Top Cop

TOP COP (1990) is a DTV knockoff cop thriller that leaves no cliché unturned in its bald-faced desire to emulate Hollywood police thrillers on an Arkansas shoestring budget. To say the least, location filming adds nothing to the production value unless you live in Arkansas. You have to give writer-producer Helen Pollins (whither she?) credit for drafting a screenplay that, with a Big Studio spit shine and top-drawer professionals on both sides of the camera, might have made a standard low-tier Joel Silver production for the era, or perhaps even a TV pilot. But when you're stuck filming in Arkansas with a cast of unknowns and amateurs and a very low budget as director Mark Maness is here, trying to emulate the big boys is a losing game that makes everyone look a little silly by comparison, no matter how reasonably swift your pace or how capable your screenplay, or who you bribed for a few crane shots. The top cop of the title is Stephen P. Sides, a gap-toothed Bob Seger lookalike with a long-haul trucker's ass who violates all sorts of laws in at least two states to bring a smug drug dealer (Len Schlientz) to justice, losing his partner along the way and being paired with a rookie just like in a million other movies. Pollins' dialogue ranges from "I'm too old for this sh**t" to "You guys are dead. You just don't know it yet" and is indicative of everything Hollywood was paying top dollar for at the time--except to Pollins, I guess. The action even builds to a big set-piece climax, but since this is Arkansas, it takes place in a junkyard and requires the villain to suddenly become very very stupid in his quest to take down our hero. Overall, a failure, but a failure worth watching to see what amateurs can do even when they think too big for their wallets.

First of all, I could tell just by looking at "Top Cop" that this was a low-budget action flick. The impression I got when I saw this was that it was trying too hard to be like a low-budget version of the typical Hollywood action movie. Unfortunately, in this case, it fails, but not miserably. The likes of Bruce Williis & Co. certainly won't be losing any sleep over this one.

I also felt that the Little Rock, Arkansas filming locations worked against the film-makers. They just don't have enough glamour or grit.

Criticisms aside, this film does move alone at a fairly decent pace. The main characters waste no time in getting down to the main action.

I would say that "Top Cop" is passable Friday Night fare.

Hey, Hey, Director Mark Maness does a great Job putting together a low budget winner even with leading man (Stephen P. Sides) as Detective Malone looking like a grumpy tow truck driver. Malone and his partner Frank (Randy Files) leave Arkansas for D.C. to testify against Johnny Costello (Len Schlientz) Arkansas's drug king pin, and his punk little brother Tony Costello (Todd Tongen). That's when things get complicated in a good way with trouble from Costello and his many henchman. Back in Arkansas our hero navigates many twists and turns from Costello, and there is even something to look at with a couple of good performances by the nebulous lady's Helen Avery (Tiffany Dossey) and very hot Carol (Toma Franki) who Malone had met while in D.C. This "B" movie special keeps you engaged with very good performances by Len Schlientz as Costello who is given to hilarious fits of rage, and Randy Files who is quite relaxed and natural as detective Frank Porter. Too bad Files didn't live in L.A. instead of Arkansas as he is the one actor in the film who may have had a nice career in character parts. All Pro defensive back (Mike Bass) also plays one of Malone's partners Detective James Evans. Bass was an excellent football player, enough said. If you are a "B" action movie fan don't miss our big belly hero Malone the Top Cop.

From b-movie producers and makers of quite a lot of dreck, Crown International, comes this cop cliché-fest. In it, we have, wait for it...a cop who doesn't play by the rules. His boss is...an angry black police chief who constantly shouts at him from behind a desk. Top Cop's partner is...killed in action by drug-based villains. So, the chief foists a new partner on him...a wet behind the ears rookie out of college. Our top cop doesn't like it but he's just going to have to take it. From the above synopsis you can see that this one is cheerfully derivative of 80's action tropes. The guy who plays the top cop - who I wouldn't be surprised to learn was a wrestler - is a one note actor. He navigates the entire movie with a face like fizz. Also notable is the score, which like so many from the era is a tinny nightmare. This is a film which, like the title character, gets the job done but with a minimum of effort.

TOP COP is another attempt by Crown International Pictures to do an action thriller following on from their clunking SCORPION. Unsurprisingly, it's an equally poor movie, with pitiful production values, a derivative and forgettable storyline, and some very poor acting from the leads (and the rest of the cast, for that matter).

At least this film has the distinction of being filmed and set in Arkansas, not that it differs much from the usual small-town American setting. The hero is tubby Stephen P. Sides, better known as an FX guy and stunt performer, so why Crown thought he'd be good hero material I have no idea. I suppose he's no more wooden than many a performer in straight-to-video action fare from the 1990s, but he's hardly what you would call athletic or a skilled fighter.

The plot sees the hero going after a drug lord who has a small army supporting him, so there's plenty of action involving fights with goons on a very limited budget. The best thing you can say about this film is that it has a fast pace so even when the material's poor, it's never slow. Most of the dialogue and situations have been stolen from LETHAL WEAPON and the like so you know you're in for a time waster with this one.