**SPOILERS** Tough talking and hard hitting undercover NYPD cop Eddie Ryan, Robert Duvall, goes a bit too far by working over this innocent Puerto Rican party goer whom he causes to jump to his death off a six floor building. This all happens in the first five minutes in the film "Badge 373", Eddie Ryan's police badge number, during an outrageous bust of a Puerto Rican social club where the worst thing going on there is a little pot smoking by some of the party goers.
Suspended from the police department Eddie soon gets involved with this nationalist Puerto Rican group from the Bronx who are in the process of starting an armed revolt in their homeland. Supplied by a Harvard educated Puerto Rican hoodlum called Sweet William, Henry Darrow, the revolutionaries are expecting a shipment of over $3,000,000.00 in arms to achieve their aim.
It turns out almost by accident that Eddie's partner officer Gigi Caputo, Louis Cusentino, got involved with this hooker Rita Garcia, Marina Dorell, while he was on suspension that lead to Gigi's murder. Gigi through Rita somehow got in cahoots with both Sweet William and the Puerto Rican revolutionaries and became a willing accomplice in their arms running racket. Eddie making it a point to avenge his late partners murder gets his unsuspecting girlfriend Maureen,Verna Bloom, involved with his personal crusade that in the end gets her killed as well by the revolutionaries.
Eddie for his part goes all out, without a badge or the authority behind it, to stop Sweet William and his Puerto Rican revolutionaries headed by Rita's brother Ruban played by Fellipe Luciano, one of the founders of the Young Lords, from accomplishing their aims. During the course of the film Eddie gets worked over by the revolutionaries who after a wild car bus chase who, despite Eddie putting some dozen of them away, just put him in the hospital with a couple of broken bones.
The film comes to it's very predictable final with Eddie getting the lowdown to where the arms supply is to be loaded on to, a freighter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Catching the freighter's crew with it's pants down Eddie has them panic where Sweet William in a fit of insane rage guns down a totally befuddled Ruban Garcia who was killed just for having an emotional breakdown! Ruban just lost it's when the boat took off without the precious arms on board. Sweet Williams then wildly shoots up the fleeing freighters crew who had finally realized just what a bunch of lunatics, Sweet Williams & Co, that they were dealing with.
With the entire Brooklyn North police force showing up at the port all they could do is just watch Eddie climb up, on a 150 foot crane, after a hysterical and totally out of it Sweet William for the films final and talky showdown. We get the usual BS story from Sweet Williams in how he lived better then any of those, the perusing cops, ever dream of living. Sweet William also hints that he'll be back,dead or alive, to continue the revolution even if it ends up killing him! This brain numbing harangue goes on and on until Eddie, with Sweet William unarmed and no threat to anyone, finally blows him away just to stop Sweet William from talking Eddie the police and movie audience to death with his boring and endless dialog.
Sub-par "French Connection" follow up with the real hero of the "French Connection" Eddie Egan, as Eddie Ryan's friend and boss Lt. Scanlon, in the cast. Robert Duvall was a bit hard to take as suspended policeman Eddie Ryan taking on persons, by two's three's and even four's, twice as big as he is. Henry Darrow as ex-Puerto Rican hood and now full time freedom fighter Sweet William was a lot more effective in the little time that he was in the movie. The unrelenting violence as well as x-rated and racist dialog in the movie, by its screen writer the ultra-liberal newspaper columnist Pete Hamill, was so laughable and off the wall that it came across more comical, how could anyone take it seriously, then anything else.
Suspended from the police department Eddie soon gets involved with this nationalist Puerto Rican group from the Bronx who are in the process of starting an armed revolt in their homeland. Supplied by a Harvard educated Puerto Rican hoodlum called Sweet William, Henry Darrow, the revolutionaries are expecting a shipment of over $3,000,000.00 in arms to achieve their aim.
It turns out almost by accident that Eddie's partner officer Gigi Caputo, Louis Cusentino, got involved with this hooker Rita Garcia, Marina Dorell, while he was on suspension that lead to Gigi's murder. Gigi through Rita somehow got in cahoots with both Sweet William and the Puerto Rican revolutionaries and became a willing accomplice in their arms running racket. Eddie making it a point to avenge his late partners murder gets his unsuspecting girlfriend Maureen,Verna Bloom, involved with his personal crusade that in the end gets her killed as well by the revolutionaries.
Eddie for his part goes all out, without a badge or the authority behind it, to stop Sweet William and his Puerto Rican revolutionaries headed by Rita's brother Ruban played by Fellipe Luciano, one of the founders of the Young Lords, from accomplishing their aims. During the course of the film Eddie gets worked over by the revolutionaries who after a wild car bus chase who, despite Eddie putting some dozen of them away, just put him in the hospital with a couple of broken bones.
The film comes to it's very predictable final with Eddie getting the lowdown to where the arms supply is to be loaded on to, a freighter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Catching the freighter's crew with it's pants down Eddie has them panic where Sweet William in a fit of insane rage guns down a totally befuddled Ruban Garcia who was killed just for having an emotional breakdown! Ruban just lost it's when the boat took off without the precious arms on board. Sweet Williams then wildly shoots up the fleeing freighters crew who had finally realized just what a bunch of lunatics, Sweet Williams & Co, that they were dealing with.
With the entire Brooklyn North police force showing up at the port all they could do is just watch Eddie climb up, on a 150 foot crane, after a hysterical and totally out of it Sweet William for the films final and talky showdown. We get the usual BS story from Sweet Williams in how he lived better then any of those, the perusing cops, ever dream of living. Sweet William also hints that he'll be back,dead or alive, to continue the revolution even if it ends up killing him! This brain numbing harangue goes on and on until Eddie, with Sweet William unarmed and no threat to anyone, finally blows him away just to stop Sweet William from talking Eddie the police and movie audience to death with his boring and endless dialog.
Sub-par "French Connection" follow up with the real hero of the "French Connection" Eddie Egan, as Eddie Ryan's friend and boss Lt. Scanlon, in the cast. Robert Duvall was a bit hard to take as suspended policeman Eddie Ryan taking on persons, by two's three's and even four's, twice as big as he is. Henry Darrow as ex-Puerto Rican hood and now full time freedom fighter Sweet William was a lot more effective in the little time that he was in the movie. The unrelenting violence as well as x-rated and racist dialog in the movie, by its screen writer the ultra-liberal newspaper columnist Pete Hamill, was so laughable and off the wall that it came across more comical, how could anyone take it seriously, then anything else.