The Laughing Policeman (1973)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

Per Wahlöö (novel) &
Maj Sjöwall (novel) ...

Release Date:

23 January 1974 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Eight people know who the killer is - and they're all dead!

Plot:

In San Francisco, one victim in a mass murder is a police detective. His partner and a new partner investigate in the city's seamy side.

Plot Keywords:

Killer | Dominatrix | Mass Murderer | Massacre | Car Chase

Cast

Walter Matthau	...	Sgt. Jake Martin SFPD
Bruce Dern	...	Insp. Leo Larsen SFPD
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Insp. James Larrimore SFPD (as Lou Gossett)
Albert Paulsen	...	Henry Camerero
Anthony Zerbe	...	Lt. Nat Steiner SFPD
Val Avery	...	Insp. John Pappas SFPD
Cathy Lee Crosby	...	Kay Butler
Mario Gallo	...	Bobby Mow, Snitch
Joanna Cassidy	...	Monica, Beth's Roomate
Shirley Ballard	...	Grace Martin
William Hansen	...	Mr. Schwermer, Bus Vicitm
Jonas Wolfe	...	Det. Mike Collins
Paul Koslo	...	Duane Haygood, Drug Pusher
Louis Guss	...	Gus Niles a.k.a. Andrew Medford, Bus Victim
Frances Lee McCain	...	Prostitute (as Lee McCain)

Also Known As:

An Investigation of Murder (UK)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The same distinctive green station wagon with wood panels was used in multiple scenes as an "automobile extra" and appears throughout the film in background shots.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the morgue scene, early in the film, there are a few "corpses" breathing. On one corpse, the toes curl.

Quotes:

Insp. Leo Larsen SFPD: [after spending the day monitoring Henry Camarero] We got a man farting in silk and playing all day.
Sgt. Jake Martin SFPD: I talked to Frank at the lab, and he got an FBI report on Gus Niles' prints from his service record.
Insp. Leo Larsen SFPD: [mildly surprised] Uh, are you just making conversation now?
Sgt. Jake Martin SFPD: Gus Niles used to be Andrew Medford, and he was in business with Camarero for awhile. You wanna take a guess who was Camarero's alibi at the Teresa inquest?
Insp. Leo Larsen SFPD: [realizing Jake's hunch about Camarero as the bus killer has substance behind it] How come you didn't make that in the original investigation?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hot Times (1974)

Soundtrack:

You'll Never Know

Long-time San Franciscan looks at the city in this movie.

I saw this movie today for the Xth time. As usual, I liked it a lot. So I looked this movie up on imdb.com, to see what they had to say, and was surprised at their Summary for this movie: `Dreary, Empty-Headed Crime Drama.'

I beg to differ. I have always loved this movie. It was released in 1973. It is a perfect picture of San Francisco in the mid-70's. I was there and I recognize everything in it--people, places, and attitudes. This is the pre-AIDS, pre-Yuppie, free-wheeling, getting-used-to-it San Francisco that I loved.

The director (Jack Sommersby) has taken the usual poetic license with the locations, so that the No. 14 Mission bus miraculously goes to Chinatown, and the Transamerica Pyramid is a good view from the Transbay Bus Terminal, but never mind. Any long-time San Franciscan will recognize the sights.

Further, and even better, this is a movie of subtleties--perhaps that is why the IMDB reviewer found it dreary. We are not hit in the face with expository material. The dialogue is not used to describe what can be shown. Early in the movie, the police are confronted with a bus of dead people. Getting on the bus, nobody says `It stinks in here.' Instead, one of the policemen says to the medical examiner, who is smoking a cigar, `Blow some of that smoke over here.' And, without comment, the ME does so. That is how we know it stinks in the bus.

As the policemen look closely at the dead people on the bus, they find that one of them is a policeman. It is, in fact, Matthau's partner. But they never say to each other (and therefore to us) that this victim is a policeman. They show it only in their reactions. Someone says, `My God! It's Hansen!' or words to that effect. `What is he doing on a bus?' and other dialogue let us know that this man is a policeman.

This is a happy change from the tedious obviousness of movies that are full of lines like, `You know, Jack, you are a happy-go-lucky person. Your face shows it.' Jack sits there like the lump he is, looking neither happy nor unhappy. We have to believe the speaker, because the acting isn't going to give us this information. A good director would eliminate this line, and get some happy-face acting from Jack.

It is good to see a movie directed by someone who thinks we are smart enough to get the point without being hit over the head with it. The advice usually given to beginning writers is also good for experienced directors: Don't tell us. Show us.

The laughing policeman is Bruce Dern--new to homicide investigations, and without subtleties. He laughs a lot. Matthau is the old-timer, who never laughs. He is also not a subtle person, but he is at least cautious. They are the beagle puppy and experienced retriever of the world of murder. They are oil and water, definitely not blending.

The plot is absurd, but it hardly matters. It is the chase. It is the location. It is the ambience (dreadful, overused word, but there it is; it is the right word) that counts in this movie.

Finding it on TV is hard these days. I found it recently on Black Starz TV. Fortunately for us all, Lou Gossett, Jr. is in it, so it will show up on channels catering to African Americans. Hunt for it. It's worth it.

IMDB.com uses the 10-star rating system. Following their lead, I give it 5 stars for plot, and 9 stars for faithful depiction of a time and place.