American Cop (1995 TV Movie) User Reviews

Long On Nonsense, Short On Skill, With Little Of Entertainment Value.

[rsoonsa · 2/10 · 23 December 2005]

If a viewer decides to watch a Wayne Crawford feature, one should accept that it will be lightweight and not ably executed, and that is the case with this movie that was shipped directly to video, a continuation of international adventures of Elmo LaGrange (Crawford), supposedly a Los Angeles Police Department Auto Theft Cop (whatever that is), this time in Russia battling against a "Russian Mafia", while at the same time having to deal with attractive young females who wish to have their way with him. LaGrange, whose first cinema appearance was in a barely tolerable work titled CRIME LORDS, is travelling to Greece for a vacation, via Air Ukraine for an unknown reason, and finds himself in Moscow for an extended layover whereupon, bored, he decides to explore the airport and after relieving himself in a trench urinal, decides there to intervene and rescue a young boy who is being battered by two men, in the process losing his passport, although Elmo is somehow convinced by the lad that he will aid his saviour in regaining the document. Unfortunately, the boy is in reality a pickpocket being trained and utilized by a gang of Russian thugs and he leads Elmo to their warehouse lair, where the gangsters fire numerous rounds at the bewildered officer who, of course, escapes from the point blank barrage, and a silly chase ensues, LaGrange being mistaken for an undercover FBI agent expected to arrive in Moscow to assist in the quelling of organized crime there, the kernel of an affably frothy plot that displays little wit or invention. Plainly a vanity film for lead Crawford, who also directs the low budget piece, employing single takes, it does provide a moderately interesting turn from Olga Vodin as a young Russian woman who appoints herself as guide to Elmo through his sundry dangerous situations, and editing and camera-work are effectively managed but, for the most part, this is a forgettable production tendering a variety of episodic scenes that steadily decline into nearly total absurdity.