Um Tira de Aluguel

I had actually never heard about this 1987 movie from director Jerry London prior to sitting down here in 2024 to watch it for the very first time. I happened to stumble upon the movie by random chance, and seeing that it had Burt Reynolds in the lead, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

Writers Michael Blodgett and Dennis Shryack put together an enjoyable script. The movie proved to be entertaining and enjoyable, without being an archetypical cheesy late 1980s movie. The movie is a combination of crime, action and comedy, with the latter being found in light moderation, thankfully. The comedy in the movie helped lighten the mood and spruce things up, so it was an enjoyable light-hearted action crime movie with a pinch of comedy, if you will.

The cast ensemble in "Rent-a-Cop" is pretty good, with the likes of Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, James Remar, Bernie Casey, Richard Masur, Dionne Warwick and others, so you definitely have some familiar faces on the screen. The acting performances were good, and there was a good chemistry between leading actor Burt Reynolds and leading actress Liza Minnelli.

I found it well-worth taking 96 minutes to sit down and watch "Rent-a-Cop", because it was an enjoyable movie.

My rating of director Jerry London's 1987 movie "Rent-a-Cop" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Detective Frank Church resigns from his job when a drug bust goes wrong with the blame being put on him, as he survived along with prostitute Della Roberts who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Della saw the face of killer and now finds herself a target. So she seeks help from the out-of-work Church. Burt Reynolds seems to have his fair share of nothing features and the late 80s crime-thriller "Rent-a-Cop" is hard not to categorise in that bracket, but still it can be amusing and at the same time overbearing. Thanks to the appearance of Liza Minnelli as a flamboyantly overactive hooker who just won't quit talking. She overpowers many scenes. Not helping the case is that the off-balance script is asinine. I just wished it kept on the straight and narrow, than throwing in some light-hearted touches and trite comedy elements. It can be violent pulp and the main killer (a terrifically threatening James Remar) is rather a cold-hearted maniac who has a noticeable costume get-up and deadly arsenal, although he does like to dance (swaying back-and-forth in front of a mirror) and a good dancer he is too. With a nickname Dancer, he must be. Burt Reynolds is pretty much on cruise-control and the chemistry with Minnelli just doesn't seem to click. Someone has already mentioned it, but its true that I couldn't get Reynolds 1981 cop-thriller "Sharky's Machine" out of my mind when watching this. Both films have similar plot threads and are staged in the windy city Chicago, but "Rent-a-Cop" felt like a self-parody of it. Also making appearances are Richard Masur, Bernie Casey and a stern John P. Ryan. Director Jerry London (who mainly does TV) surprisingly gives the film a certain crisp slickness, creating moments of suspense (like the glorified cat and mouse shootout climax that ends with someone losing their head) and uses the wintry urban Chicago backdrop to good affect. Jerry Goldsmith contributes the music score. Routine, clingy star vehicle.

"Read my lips. Don't screw around."

A low-rent, cheaply made police thriller that's kept bearable by some fair humorous bits, the nice chemistry between the two leads and, especially, by James Remar's satisfying turn as a narcissistic, psychopathic (and, naturally, indestructible) villain. Obviously a low-quality picture, both visually and dramatically, with a rather resigned Burt, but not unwatchable. (**)

This late-80s Burt Reynolds vehicle, while fun at times, is very cliched and run-of-the-mill as a whole. All the basic police-themed action thriller elements are there. It's not without its moments though, and it is still entertaining, if you can forgive its obvious flaws.

The tough but disgraced former cop seeking a purpose. The helpless hooker looking for help. The budding romance. The bad guys on their trail. Sound familiar? It should. It is, after all, the plot to pretty basically ANY 80s cop movie, with a few changed details. This film follows the formulas to a T. It even has the opening shootout in which a sting operation goes badly, and the cop is taken off the case. It has the loud and stubborn superior officer who chews out the good cop. It also has the obligatory climax in the villain's mansion. These are only a few of the cliches.

It's also awkward sometimes, with some lulls in the story's pacing and some boring moments. I've seen this described as part comedy, basically an action comedy, but the only potentially funny moments come from Liza Minnelli, who is the most annoying thing about the film. But while the movie is obviously a cookie-cutter copy of so many other 80s action movies, it's still fun. Burt Reynolds is there, and even when he looks bored, he's still entertaining. The action is fun and the characters are interesting enough.

The action sequences are pretty good, even if they are few and far between. There's a bloody opening shootout, a fine fight scene at a party, a car chase, and the final showdown, which is the film's highlight. The action isn't really plentiful, but it's well-directed and entertaining enough, and the climax, as I said, is pretty good.

Overall, this isn't the greatest Burt Reynolds movie for sure, but it's fine, and you could do a lot worse.

In 1981, Burt Reynolds did a movie called SHARKEY'S MACHINE. He played a cop who is demoted to the vice squad after a shootout with a drug dealer results in several deaths. In RENT-A-COP, he plays a cop who is reduced to working as a security guard when a masked killer botches a drug bust and kills his fellow police officers. In the former movie, Burt watches a hooker, played by Rachel Ward, whom he hopes will help him nab a crimelord. In the latter movie, a hooker, played by Liza Minnelli, joins forces with Burt to track down the killer. Both of these movies co-starred Bernie Casey. The plots of both movies seem familiar, and Liza is not really believable as a hooker, but RENT-A-COP is just one of those Eighties movies that is far more fun to watch on TV rather than the big screen.