tvnutt Burt Reynolds really channels a young Marlon Brando in this film. He plays Lt. Phil Gains and is a cool character who doesn't like to get too close to people(he has a penchant for 30's style music and vernacular). He lives with his girlfriend, played by Catherine Deneuve, who happens to be a Call Girl but neither of them are willing to give up the dangers(mental and physical) of their careers. However, they dream about running off to Europe. It's as if they are afraid of what will happen if they do.To sum it up, Gains is called in to investigate the body of a young girl found dead on a beach. It is ruled a suicide but the girl's parents, mainly her father, refuse to believe it. The father, played by actor Ben Johnson, is seeking revenge and Gains wants to be one step ahead of him. To me, the standout in this film is actor Eddie Albert, who I've always had a crush on. This is probably the creepiest role he ever played. He's a lawyer with mob connections and won't let anyone stand in his way. He is also a client of Deneuve's character and grins ear-to-ear when talking about the dead girl and the pleasure he and friends got from her. We're talking HUGE creep factor here. In one scene he refers to the girl by saying "She could get milk out of a crowbar." Don't think I need to explain THAT line. This film is the typical 1970's cop film with lounge jazz music playing over a car scene. Pretty tame by today's standards but did earn an R-rating. There is reference to a porno film that is supposed to feature Albert's character Leo Sellers(again pushing that creep factor up!). "Hustle" is probably one of Burt's more forgettable films but it is fun to see him take to a role so seriously after seeing him in Smokey and his other action films.

amosduncan_2000 Coming off their career high hit "The Longest Yard" Reynolds and Aldrich tried a highly stylized LA thriller. That was all She wrote for Roburt" productions. Even at a very young age I took a look at the reviews this film got and wassurprised how easy the critics went on it. Mostly it was ignored and allowed to die. Aldrich has done good work ("Flight of The Phenix" is among my favorite movies) but he is so out of his element trying to be stylish here. His efforts come off asa tasteless slob trying to be classy. Steve Shagen was slightly hot at the time, with his turgid "Save The Tiger" beingtaken seriously in some quarters. But Aldrich should have known this script neededsome serious work or better yet, should have been thrown out all together. The Dirty Harry/Death Wish element ( A double murderer somehow is let outout of jail for good behavior, you know, just like real life) is perhaps the worstbit of audience pandering. Then there is a consenting adults rape that probably wouldn't go over today. Visually ugly, terribly edited ( a sign of desperation and bad audience testing, the film still has a train wreck sort of quality, we all becomebad cinema lookie lous. A great partnership of Burt and Bob was notto be. Also, when something this cynical is this unconvincing, the resultis oddly upbeat.

cultfilmfreaksdotcom One of those "stick with it" kind of movies. After the success of the universally entertaining THE LONGEST YARD, director Robert Aldrich reteams with Burt Reynolds in a steamy/gritty cop melodrama that takes a little while to get going.Reynolds is Phil Gaines, a bitter, worldweary detective who, living with a high priced prostitute, doesn't live the typical law and order existence. After the dead body of a drugged young girl turns up on the beach, Gaines and his partner, Paul Winfield's Belgrave, write it off as suicide. But a stubborn, unglued war veteran father, played with a frantic energy by Ben Johnson as Marty, can't let go.Overlong scenes where Burt and hooker girlfriend Nicole – played by Catherine Deneuve – involved in tedious bouts of pillow talk (especially during the first ten minutes) distract from the real stuff: Gaines and Belgrave forced to take the investigation seriously as Marty (the father) sneaks around a local mob-run strip club for answers, stalking a seedy high profile lawyer played by YARD villain Eddie Albert.Essential action scenes are thrown in whenever necessary, and yet beneath the surface is character-study of a cop discovering the truth of a victim who, having been involved in stripping and hardcore porn, wasn't very innocent to begin with. Conversations where Reynolds and Winfield discuss the validity of the case and the futility of life, while delving into pop culture movies and music, are the highlight.A clean-shaven Reynolds, a few years shy of the signature mustache and mainstream stardom, is fitfully forlorn as a man lost in the Film Noir haze, and director Robert Aldrich makes even the slower parts interesting except those conversations with Deneuve: As a love interest, she's just not interesting.And despite a tacked-on tragic finale, this cop/melodrama feels more like reading than watching – a good thing provided you won't be able to put this down once it picks up.

moonspinner55 Great cast at the mercy of a pitiful script involving an unhappy Los Angeles cop, living with a call-girl, dreaming of a life far away from the city noise and squalor; sub-plot about a young woman's murder/suicide is just fatuous padding, and Burt Reynolds spends most of his time staring off into space (perhaps dreaming of another existence himself) or smirking into the camera. A real bummer, wasting the talents of lovely Catherine Deneuve, miscast as the prostitute. One thing you can say, it's aptly titled: the screenplay itself is pure hustle, parlaying 1940s clichés and characters into a "modern-day" scenario which bears no resemblance to reality. Supporting players Ben Johnson, Eddie Albert, Eileen Brennan, Paul Winfield and Ernest Borgnine struggle with thankless parts. * from ****