The Seven-Ups

Buddy works in a special police unit in New York. The unit goes after crimes carrying more than seven years, and its methods are outside the rules; they keep no records, wait for no authorisation, and their superiors leave them alone. Buddy gets his information from a childhood friend; Vito is inside the neighbourhood's criminal world and the two have kept the arrangement going for years. Then men from that world start being abducted in the city and ransoms demanded. During an operation Buddy's partner is killed. Philip D'Antoni directs. Roy Scheider plays Buddy. D'Antoni had produced two major crime films before this, and it is his only film as director. Its best known section is the car chase; it was shot in the streets of New York and counts among the most cited chases of the period. The matter the narrative builds is the source of information; Buddy's friendship both runs his work and puts him in danger. The register is cold; no heroism, little explanation, and the characters shown without comment. The end of the chase is abrupt and outside the shapes of the period. Its limit is the plot; the narrative is hard to follow in places and there are many characters. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies American crime films and location shooting. Who it is not for: the narrative is dry, the characters lack depth, and the ending is unexplained.