SnoopyStyle A contract is put out on hard-boiled police homicide detective Harry 'Nails' Niles (Dennis Hopper) and his partner Jack Willis. Nails survives an ambush but Willis is killed. With vengeance on his mind, Nails searches the L.A. underworld to find Willis' murderers. In between, he has sexual escapades with his ex Mary (Anne Archer).John Flynn is a B-level crime action director. Nails is a standard hard-boiled detective. He's hard drinking, hard driving, and hard fighting. While Hopper is great at the hard drinking and living, he's not as real in the hard fighting. He's in his 50's but the hard living adds at least another 10 years. There are things that he does well and others that fit less well. There is the prerequisite body double nudity for Archer and also there is old man butt from Hopper. The plot has nothing out of the ordinary. It is somewhat divided in two which feels disconnected. The dialogue can be clunky in its noir writing. This is crime noir at its hard-boiled basic level. I really wish the cinematography is better.

ccthemovieman-1 This is a low-class film with low-class, profane characters. Many times that spells death to whether I like the film but in this case, not so. That's because Dennis Hopper (perfect for profane, sick roles) is entertaining and the story moves at a brisk pace. There simply are not any dry spots. I always like to look at Anne Archer, too.However, you can overdo the swearing, and that's the case here, and the usual modern-day clichés are here (i.e. the police captain fires the cop, who is the hero; Rambo-type action in which the good guys never get hit while the bad guys always do, etc.) Those things downgrade this film to an average crime movie, which means it's still worth a look - especially if you like Hopper - but rent it before buying it.

rsoonsa Dennis Hopper is properly designated as a film personality rather than as an actor because he essentially plays himself, regardless of role requirements, and as with most performers of that type, Hopper is seldom able to rise above the quality of his material; therefore, when a production is as poorly written as in this instance, it can be no surprise that his showing is preordained to be awkward, at best. As action opens, a contract hit is being arranged to dispose of veteran Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Harry "Nails" Niles and his partner Jack, and while it is never explained why, it is possibly not worth knowing and, soon after, the two whiskey swilling (while on duty) lawmen are uncannily duped into an ambush which they stupidly abet by not requesting assistance, Jack thereby being gunned down. This naturally disturbs Niles who, still in clothing saturated with Jack's blood, meets with his estranged wife (Anne Archer) for a session of role playing sex, after which he grimly proceeds to locate his ex-partner's killer, additionally discovering in the process a large-scale heroin smuggling operation, and whereas his investigative methods are brutal, there is no longer a question of their appropriateness, due to his suspension from duty. Shot atmospherically by cinematographer Mac Ahlberg in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, and smoothly edited by Michael Knue, the film's screenplay reveals a complete lack of knowledge regarding policing procedures along with wholesale failings in logic, and while many of the supporting cast are clearly enjoying their turns, acting honours go to Cuban Tomas Milian as a detective nearing retirement cajoled into aiding Niles, an ably created part but not nearly enough to save this poorly directed and scripted affair.

millennia-2 Nails is one of those movies that since it's made for TV, then no one can see how bad two big stars can be. Dennis Hopper and Anne Archer should have known better. Hopper was in a pre-Speed slump and had I seen this stinker first, then I would've never seen Speed (What a mistake that would've been). I was suprised at the level of violence and language used in this movie. Never would I have believed that it could've made it to TV like this.+ (GOOD THINGS) 1.) The car chases 2.) The opening credits(BAD THINGS) 1.) The sets (ugh!) 2.) Hopper's performance 3.) The script 4.) The direction 5.) Archer's performance Total: 2/10