Freebie and Bean, two San Francisco police detectives, have one goal in life: to bring down Red Meyers, a local hijacking boss. After many fruitless months they finally collect an important piece of evidence. However, before they can get an arrest warrant, they hear the news of the hitman being hired to kill Meyers. Freebie and Bean are somewhat bumbling odd couple partnered SFPD detectives with the Intelligence Squad. Despite their different natures, they have each other's back, especially when it comes to their so far fourteen month investigation against racketeer Red Meyers, who is well-connected in all the right places. They finally have the first shred of physical evidence against Meyers to corroborate the insider account of a lowlife named Harry Motley, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Despite the flimsy evidence and no Motley, they believe they have no choice but to bring in Meyers on any charge when they learn there is a contract hit out on Meyers, the hit man named Michigan Phil. Based on this information and recent knowledge that Motley is returning to town on Monday, the D.A., concerned primarily with maintaining his high successful prosecution rate and getting the highers-up off his back, recommends they release Meyers, but make sure he stays alive until Monday when they can bring both Meyers and Motley in. Their inconspicuous shadowing of Meyers in protecting him against Michigan Phil and any other potential attempts on his life is made all the more difficult as it is Super Bowl weekend, the game being held in San Francisco, and as especially Bean's thoughts steer toward the growing evidence that Bean's Latina wife is having an affair. Freebie and Bean are two San Francisco cops who have been working for over a year to bring down Red Meyer, a local crime boss with his fingers in many operations. They stumble onto key information that can break him with the help of a witness, but then they hear that Detroit has hired a hitman to kill Meyers. Freebie and Bean must get on for a weekend to protect Meyers until the witness can be found.<br/><br/>I had never heard of this film but was intrigued by the cast enough to give it a look. I also read that Tarantino had been singing it's praises as a cult oddity, so again I had reasonable, if not high, hopes for it. The film never managed to lift itself above the level of being a typical 1970's cop movie. It has all the un-PC elements, car chases etc and nothing that really makes it stand out from the crowd. The mood of the film hurts it, it isn't serious enough to be thrilling and it isn't light enough to be funny, instead it falls uncomfortably in between and isn't satisfying.<br/><br/>The plot is simple but yet still manages to get itself into a convoluted bit of a mess towards the end, with messy plot strands that don't make sense, don't really work and just seem to have been thrown together in an attempt to make the ending feel like it has more energy than it really does.<br/><br/>The two leads are good and they were the only reason I stuck with the film. Caan is un-PC and rough, being the tough side of the equation. Arkin's whinging `Mexican' partner is also amusing. They have a reasonable chemistry but they didn't really come across as real characters and they had nothing to offer past the odd banter. Of the support cast all the buddy-cop clichés are there and only Alex Rocco really stuck in my memory.<br/><br/>Overall this may have some interest because it is very dated and of it's time and I suppose have a certain amount of cult appeal but I wasn't won over by it in anyway. It wasn't as tough or as funny as it wanted to be, nor did it really have much to offer past a bit of amusing banter and crashing cars. Long before the PC crowd raised their ugly heads, there was Freebie and the Bean(1974), a very watchable and funny comedy about two San Francisco cops who nearly destroy the city in their pursuit of a gangster. Alan Arkin and James Caan are in top form as the constantly bickering partners who will say or do anything to get their man. Entertaining from start to finish.
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365 weeks ago