Der Harte und der Zarte

Terrible film that puts old detective (Gene Hackman) with a crazed detective (Dan Aykroyd) to solve a complicated case. The odd partnership is made stranger due to the fact that Aykroyd has a type of split-personality disorder which causes him to imitate television show characters at seemingly all times. A really poor movie that wastes the immense talents of Hackman. A really rotten goose egg. 2 stars out of 5.

Some movies you want to see just because you want to see how bad they are and that is the reason why I wanted to see "Loose Cannons". This movie was strange as a comedy because the jokes just weren't funny. Also as a cop-buddy movie it doesn't work due to the chemistry between it's lead actors. Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd play off each other like two actors who needed the money. The premise was oddly interesting which concerned a piece of Hitler memorabilia and Aykroyd as a schizo cop trying to come to grips with his demons (aka his other personalities).

What could have been an inspiring premise for something unique and twisted in the cop-buddy genre instead gets bogged down by generic action sequences, lame jokes and slapdash direction.

I thought that these two actors would make a good film together...I was sorely mistaken. The jokes were bad, Hackman's acting (if it can indeed be called that) is forced, and Aykroyd is flat-out embarrassing. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't; I was asleep. Nothing worked in this movie.

I consider this film a guilty pleasure. Yes, it's terrible, and my inner film critic tells me I should absolutely hate it, but hey, it's like one of those comedians such as George Carlin whose sole purposes are to offend and make you laugh. This movie did both for me. I absolutely hate stupid comedies without a brain, but actually, there seem to have been some brains behind this film. The prolific science fiction screenwriter and short story author Richard Matheson - one of my favorites - worked on the script with his author son, so there was obviously more behind this than all the other absolutely awful mainstream "comedies" of the '80s. I think I know what they were getting at - they had a bunch of really wild, unrelated ideas, and decided to put them all into one movie. What other movie can you think of with Neo-Nazis, a cop-buddy formula, Colombian drug dealer torture, Isreali agents, a long-lost porno film starring Adolf Hitler, S&M, and multiple-personality disorder all in one movie, and a comedy at that?! I give them credit for the balls they had in putting all that stuff together. Heck, they were probably making things up as they went along. A lot of it is actually quite funny. Also, believe it or not, director Bob Clark has a very good eye for detail. This is a movie all the critics were destined to love to hate, considering the pedigree of the cast, producer Aaron Spelling (The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels) and director Bob Clark ("A Christmas Story", "Porkies", and "Turk 182"). But if you approach this in the right mindset - as a trashy drive-in-type movie with a bigger budget that's both intentionally and unintentionally funny - you may enjoy it.

Loose Cannons is a film long lost in time & if ever mentioned it's not liked at all, but I've seen it & totally enjoyed this rare oddity of a buddy-cop comedy thriller.

First off I'm a life-long fan of Dan Aykroyd & Gene Hackman!!!

I grew up watching the comic genius Aykroyd with Classic's such as Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters 2 (my all-time favorite movie) & Trading Places & Dragnet (my 2nd fave film of all-time) & Coneheads & My Stepmother is an Alien & Sneakers & Blues Brothers & Nothing But Trouble & Spies Like Us & more. Aykroyd was a comforting face to me growing up & he's one of my top 5 fave actors of all-time.

Gene Hackman is one of the greatest actors in all of Cinema History & has one of the greatest filmographies in all of Cinema History. I also grew up watching Hackman in The French Connection, The French Connection part 2, The Bird Cage, Enemy of the State, Behind Enemy Lines, The Poseiden Adventure, Absolute Power & many more. Hackman was always a standout actor playing good or bad roles , he was always brilliant on screen.

Here we get a rather dark but ridiculously hilarious buddy-cop comedy thriller with Hackman playing a tough, sarcastic & rebel wreck of a cop who gets teamed up with the genius of Dan Aykroyd as a very disturbed man from mental health healing safe haven. Aykroyd is on comic genius form here as he is a riot of hilarious character impersonations whenever he gets too stressed in a dangerous situation. Aykroyd is fantastic in this very tricky & exhausting role. The cops need Aykroyd's brilliant mind to help solve a strange crime that consists of murders, Nazi's, Secret Agents & a Porno starring Hitler!!! The story is definitely a unique one. Directed by Bob Clark (Black Christmas, Porky's) who created a very different type of the 80's buddy-cop movie & put in real looking bloody violence mixed with manic comic moments that all seems to gel together fine. Our miss-matched cops have to solve murders & dodge bullets from Nazi agents as they try to track down a Hitler porno film.

Aykroyd actually puts in a fantastic performance as he's a man suffering as a schizophrenic with many personalities & he handles it all like the professional he is as it could've easily been very cringing to watch but he's genuinely hilarious. There's heart to in Aykroyd's role as we later find out he's this way because of a time he works as an undercover Narc cop that was captured & brutally tortured for days & that sent him over the edge. There's definitely a darkness to the film as much as there is a lightness to it. The supporting cast is great especially a very enjoyable Dom DeLuise.

Loose Cannons is definitely a very rare & unique buddy-cop film that's loaded with hilarious moments (the funniest being when Hackman spends the night at Aykroyd's place lol) & full of non-stop action & moves into a chase thriller.

There's loads to enjoy in Loose Cannons & we get the genius pairing of Hackman & Aykroyd.