Busting is early buddy movie brilliance from the master of mid-budget studio actioners Peter Hyams (The Relic, 2010, Capricorn One, Timecop, The Star Chamber, End of Days, Sudden Death). This was the filmmaker’s debut feature film after two made-for-TV efforts, and while the project has a low-tech quality all around the edges, it still stands as one of the director’s best films. Starring an amazingly mustached Elliot Gould and future Robert Blake as a pair of pimp-slapping Vice squad detectives, Busting takes on an episodic structure, throwing the viewer into various cases and assignments, all of which lead to an overarching bad guy who is controlling the city’s vast pimping and whoring racket. At 95 minutes, there’s not a wasted scene, and despite the various converging plot lines, everything stays streamlined and easy to follow. I love how the two cop characters are idealistic and interested in cleaning up the streets, but that they slowly realize that their efforts may be all for not. Cynical, formally exciting in surprising ways, casually sexist and homophobic (those were the times!) and totally trading off of ugly, common stereotypes of the era, this was 1974’s “other” precursor to the popular 80’s buddy-cop film, with Freebie and the Bean beating Busting to theaters that year, and earning more box office and respect from critics and audiences. While the two films share some common traits, they are vastly different genre exercises, with Richard Rush’s Freebie placing an emphasis on madcap comedy and hilarious antics, and Busting being the more serious of the two films, mixing violence and sex into a gritty, decidedly more adult package, with Hyams clearly loving the chance to show off a down and dirty visual aesthetic. But there were two BIG things that stood out in Busting for me as a viewer. First — I can’t remember another film that ends on a freeze frame that then goes on to include a flash-forward voiceover narration which wraps up the narrative and the main character’s personal arc. I’d never seen this before, and I totally loved the nerve of it, as it fit perfectly with the film’s hopeless and dark denouement, which could only have been pulled off in a low budget 70’s item such as this one (with a few modern exceptions). The other technical aspect that I was constantly marveling over was the camerawork, and in particular, the numerous tracking shots that appeared to have been accomplished without the use of a dolly, and this being a film that predates the use of the stedicam (no?), I’m left only to guess how these fantastic scenes of action were accomplished. During the film’s various chase scenes and shoot-outs, the action is captured in long, unbroken takes, with actors running straight for the camera and then right past it as it continues to move and turn and swivel, all of which suggests the use of some sort of motion stabilizer device for the camera, as everything is ultra-smooth, especially considering the obvious budget limitations. It’s awesome, energizing stuff. Gould clearly had fun with his role, and the short-statured Blake made for a solid partner when contrasted with Gould’s lankiness. I found very little to quibble over with Busting. This is an example of a filmmaker crafting a tight, entertaining, hard-nosed actioner that now has the benefit of serving as a societal time capsule of a bygone era.
Podcasting Them Softly 