Vice Squad (1982)

A Los Angeles businesswoman, known only by her street name of Princess, turns to prostitution to support herself and her young daughter when she's forced by Detective Tom Walsh and his vice... See full summary »

Director:

Gary Sherman

Writers:

Sandy Howard, Kenneth Peters,

Stars:

Season Hubley, Gary Swanson, Wings Hauser

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Season Hubley	...	Princess
Gary Swanson	...	Tom Walsh
Wings Hauser	...	Ramrod
Pepe Serna	...	Pete Mendez
Beverly Todd	...	Louise Williams
Joseph Di Giroloma	...	Kowalski (as Joseph DiGiroloma)
Maurice Emanuel	...	Edwards
Wayne Hackett	...	Christian Sorenson
Nina Blackwood	...	Ginger
Sudana Bobatoon	...	Dixie
Lydia Lei	...	Coco
Kelly Piper	...	Blue Chip
Kristoffer Anders	...	Sergeant Brooks
Joseph Baroncini	...	Ted
Fred Berry	...	Sugar Pimp

Storyline

A Los Angeles businesswoman, known only by her street name of Princess, turns to prostitution to support herself and her young daughter when she's forced by Detective Tom Walsh and his vice squad to help them arrest a brutal pimp named Ramrod for the murder of a prostitute named Ginger. But when Ramrod learns that he was set up, he escapes from police custody and begins a long night of tracking down Princess while Walsh and his vice squad are always one step behind him.

---

Plot Keywords:

police | prostitution | escape | pimp | clothes hanger | 

---

Taglines:

She's a whore . . . he's a psychotic pimp bent on REVENGE

---

Genres:

Action | Thriller | Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 April 1982 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Brigada do Vício

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dynamic, Hemdale

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To play Princess, Season Hubley spent nights researching the lives of prostitutes and the locations they frequented.

---

Goofs

As Season moves past the candles and flowers in the wedding scene with the old man in the mansion, a cameraman and camera are clearly visible on the right side of the scene.

---

Quotes

Edwards: Jesus, man the wombats are out tonight. I mean whores, faggots, pimps. And hustlers, junkies, drag queens and freaks man! This city sucks!

---

Connections

Featured in Terror in the Aisles (1984)

---

Soundtracks

"Neon Slime"
Lyrics by Simon Stokes
Music by Joe Renzetti
Performed by Wings Hauser

User Reviews

Overlooked

The thriller that brought Wings Hauser to the attention of film-makers and audiences as the manipulative, sadistic, and psychopathic pimp preying on his meal tickets with callous ambivalence. Season Hubley is the call-girl who has Hauser arrested, Swanson the detective, but before they can indict him, he's on the loose like a wild animal, out for revenge.

Hauser's intense portrayal of the urban cowboy with a seriously mean streak is probably his best role to date; edgy and offbeat, exuding charm and an omnipotence that masks a violent alter ego and hair-trigger temper - the scene in which he uses electrocution to enforce his authority is quite shocking (no pun intended).

Often dismissed as a sleaze-a-thon, and rarely referred any credit, "Vice Squad" was one of a number of films in the early eighties that dealt with the fringe sex industry and the shadowy figures that make it a dangerous profession. The cast is full of familiar faces with Beverly Todd as Hubley's ill-fated friend and confidante, Rainbeaux Smith (in one of her last roles) as a working girl, Stack Pierce, Jonathan Haze and Grand L.Bush in minor roles.

Not an emulation of the DePalma stylings (e.g. "Body Double"), it's volatile and gritty in atmosphere, more a match with "Cruising" or the subsequent slasher movies "New York Ripper" and "Fear City" in its downcast, brutal tone, director Sherman has got lucky with Hauser achieving such a memorable characterisation, surely among the most notorious of screen villains in the annals of film history.