Cops and Robbers (1973 film)

Cops and Robbers
Cops and Robbers
	Promotional movie poster for the film
Directed by	Aram Avakian
Written by	Donald E. Westlake
Produced by	Elliott Kastner ; George Pappas
Starring	Cliff Gorman ; Joseph Bologna
Cinematography	David L. Quaid
Edited by	Barry Malkin
Music by	Michel Legrand
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	August 15, 1973 (New York City) ; August 17, 1973 (U.S. wide) ; February 25, 1974 (Sweden) ; March 29, 1974 (Finland)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Cops and Robbers is a 1973 crime comedy film directed by Aram Avakian with an original screenplay by Donald E. Westlake which Westlake subsequently expanded into a novel. The film stars Cliff Gorman as Tom and Joseph Bologna as Joe.

Plot[]

Tom and Joe are disillusioned New York City cops who decide to pull off one big robbery in their uniforms and retire on the proceeds. Bearer bonds are what the local Mafia boss will buy, so that's what they go for. Central Park is the location for the switch. Can they come out of it with their lives and the money?

Cast[]

Cliff Gorman as Tom
Joseph Bologna as Joe
Delphi Lawrence as Rich Lady
Charlene Dallas as Secretary
John P. Ryan as Pasquale 'Patsy' Aniello
Dolph Sweet as George
Joe Spinell as Marty
Shepperd Strudwick as Mr. Eastpoole
James Ferguson as Liquor Store Clerk
Frances Foster as Bleeding Lady
Gayle Gorman as Mary
Walt Gorney as Wino
George Harris II as Harry
Ellen Holly as Ms. Wells
Randy Jurgensen as Randy
Albert Henderson as Cop

Additional information[]

This film was also released under the following titles:

Entimotatoi kleftes - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
Flics et voyous - France
Polícias e Ladrões - Portugal
Rosvot ja jeparit - Finland
Se ci provi... io ci sto! - Italy
Snutar som robbar - Sweden
Treffpunkt Central Park - West Germany
Unos policías muy ladrones - Spain

Reception[]

Roger Greenspun wrote a favorable review of the film for the New York Times.^[1]

Soundtrack[]

The score was composed and conducted by Michel Legrand. The soundtrack was released exclusively on compact disc in August 2009.

Track List:

Main Title (Cops and Robbers)
The Sellers
Uptown
The Buyer
Suburbia
Downtown
Wall Street
Papa Joe, The Padrone
The Caper
The Lush Life
The Chase
The Sleep Song
The Chase (alternate version)

References[]

^ Greenspun, Roger (August 16, 1973). "Cops and Robbers (1973): Police Team Engineers Caper in 'Cops and Robbers'". The New York Times. If anybody had told me even a week ago about a funny, exciting, semi-plausible, exceptionally intelligent caper movie, I would not have believed him. "Cops and Robbers," despite its title, and despite the slightly dumb-dumb ad campaign that is introducing it, is all those good things and more. It is uncommonly well acted. And it is the first movie in a long time to understand, rather than merely to exploit, its New York City locales.^{[dead link]}

External links[]

This article about a criminal comedy film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[1] Greenspun, Roger (August 16, 1973). "Cops and Robbers (1973): Police Team Engineers Caper in 'Cops and Robbers'". The New York Times. If anybody had told me even a week ago about a funny, exciting, semi-plausible, exceptionally intelligent caper movie, I would not have believed him. "Cops and Robbers," despite its title, and despite the slightly dumb-dumb ad campaign that is introducing it, is all those good things and more. It is uncommonly well acted. And it is the first movie in a long time to understand, rather than merely to exploit, its New York City locales.^{[dead link]}

[1]