Running Scared (1986)
Closed CaptioningPeter Hyams
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Plot Summary
Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal are two wisecracking, best-buddy street cops. As they explore the grim alleyways of the city, they stumble upon Snake (Joe Pantoliano), a very small-potatoes crook with a very big briefcase containing $50,000. Since they have no evidence to arrest Snake, they must convince him to request arrest, which they do! A commanding officer orders them to go on vacation, a master criminal has vowed to kill them, and a great degree of solace is received from two friendly ladies who warm their winter nights. Hines and Crystal engage in a frantic chase on Chicago's "El" tracks (in a yellow cab pursuing a Cadillac limo!), and Hines will find himself shimmying down a cable in the vast rotunda of the State of Illinois Center firing a machine gun.
Credits
Director
Screenwriter
Producers
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
60%- Reviews Counted: 20
- Fresh: 12
- Rotten: 8
- Average Rating: 5.3/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Another, thoroughly depressing demonstration of the extent to which television now dictates the style and the manners of so many of the movies we see in theaters.
Fresh: No more original or eventful than an average police TV show, so it must sink or swim on the moment-by-moment cleverness of the dialog and the behavioral talents of Hines and Crystal. Fortunately, these elements prove formidable.
Rotten: "Running Scared" tries to be a light comedy in a violent, comic-book world. That's a difficult juggling act, and director Peter Hyams doesn't pull it off.
Fresh: This genre is so overpopulated that it hardly seems like we need one more example, and yet "Running Scared" transcends its dreary roots and turns out to be a lot of fun.
Customer Reviews
What the….
Rental only? I don't want to rent this, I want to buy it. I've been wanting to buy it for a while.
Runninc Scared
Witty and hilarious. I could not stop laughing. Hines and Crystal perform at their best comedic level.
Great Lines
There are several moments in this movie--which I have loved for years--that stand out to me. I loved when Dan Hedaya, upon learning Ray and Danny want to retire, asks "What are you going to do, open a bar?" As a bartender, I have worked for ex-cops who owned bars, and that was dead on. Also, "Name me another occupation where they let you shoot people."
Ray to Snake: "Why do they call you Snake anyways? What, do you have a big wee-wee?"
And the classic Ray move, after being flipped off by a little kid--he goes back, knocks on the door of the apartment, and when the kid answers, he gives him a double middle finger: "Yeeeaaahhhhhh!!!"
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- Genre: Comedy
- Released: 1986
- © 1986 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.