Where to watch Running Scared
3 1/2 Stars
Danny and Ray are two street wise cops in Chicago. When they are almost killed on a case, they are forced to take a vacation by their captain. Key West offers a substantial change over Chicago. They decide to quit and open a bar there. Upon returning, they find that Julio, the drug dealer who nearly killed them, has made bail and is trying to complete a giant drug deal. They decide to complete their case against him before quitting, but then begin being careful. Their effectiveness drops as they find they can’t operate the way they did before if they don’t have the edge of a long time commitment.
Peter Hyams is one of the great filmmakers of his era. His command of visual storytelling is on an elite level. The fact that Hyams not only stages his films but also serves as his director of photography is another staggering accomplishment. Running Scared came after 48 hours and before Lethal Weapon, and it’s almost as good as those buddy-cop genre classics. Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines have great on-screen chemistry, and the movie has a macho vibe mixed with juvenile humor, which provides a few good laughs.
The harsh winter climate of Chicago is captured on film by Hyams, who designs a muscular car chase sequence through the city and then onto the elevated train tracks, in a fashion not seen outside the works of Andrew Davis. The narrative includes a pointless subplot that pits Crystal and Hines against a pair of younger cops. With Jimmy Smits as the coke dealer and Hyams’s use of high contrast lighting, Running Scared could be construed as Chicago Vice. Still, after the film’s success and the star’s camaraderie, it’s shocking that we never got a sequel.
Directed by: Peter Hyams
Written by: Gary DeVore, Jimmy Huston
Starring: Gregory Hines, Billy Crystal, Steven Bauer