★ 6 / 10
Decent enough 1980s crime-thriller that actually does feature
JPV852
Decent enough 1980s crime-thriller that actually does feature some good performances, most notably from what has to be a great name, Wings Hauser. That said…
Decent enough 1980s crime-thriller that actually does feature some good performances, most notably from what has to be a great name, Wings Hauser. That said, the cheesy and laughably awful opening and closing title songs really do not match the tone of the movie at all.
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★ 7 / 10
A solid genre film whose depiction of the contemporary sleaze and ugliness of its subject matter arguably outshines its story
IonicBreezeMachine
In Los Angeles, a woman known as Princess (Season Hubley) is a down on her luck single mother who turns to prostitution in order to support her young daughter…
In Los Angeles, a woman known as Princess (Season Hubley) is a down on her luck single mother who turns to prostitution in order to support her young daughter Lisa (Nicole Volkoff) who's living with Princess' mom in San Diego. As Princess works the notorious Hollywood Boulevard while avoiding the LAPD's vice cops, Vice Detectives Walsh (Gary Swanson) and Edwards (Maurice Emanuel) investigate a recent assault at a motel of prostitute Ginger (Nina Blackwood) by sadistic and misogynistic pimp Ramrod (Wings Hauser) whom Ginger refuses to identify as the assailant before dying from her injuries. Driven to get Ramrod off the street, Walsh and Edwards bring in Princess who is a friend of Ginger's who force her to look at Ginger's brutalized corpse and threaten her with a drug bust that will lose custody of her daughter unless she helps with a sting to bring in Ramrod.Vice Squad is a 1982 crime thriller directed by Gary Sherman. The film came about out of an initial desire by producers to make a television documentary about Hollywood's prostitution scene utilizing interviews with actual pimps, prostitutes, and vice cops but after running into logistical limits with television censorship regarding the subject matter it was ultimately decided to re-tool the project as a narrative feature film. The cast and crew went very in depth with real life sex workers and Vice Cops with the LAPD collaborating with the filmmakers on a making of documentary of the film and Season Hubley herself spent ten weeks with Hollywood prostitutes to research her role of Princess. While the film was a decent success given the lurid appeal of its subject matter in the marketing by Avco Embassy, rather surprisingly critical reception was more positive than you might think with some outlets like the New York Times noting the exploitation aspects, but also applauding the craft, acting, and even aspects of the writing for the film. Vice Squad is undeniably exploitation filmmaking, but it's also a lot smarter and with more to say than you might think from its marketing.Season Hubley is very good in the role of Princess and while there's pretty standard stuff for a movie like this where she's "trying to make ends meet" for her daughter to position her as the good girl in a bad situation, she plays the role with a lot of charm, wit, and humor and gets some humanizing scenes with her fellow sex workers or some of her less objectionable Johns. However, stealing every scene he's in is Wings Hauser's portrayal of the film's antagonist Ramrod who portrays this air of fake swagger that when the situation calls for it will peel away to reveal his unhinged violent and sadistic streak that makes you root for his comeuppance. Gary Swanson and Maurice Emanuel are also good as the primary Vice Detectives Walsh and Edwards and while they're technically the "heroes" in this story the movie also shows them as being very manipulative and aggressive particularly when it comes to how they involve Princess making this less a story of good versus evil and more bad versus worse.Much like the William Friedkin film Cruising, even though there is technically a plot here (though unlike Cruising's whodunnit Vice Squad's more a howcatchem), the true focus here is on the atmosphere and world portrayed in the film. While not necessarily as envelope pushing as Cruising was, Vice Squad really feels like a film where there's an unmistakable authenticity to what's being portrayed and how unclean the world presented feels that a viewing makes you feel like you need a shower afterwards (in the best possible way). Utilizing aspects from real-life anecdotes from actual sex workers some scenarios do strain credibility (one sequence involving a wedding dress and a coffin definitely left me with some questions) but it helps make the film an engaging experience.Vice Squad is a solidly made exploitation film that has a lot more craft and cleverness in its writing and filmmaking than you'd initially believe. Featuring good performances across the board and dripping with a sleazy atmosphere, Vice Squad provides the thrills and the lurid details you expect from a movie like this and adds that little something extra to make itself stand out.
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★ 7 / 10
A Very Entertaining "Vice!"
Celluloid_Fiend
I'm something of an amateur devotee of low budget, grindhouse films. From flicks of the 60's to the present, I've seen my fair share. However, "Vice Squad" is…
I'm something of an amateur devotee of low budget, grindhouse films. From flicks of the 60's to the present, I've seen my fair share. However, "Vice Squad" is one that will probably always standout to me, both in good ways and bad.
The basic plot is that a prostitute named "Princess" (played by Season Hubley) helps a seasoned vice cop (played by Gary Swanson) to take down a violent and deranged pimp named "Ramrod" (played by Wings Hauser), after he kills another prostitute friend of her's (played by Nina Blackwood), but soon becomes the target of the pimp's homicidal rage, after he escapes custody. Now the race is on between the vice squad and Ramrod, as to who will get to Princess first!
The film is certainly not for the faint of heart, or those who easily offend. No punches are pulled in the violence and degradation that is shown. It has a sort of gritty realism to it, but it doesn't quite make it over the hump to where you totally buy it. This is due to the stretching of credibility in some key moments. I mean, would an entire vice squad really go all out to find a single prostitute, even if her life were in danger? No, probably not. One cop, maybe two, but not the whole squad. And the violent pimp, who seems to constantly flip from calm to psychopathic at the drop of hat, would he really be able to intimidate all the hard players of this underbelly of civilized society? Again, probably not. So, when such instances happen, it takes you out of the moment and costs the film a lot of the dramatic tension it's trying to build.
Director Gary Sherman certainly does a nice job of portraying the seedier side of the big city (in this case Hollywood), as the grunge and sleaze of society's "forgotten people" is well displayed almost constantly. Sadly, though, there is little shown to us beneath that grimy surface. You never get into the minds of any of the players. You get a brief scene with Princess sending her daughter away, to show she has a softer side, but you never get much context on it. Even worse is Gary Swanson's play at the vice cop who gives a damn. Besides a very wooden performance, you never really get any insight into his reasons for being a vice cop. As he is asked at the film's end, "Why do you do it, Walsh? The streets are never going to change." The question is never answered, either to the character in the film or the audience.
The one solid bit here, is Wings Hauser's turn as the ultra-violent Ramrod. He plays it up for all he's worth here. He is certainly one of the perennial heavies of the 80's, both in film and television, but he steps things up a notch here, going from mean to downright brutal. His use of a coat hanger to whip up on prostitutes, shows a level of darkness that goes beyond ordinary misogyny. While most of the other actors just sort of plod along in their roles, Wings uses his to be a force of nature in the story, which is where most of the drama and action stems from.
The film is certainly not what one would call "classic," either in the award-winning sense or otherwise, but despite it's many flaws, it still manages to hold your attention and stick with you long after you've watched it. Whether that is due to it having that special 80's vibe, that made many less-than-stellar films give you that sensation, or merely the fact you can't look away from the sometimes over-the-top slimy nature of it all, I can't say for sure. All I can say is that, for good or ill, this is one film you won't soon forget.
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Nina blackwood from MTV fame turns up as one of the Prostitutes