Vice Squad

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.

Let me start out by saying you just GOTTA love any movie sporting a theme song called "Neon Slime." One of the best B-Movies of the 80s. This is a great guilty pleasure type of movie, well acted, solidly directed, and very handsomely photographed for such trash, with occasional unintentionally funny dialogue. There are plenty of cliches in the "life is Hell on the streets of L.A." storyline, but director Gary Sherman keeps the pace fast, tough and violent and gets colorful performances from even the minor supporting characters. Wings Hauser makes the chief baddie, a sadistic, psychotic pimp by the name of Ramrod a real piece of work. He's right up there with other classic movie villains such as Scorpio in "Dirty Harry" and Bruce Dern's Longhair in "The Cowboys." He's truly a scumbag you'll LOVE to HATE!

Note of trivia: Incidentally, Gary Swanson (as the lead cop hot on Ramrod's trail) beat Clint Eastwood to the punch by nearly two years when he uttered the line "Go ahead...make my day" to the pimp on an initial capture in one scene.

I didn't see this movie until 1984 when it was an added feature to "Angel" at the Parkway Drive-In here in Toronto. After reading all of the comments of this movie, it's nice to see that other people appreciate fine 'B' movies as myself. I have this movie on VHS, but like the other reviewers have stated, it would be nice to see this movie released on DVD someday. It has a riveting storyline, and great performances by all the actors involved. It even features ex-MTV VJ Nina Blackwood as a desperate hooker trying to get away from the clutches of a psycho pimp named Ramrod, played by Wings Hauser. This movie has a gritty atmosphere to it which makes the story believable. Season Hubley plays Princess, a streetwise hooker with call girl attributes. She works with the police to try and rid the streets of Ramrod. This movie has been largely forgotten by most people, but for me it will always be a prized addition to my video library!

I enjoyed this film. Wings Hauser is so good and has such presence. When you watch him, as Ram Rod, you hate him. This film is taut and gritty. It captured street life, perfectly. I like the fact that the film doesn't linger on morality. It had quite a nihilistic feel to it. There's one particular scene, in which Season Hubley is at a bar talking 'shop' with her fellow hookers. It was a scene of pure honesty. Some women do what they've got to do to make a living and there's nothing wrong with it.

Wings Hauser plays a crazed pimp, Ram Rod, who loves to punish his hookers by torturing them to death. Gary Swanson, plays a determined vice cop out to stop this psycho. When Hubley's best friend is killed by Hauser, she is blackmailed, by Swanson, to go undercover to bring this psycho pimp down.

This film had such a relentless pace and it puts you on the edge of your seat. This is the type of film that graced the screens at 'The Deuce', during it's hey-day. It's a forgotten gem, an exploitation classic.

Here's one B movie, I must say did one better then I thought it would. The cat and mouse plot, throughout with many a turning points, makes it an electrifying movie, and scary mainly due to Hauser's pimp, Ramrod, an unforgettable masterpiece of evil, at times his presence is almost choking and unbearable. He is so SCARY! Good hearted cop, Swanson, Hauser's one true enemy, uses pro, Hubley (the young lass from Hardcore) to set up Hauser, after he beat up one of his girl's so bad, she didn't make it. Hubley trying to make enough money to support her little girl, her reason for flocking to the city of dreams. Swanson is so likable, you'll be rooting for him, to take care of Hauser, even though personally, Hauser's one of my favorite actors. When he escapes a cop car, thanks to two "Not much up there cops", he has only one mission, hence the plot of this very effective action piece drama. If have not videe'd this one, track it down. It rises about the sleaze, and does have a funny scene near the end with Hubley and one of her tricks. Such a talented and dramatic actress, Hardcore a prime example, Hubley was another actress who went off the radar. Although there are clichéd moments between cop and pro, Vice Squad has a solid, hard on quality about it. It's a well made compact drama, worth it's time in viewing.