Tom Sharky is demoted to vice after a bust goes terribly wrong. He and his team stumble across a mob murder tied to prostitution and government.
Director:
Burt Reynolds
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Title: Sharky's Machine (1981)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Burt Reynolds | ... | Sharky | |
| Vittorio Gassman | ... | Victor | |
| Brian Keith | ... | Papa | |
| Charles Durning | ... | Friscoe | |
| Earl Holliman | ... | Hotchkins | |
| Bernie Casey | ... | Arch | |
| Henry Silva | ... | Billy Score | |
| Richard Libertini | ... | Nosh | |
| Darryl Hickman | ... | Smiley | |
| Rachel Ward | ... | Dominoe | |
| Joseph Mascolo | ... | Joe Tipps | |
| Carol Locatell | ... | Mabel | |
| Hari Rhodes | ... | Highball Mary | |
| John Fiedler | ... | Barrett | |
 |
James O'Connell | ... | Twigs |
Tom Sharky is a narcotics cop in Atlanta who's demoted to vice after a botched bust. In the depths of this lowly division, while investigating a high-dollar prostitution ring, Sharky stumbles across a mob murder with government ties, and responds by assembling his downtrodden fellow investigators (Sharky's "machine") to find the leaders and bring them to justice before they kill off all his partners and witnesses, including Sharky himself. Written by Unknown
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Sharky's Machine finds Burt Reynolds as a narcotics cop who after a failed buy and bust that wasn't his fault, but that got a few people killed in it, he finds himself demoted to the vice squad in Atlanta.
The prestige is hardly as good as the narcotics beat, but it does have its fringe benefits. One night after a roundup of working girls where one of their books falls into their hands, the guys ask for surveillance on Rachel Ward's place. She's an expensive item, servicing both notorious mobster Vittorio Gassman and law and order gubernatorial candidate Earl Holliman.
Their surveillance however records a murder and the rest of the film is Sharky and his new colleagues from vice trying to solve this prestige case.
Though it's a Burt Reynolds film and those usually have some humor to them, the comedy is kept in check as the film turns as deadly serious as Dirty Harry. It was reported in fact that Clint Eastwood was offered this film.
Look for some good performances by fellow vice cops Bernie Casey and Brian Keith and by Henry Silva the coked up brother of Gassman who does the dirty work of the organization and loves his job.
It's not a bad film, a mixture of Dirty Harry and Laura. Why Laura? You'll have to see Sharky's Machine for that answer.