Hollywood Vice Squad

Hollywood Vice Squad mixes comedy and drama, and has three different story lines, so it changes directions quite often; too quickly in fact for the movie to be really enjoyable. The three story lines involve police efforts to break up prostitution, pornography, and bookmaking; the story involving efforts to break up a pornography ring is probably the best, with Carrie Fisher as a novice yet dedicated officer leading the investigation (Fisher seems like the only member of the cast who doesn't act like she would rather be on the set of some other film). The film switches between the three stories regularly, which makes the action hard to follow, but worse is the fact that it switches from a dramatic to comedy scene just as quickly; it makes the comedy seem less funny and the drama seem less serious. Some of the comedy scenes, while funny, appear to have been put in just to kill time and pad the film.

Hollywood Vice Squad is not totally hopeless; as mentioned, there are some really funny scenes, and the music and fashion will make you nostalgic for the mid 1980s. Overall, though, it looks more like a film that was made in a rush, and not very well. All three story lines have happy endings as well, which makes the movie pretty unrealistic compared to the realities of Hollywood. Not the worst film I ever saw, but no Citizen Kane, either.

Taken straight from "actual files of the Hollywood Vice Squad",Penelope Spheeris' fourth film tries to be both a comedy and serious drama at the same time,and fails miserably at both.The comedy doesn't work,and all the actors look like they're acting underwater,so the viewer ends up not caring what happens to any of the characters.This movie is like watching a train wreck in progress,without the adrenaline flow.

From the writer of minor exploitation classic "Vice Squad" comes another sleazy 80s crime flick that boasts the film debut of the future "The Princess Bride" star Robin Wright. "Vice Squad" was about a killer targeting prostitutes, but this sudo sequel focuses on a mother searching the mean streets of Hollywood to find her junkie prostitute teen daughter, Wright. Mom finds out her daughter is involved in porn, drugs and general badness, so she then works with the Hollywood Vice Squad to rescue her. Part of the squad is rookie cop Carrie Fisher, who has to go undercover into this skeezy underworld to find Wright and bust the scumbags responsible. In real life, Fisher had just gotten out of rehab and the insurance company wouldn't give her bonding coverage, so director Penelope Sepheeris ("Suburbia" "Decline of the Western Civilization") cast a close friend of Fisher's for the movie so she could make sure Fisher showed up to work each day. Fisher later satirized the production of "Hollywood Vice Squad" in her novel and screenplay for "Postcards From the Edge." But back to the movie at hand, I did enjoy the sleazy 80s grit of the film, though in terms of storytelling and characters, it's pretty weak. Still, I was definitely entertained and would recommend it for fans of similar grimy 80s action flicks (i.e. "10 to Midnight," "Angel," "Vice Squad," etc.). Ronny "Deliverance" "Robocop" Cox, Frank "The Riddler" Gorshin, Leon Isaac "Penitentiary" Kennedy, Joey "Brother of John" Travolta, and character actors H. B. "70s bald guy actor" Haggerty and Evan C. "Kentucky Fried Movie" "The Dead Pool" Kim also appear in the film.

There's something about this movie that is a pop cultist's package of coolness! Starting with Penelope Spheeris, who is the coolest chick to come out of the Roger Corman school of film makers. Having done Suburbia, and would later go on to do The Decline Of Western Civilization doc's. And to amass Ronny Cox, Evan Kim, Joey Travolta, Carrie Fischer, Robin Wright, and The Riddler himself - Frank Gorshin as a serious sleaze ball. Anyone who knows the Zucker Bros. and movies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun should know it all goes back to Kentucky Fried Movie and "Fistful Of Yen" with Evan Kim. And lastly, the soundtrack. To have Keith Levene AND Chris Spedding doing music! Anyone who knows the history of punk rock in the 70's and the rumors it was Chris who played the guitar for Never Mind The Bullocks album, and the brilliance Keith contributed to John Lydon after The Sex Pistols broke up. The movie itself is supposedly based on 'true events', and I think is more inspired by Joseph Wambuagh's book and later movie The Choirboys than anything. Trying to marry raunchy stereotype humor with gritty topics of sex and drugs along with a few action chase scenes. The movie is like a Corman production still, as if Penelope lifted extra bucks from Roger while he was sleeping! LOL It's fast and fun, yet loose and weak. For cool mature audiences that aren't easily offended, it's a cornucopia of cult heroes having fun in a very underrated cult movie to this day! Kudos to Penelope for such a bold attempt!

With this film, co-producer Sandy Howard is obviously mining some of the same material utilized for his earlier production "Vice Squad". It purports to fictionalize some of the true life exploits of the men and women who work for the title department. It's episodic, and tells a few stories.

Pauline Stanton (Trish Van Devere) comes to California to search for her runaway daughter Lori (Robin Wright, in her film debut), and is educated by the dedicated Captain Jensen (Ronny Cox) on the sleazy nature of the Hollywood underworld. Betty Melton (Carrie Fisher) is an eager young rookie detective determined to prove herself to grunting-pig colleagues, and gets wind of a porno operation that exploits underage actors. Hawkins (Leon Isaac Kennedy) and his partner Judy (super sexy Cec Verrell) attempt to take down prostitution kingpin Walsh (Frank Gorshin), eventually assisted by Chang (Evan C. Kim) and Stevens (Joey Travolta). And Tank (H.B. Haggerty) and Daley (Ben Frank) try to look out for small time bookie Jesse (Julius Harris) who's being hassled by mobster Luchessi (Robert Miano).

Ably directed by Penelope Spheeris, the movie is hurt at times by detours into silly comedy that don't really add anything. Besides, the movie isn't quite melodramatic, ugly or trashy enough to need any sort of relief. It's still reasonably sleazy, and tells its stories in entertaining fashion. Some viewers might feel that it's a tad overlong, but it managed to hold this viewers' attention for over an hour and 41 minutes. The look for the movie is just right, and the soundtrack features some cool tunes.

The very good cast is the glue that holds it together, with Fisher a standout as the ambitious, hard-driving young woman who is willing to deviate from the "book" in order to get her man. The fine ensemble of character actors also includes Marvin Kaplan, Beau Starr, Tom Everett, Eloy Casados, and Phil Rubenstein.

As was said, this actually might not be hardcore enough for some tastes, but it's a pleasingly diverting exploitation picture just the same.

Seven out of 10.