

Uschi Digard

Bob Harks

Anne Lockhart

Ron Rifkin

Richard A. Colla

Jack Farren

Dorothy Jeakins

Dave Grusin

Evan Hunter

Phil Abramson

Martin Ransohoff

Edward S. Feldman

Robert L. Kimble

Hilyard M. Brown

Jacques R. Marquette

Caro Jones

Tom Ellingwood

Dudley Holmes

Vinnie Gerardo

Lester Hoyle

Barry Thomas

Robert 'Buzz' Knudson

Sam Bernstein

Charles H. Maguire

Phill Norman

Janice Brunson

Edwin Butterworth

Donald Henderson

Art Levinson

Glenn R. Wilder

Frank Tauss

Russ Tinsley

Dan Wallin

Carol Shapiro

Frank Orsatti

Kenneth Utt

Don Henderson

Comedy

Crime

Drama

Fuzz

Filmways Pictures

Javelin Pictures

United States of America

_**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+

English

Fuzz ≣ 1972 ≣ Trailer

Josh Olson on FUZZ

"FUZZ"  MOVIE TRAILER