Running Scared

A police comedy set in Chicago. Ray and Danny are detectives who have worked together a long time. Their method is without rules; they do the job by talking in the street, take nobody seriously and their superiors are tired of them. They are wounded in an operation and sent to Florida on compulsory leave. There they make a decision: they will leave the police, put their savings together and open a bar. Thirty days remain. They go back to Chicago to work out the month. But Julio, the dealer they were after, is released and the matter becomes personal. The humour comes from the talk between them; in most scenes they are sparring in a car. The action takes place in the city: the elevated railway, icy streets and a chase in a car park in the last section. The matter at the centre is the decision to leave: both say they want out and neither can go before finishing the last job. Gregory Hines plays Ray, Billy Crystal plays Danny and Jimmy Smits plays Julio. Steven Bauer and Dan Hedaya are in the cast. Peter Hyams directed and photographed it; the winter look of the city is a marked part of the film. An enjoyable choice for anyone who likes the buddy police films of the 1980s. For a viewer expecting a serious police story, the film gives its weight to comedy.