My review was written in November 1983 after a Times Square screening.
As his eighth directorial assignment, Fred Williamson's "The Big Score" is an unexceptional action picture. Low-budget entry should do fair business at urban action houses.
Film is reportedly based on one of several Gail Morgan Hickman scripts originally written for the "Dirty Harry" film series and acquired in the mid-1970s from Clint Eastwood by Williamson when Eastwood put aside his hit character (temporarily, it proved, given the upcoming "Sudden Impact" feature).
Despite the Chicago locale, Williamson's narcotics cop role of Frank Hooks is firmly rooted in "Dirty Harry" terrain -bounced from the force after a bag of money disappears in a large-scale drug bust. Freed from red tape and the department's rules, Hooks ruthlessly dispatches the bad guys, leading to the inevitable villain in a Williamson film, Joe Spinell.
Before sputtering out in an uneventful anti-climax, pic is fun in the early reels, carried by the camaraderie between Fred and his fellow cops played by action stars John Saxon and Richard Roundtree as well as no-nonsense thesping by his superior, essayed by Ed Lauter. Film lags with musical numbers by Ramsey lewis and Nancy Wilson, latter merely okay in her film acting debut as Hooks' quasi-estranged wife.
Tech credits are adequate, with bright, functional lensing of Chicago neighborhoods by cinematographer Joao Fernandes (previously known under his pseudonym "Harry Flecks" on pioneer porn films such as "Deep- Throat" and "Devil in Miss Jones"). Jay Chattaway's invigorating musical score punches up Williamson's trademark foot chases.
