☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Hustle (1975) – R. Aldrich
Better than I expected “neo-noir” from director Robert Aldrich and star
Burt Reynolds. Sure, it contains all the
clichés of the genre (more like those from a TV cop series really). Burt’s a worn out police detective living
with his girlfriend (a hooker) and dealing with a dead girl washed up on the
beach (also a hooker/stripper). He dreams of the time he spent in Italy when
things weren’t so bleak and plays jazz records from that time. Burt doesn’t emote much, yet he fills the
role fine. But Aldrich has loaded the
film with some very fine actors who improve the script with their
presence: Catherine Deneuve as the girlfriend,
Ben Johnson and Eileen Brennan as the parents of the dead girl, Paul Winfield
as Burt’s partner, Ernest Borgnine as his boss, and Eddie Albert as the chief
bad guy. Yes, it’s seedy as hell and
sexist (of course) but no one advertised this as anything different. Still, there’s a melancholy mood that lingers
and sometimes that’s what you want.
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