The Big Score

The Big Score (1983)

Runtime: 85 minutes


Directed by: Fred Williamson


Starring: Fred Williamson, Nancy Wilson (the jazz singer, not the girl from Heart), John Saxon, Richard Roundtree


From: Empire Pictures

Here is something else I found via Netflix; but, I've known about this for awhile. This script was apparently prepared for a Dirty Harry film but it did not happen. Instead it went here and I hope the script wasn't a carbon copy of what was filmed here, because...

But anyhow, what caught my eye was that there was a whole slew of famous B-movie actors from the time period here. Besides who I mentioned already, there's Ed Lauter, a guy who looks so much like Henry Silva that it might as well have been him, Chelsie Ross, D'Urville Martin (from some blaxploitation films of old), Bruce Glover-yep, Crispin's dad-and even Joe Spinell.

The plot is that Fred, John, and Sha.. I mean Richard are all cops working the narcotic beat. They find out about a drug bust and they stop it, but at least a million bucks gets lost and the cops are accused of taking it for themselves. They have to find it while also having to deal with the bad guys (Spinell and Glover and some others) getting revenge and wanting their money back.

Sad to say the premise and the awesome cast are much more than the actual story. A big problem is that the money ends up hidden and it's in what should be an obvious spot but multiple characters never think of looking there. It's just insulting to your intelligence. Then the ending... something was teased earlier which would have resulted in something awesome if it did happen but of course it didn't and instead you get something that is just badly filmed and unsatisfying in multiple ways.

Really, the big draws here are the cast and how there are some wacky/odd moments. To list some examples:

* Williamson uses his ex-wife Wilson as a booty call. Really. You also get to hear her sing in a jazz club, and another scene at the club has a cameo appearance from legendary jazz musician Ramsey Lewis.

* Animals get killed in order to get people mad. Don't let PETA watch this.

* A big fat black man plays a jolly character named Cheech. He was awesome due to how wacky he was. He drinks hooch out of an old paint can, after all.

* The action is alright. But, some people do get literally blown up. Dynamite is used and it's detonated by... it being connected to a wire and someone has to push down a plunger that's on a box labeled "dynamite" to set it off. Yes, like a damn Looney Tunes cartoon!

* One character gets killed and we later are told and not shown (thankfully) that a certain part of his anatomy was cut off and shoved in his mouth. Yikes. I was quite shocked when I heard that bit of dialogue.

So, if you do watch this watch it for comedy reasons rather than this being an undiscovered gem in the action field.

I'll be back tomorrow night.