Neighbors in a New York City co-op join their local precinct's auxiliary police force to fight the crime dominating their once-peaceful streets. Any movie comedy attempting jokes on robbery and rape isn't going to be pretty, but it should be nimble enough to successfully tread the line between satire and the reality we see every night on the TV news. Director Ivan Passer, who also co-wrote this grossly exaggerated farce with Kenneth Harris Fishman and William Richert, isn't trying to make a statement on life in the Big City, he's just sending it up (the relatively sober conclusion is meant to be ironic, I suppose, but what's the point after all the cheap gags foisted at us?). The ugly conception of the jokes coupled with an ungainly presentation and broad performances quickly turn the film into a sour enterprise--an extension of the themes in "Little Murders" but with a sitcom undermining. Pairing Carroll O'Connor (then-hot from TV's "All in the Family") in a commercial enterprise with eternally-frustrated Ernest Borgnine must have seemed surefire, but only O'Connor comes through with a legitimate characterization (would you believe Borgnine as a beautician?). The supporting cast is encouraged to ham and mug, while the theme of the picture--urban decay--is treated shallowly for crass laughs. *1/2 from ****
Review of Law and Disorder
