Woodyanders Disgruntled police officers Tom (the extremely affable Cliff Gorman) and Joe (the equally engaging Joseph Bologna) decide to steal ten million dollars worth of untraceable bonds in order to improve their lackluster lots in life. However, things don't go as smoothly as planned.Director Aram Avakian keeps the enjoyable and engrossing story moving along at a brisk pace, makes fine use of gritty New York City locations, grounds the premise in a thoroughly plausible blue collar reality, stages several exciting action set pieces with flair and skill (a chase sequence in Central Park involving a bunch of angry bicyclists rates as a novel and thrilling highlight), and maintains a playfully audacious tone throughout. Donald E. Westlake's clever script slyly subverts crime cinema conventions by making the crooks a pair of highly likable and sympathetic average working class guys who the viewer can't help but identity with and subsequently root for to get away with their daring heist. Gorman and Bologna display a natural and convincing chemistry in the leads; they receive sturdy support from John P. Ryan as formidable mob fence Patsy O'Neill, Richard Ward as hard-nosed flatfoot Paul Jones, Sheppard Strudwick as shady businessman Mr. Eastpoole, Ellen Holly as nervous secretary Mrs. Wells, Dolph Sweet as the hearty George, and Joe Spinell as intimidating enforcer Marty. Both David L. Quaid's sharp cinematography and Michael Legrand's tuneful score are up to speed. A racy treat.

joed1667 Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna play 2 cops but they can be just about anyone else in any profession. Just 2 guys trying to make a living and support their families in the craziness of New York City. Even though they are corrupt, you can't help but feel sorry for them because all they are trying to do is survive. We soon find out that everyone else is just as corrupt, from the grocery store manager who justifies walking out of the store each day with a sack of groceries as a "prerogative of my managerial position", to the executive and his secretary at a Wall St. securities firm padding the amount stolen so they can keep a little for themselves to the crooked mobsters who weren't going to let anyone keep the money in return for the stolen bonds.This was just a nicely made, lighthearted movie with a good cast of actors and takes us back to the 70's. There's no sex scenes, no wild ridiculous explosions, no actors doing the physically impossible, no computer generated graphics, just a nice clean (and corrupt) movie. It's movies like this that Hollywood needs to go back and remember a time that you had quality, and not quantity with the garbage they are throwing into them today.I would like to see this movie released in Blu Ray and with the scenes added that regular DVD version cut.

Robert J. Maxwell It's a pretty dumb title -- "Cops and Robbers." Sounds as if it ought to be a gritty urban crime tale starring maybe Steven Segal. Instead it's a good-natured look at two ordinary New York City cops who are tired of the violence and selfishness they see on the job, the greed and perspiration. They dream about getting their share of the goods too so that one of them (Cliff Gorman) can take his family to Bermuda and the other (Joseph Bologna) can become a farmer in Saskatchewan.The cops contact a mafioso (John Ryan) and tell him they want to get out, and they plan on doing it by stealing something and selling it to him for disposal. "What do you plan to steal?" asks Ryan. "Whatever you'll pay two million dollars for," replies Gorman.So they stage a robbery along lines suggested by Ryan, robbing an investment firm of ten million dollars worth of bearer bonds. The man who runs the firm, Mr. Eastpool (Shephard Strudwick) and his secretary (Ellen Holly, a dish) cooperate fully -- and for good reason. Afterward they claim TWELVE million was stolen, stealing the extra two million for themselves. "One million apiece!" Bologna exclaims in disgust. The two don't actually steal anything because they are forced by circumstances to destroy the bonds. But they cheat Ryan out of the two million he agreed to pay, and the film ends with the pair lazing in the back yard of their modest home, smiling and gazing contentedly at an airliner way up there in the sky.The amusement is tempered with a good deal of suspense before and after the robbery as the usual things go wrong and reality intrusions occur.Gorman and Bologna work well together, the former slightly wall eyed and a little insane, the latter cherubic and frightened. In their false mustaches, each looks a little like Groucho Marx. Strudwick and Holly are better than simply good enough, too.Much of the credit must go to the director, Aram Avakian, watching whose documentary, "Jazz on a Summer's Day," was almost as good as being there. Avakian gets a lot of smiles out of events in long shot. (The kids might not get it.) Example: Ryan is having his record typed up for an interview in the police station, looking very very Italian. "What's your name?" asks the cop tonelessly from behind the desk. "Patsy O'Neal," replies the smiling Ryan easily. The cop doesn't bat an eye as he types in, "Anielli, Pasquale." Well, another example, because that last one didn't involve a long shot. A half dozen mafia types wearing shades and flowered shirts are leaning against the wall in front of a high mafioso's headquarters when Ryan's long limousine pulls up. Ryan sits patiently in the car while the armed goons spread out in a circle, like the Praetorian Guard, hands fondling the guns packed into their belts, eyes searching for enemies. Nothing much is made of it but the scene is quite funny. I won't describe any of the other amusing scenes except to say that you have to look for them. The comedy is effective but not outrageous. Nobody falls on his behind, and after the first few minutes there is no shooting.Easy going and diverting film, worth watching.

bob_gilmore1 Donold Westlake is a true American original. He wrote a number of great books on capers in the 70's including Bankjob and The Hot Rock. But his best screenplay is clearly Cops And Robbers which also benefits greatly from top notched performances and an effortless presentation of a tightly knit story. It is one of the few films from the period that has aged well and given the fact that it was never released during the VHS era (and rarely screened on television) it is a treat for those that missed it.The DVD is nothing special (pan and scan without special features) but it captures the essence of the theatrical release and given the lack of close-ups it doesn't suffer a lot from being cropped. It captures the spirit of 70s morality without offending many. In summary, it remains a strangely uplifting "feel good" artifact of an era that generally feels more dated than the proceeding decade.