Detroit 9000 (1973)

Rating: **
Review Date: 6/6/99

A prominent black political figure holds a fund raising event which is targeted by a bunch of thieves. It is initially believed to be a racially motivated crime, and tensions between the black community and the white community start to rise. A sloppy, foul-mouthed white cop is assigned to the case and he is soon joined by a handsome black cop. Together, they manage to find all of the bad guys, and Detroit's finest proceeds to riddle them with bullets in a laughably excessive shoot-out and foot chase. The white cop is a really interesting character. He's a really bad actor, but his character is quirky enough and eccentric enough to forgive him for that. We find out that his wife is staying at a mental institution and suffering from some unknown ailment. She's offensively racist and loudly complains that she wishes she never married a poor and honest cop whose "damned conscience" won't allow him to treat her condition with dirty money. Ouch. What little money he does scrape together, he appears to spend at the local whorehouse (which is where most of his leads come from as well). Interesting. His character is curiously absent from the last twenty minutes of the film, and the twist ending really pays off. And if I got one thing out of this film, it would be that the Detroit police are just plain mean - they'll shoot anybody.