South Beach

"South Beach" is a film noir film about two ex-football players turned private eyes: Fred Williamson plays Mack Derringer, a smooth yet sloppy guy who likes to use a big gun to take out the trash; and Gary Busey is Lenny, Derringer's partner who likes to walk on the wild side. Together, when not solving cases in Miami, they play golf on the sunny Florida countryside. Well, that's basically one half of the film. But the other half is a very confusing mystery that involves the sultry Vanity who hires our heroes on a case for her. They wind up battling guys like Sam Jones and Henry Silva. This is a messy film, with not a lot of character development. One part of the movie, Peter Fonda shows up, for unknown reasons, to help Busey and Williamson. No, this is not a "Miami Vice" clone, because "M.V." has more logic and sense, and more organized characterization. Avoid this film if you're in the mood for an intelligent film. I don't know why I watched "South Beach". I was flipping through TV one night and I ran into this flick on TNT. I decided to watch it, and this show gave me a headache. What an idiot I am!

In SOUTH BEACH, Fred Williamson stars as private detective Mack Derringer, who is on the trail of a mysterious serial murderer. This movie starts off well with the killer on a rampage. Then, it bogs down in several dull sub-plots, meandering away from the excitement.

Alas, a stellar cast is totally squandered!

Gary Busey has little to do as Derringer's partner. Robert Forster pops in occasionally as a cop. Peter Fonda has nothing to do, and is more wooden than a log cabin. Stella Stevens is as awesome as ever, in spite of having no real reason to be in this movie. Henry Silva is actually convincing in his role as a crime lord. Too bad he's only on screen for 30 seconds! The stunningly beautiful Vanity plays Derringer's ex-wife with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Honestly, she seems to be daydreaming about being anywhere other than in this film!

The result is an "action-thriller" without much action and absolutely no thrills. One of the most boring movies of its sub-genre...

This film deals with two ex-football players who are Fred Williamson, (Mack Derringer) and Gary Busey, (Lenny) who work as private eyes and meet all kinds of ladies and men with some bad backgrounds. Mack Derringer is approached by his ex-wife Vanity (Jennifer Derringer) who works at having sex talk over the telephone. Jennifer is being threatened by one caller who wants to do horrible things to her and she asks for his help along with several other ladies. Mack & Lenny have more time on their hands and often go to Miami, Fl. golf courses or hang out in a Sports Bar where all kinds of city things go on. There is lots of punches, killings and plenty of double meaning words that bring this film completely down to a big ZERO. Don't waste your time, this film cost me only 50 cents and that was too much.

i don't know what they were thinking.by they,i mean anybody even remotely connected to this disaster.i've seen so bad movies,i've seen so really bad movies,and then there's this.but i will say one thing.whoever wrote the script has manged to put what could possibly the most inane dialogue over written,onto the screen.there is nothing good about this movie,either from a technical standpoint or any other standpoint.whoever allowed it to be made and then released should have been fired immediately.there are a few fairly well known names in this movie.actually i hesitate to use the word movie.it's more like a collection of random scenes that have no relation to another and make less than 0 sense.anyway,i fail to see why anyone with any dignity would appear in this.i got it really cheap,and i still got ripped of.even if i had gotten this movie for free,i would still have been ripped off.this is an absoluter 0/10

A good, committed cast is the main real reason to stick with it. Fred Williamson (doing his best Mike Hammer impersonation) and Peter Fonda were an amusing duo. Gary Busey shows up every now and again. Being loony. The fun interactions make up for the messy plot, clunky action and odd tone. It's a strange beast, but decent enough for a cheap, straight-to-video fare.

Sleazy dialogues, busy twists upon twists, women falling head over heals and noir shades in the Miami sun and neon nightlife. It's comedic, but when it tries to be serious it can be unintentionally humorous. Especially the threatening phone calls from a crazy nut job harassing a sex hotline. Whose unhealthy obsession with one lady (Vanity). After one of her work colleagues is killed, she seeks help from her ex-husband, former NFL player now private investigator (Fred Williamson). Things then get a lot more complicated. It's obvious who was making the phone calls, even just going by their voice. But this job doesn't wrap up as easy.