Hollywood Connection

They could of made a spin off t.v series of this, but it would be hard keeping the title 'Connection'. But this movie which kind of feels a little t.v, goes by some other titles I see. This is just a run of the mill film/investigative thriller, which we can't really call it that. Basically, we have small town hottie cop Hartman, who steers the film in the performer stakes, such an underused actress, if I ever saw one, tracking her friends killer/killers to Beverly Hills LA, where she teams up with hunky PD, Brolin, in a milder likeable performance of average stature, who cares more for film and stars, more than policing, and really sort of tags alone. Obsessed, she kind of ratlles some cages, and wrecks up Brolin's dinner, date plans, and his prized automobile. Brolin's pretty lucky in the babe department, mixing more pleasure with business. I was amazed to learn, that the Beverly Hills Police Department (same as Axel Foley's, and wouldn't it be so exciting he and Hartman crossed paths) works more with stars, and aspiring ones, even ones in the police department, more than butting head with scumbags. Even though this lacks thrills, suspense, and has a 'pretty much you know where you going territory about it' it's still colourfully entertaining, çause of the cool hunky Brolin character, and powerful screen appeal of Hartman, with a super strong performance, and a lot of scummy characters, some embarassingly acted, or overacted. But you have to get past the first 10 minutes, of our country bumpkins and town police yodel folk.

A mildly entertaining made-for-tv buddy cop feature, but well presented than most of its ilk. Two cops of different walks of life come together to find a killer in California. The stabbing murder of an old friend leads Wyoming detective Amanda Rider to the glitzy, if corrupt designer world of Beverly Hills, where she's paired up with LA officer Harry Wild.

Lisa Hartman's strong, forthright lead turn easily outshines a laidback James Brolin. Yet the tongue-in-cheek chemistry between the two simply bangs. One thing which would hit you straight away. Was the "Beverly Hills Cop" vibes. From music, to story beats and location shooting. The influence is rather obvious.

So being a tv feature, it's sort of light-hearted without the grit. Action is limited, but excitingly works when it happens. Like the car chase on a beach. While more time is spent on investigating suspects/leads (led by a perfectly smarmy David Hemmings), banter between Hartman & Brolin and eventually a foreseeable romance blossoming between the two. While it moves at a fast clip, it does lack consistent tension with its distracting side-pieces at times taking over proceedings. Mainly at the midway mark, where the sexual pull virtually took over. But when the story does settle back on solving the homicide (especially in the last 20 mins) it drew me in once again.

Predictable, and typical to a tee. However the two leads make this one worth a look.

In one hundred years, this made-for-TV "flick" could be used as a textbook example of how most such shows were made: cardboard acting, washed out color cinematography, easy-to-get-to California locations, unsexy "sexy" love scenes, laughably inane car chases, stilted dialogue,,,the only thing missing is a disease of the week and it would have been "THE" complete TVM!

The plot? Oh, seems that Lisa Hartman is a Wyoming cop who enlists James Brolin's "streetwise" cop to track down the killer of a friend of hers. Only he seems way too polished (the whole movie does, honestly) to be truly "streetwise"; perhaps his (emptily portrayed)bitterness was supposed to get that point across, as television movies were still pretty heavily guidelined as to what they could and could not show, and tell, during that time. It took a landmark mini-series, "Lonesome Dove" to truly push the boundaries for television during that time.

In the end, this movie is about as significant as the second billing of a Monogram double-billing. Perhaps not even as significant, since at least Monogram would have made this in black-and-white, which would have vastly improved on the transparently dull color of this movie, and there would have been the chance of perhaps this thing being an example of film-noir with a feminist touch. Hmmm....didn't someone say that the best way to criticize a movie was to make another, and better, movie???

I love the way that this movie pokes fun at the entire LA Hollywood dynamic. LA doesn't have Taxi drivers they're all writers or directors between jobs, everyones and actor just doing their day jobs. I cannot believe that no one else has commented on this movie, while its not the best movie ever made and I did come to the page to put in a continuity glitch, it is a fun movie that can't be accused of taking itself to seriously. It's a nice simple story... Amanda comes to LA to find the killer of her best friend and meets Harry a slick LA detective assigned to be her guide. As they track the killers they become closer to each other and fall in love. But its also a fun movie. I give it 8/10