Movie Details
| Title: | Badge 373 | |
| Director: | Howard W. Koch | |
| Year: | 1973 | |
| Genre: | Cop | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.11.26 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.11.26 | Blu-ray | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2026 In the wake of The French Connection's success, we know that Popeye Doyle goes to France to keep chasing Fernando Rey (in The French Connection 2), and we know that Buddy leads a unit going after bad hombres (in The Seven-Ups), but what about the real cop that Popeye Doyle was based on? What did that guy do? Well, I guess he showed off his hatred of Puerto Ricans in Badge 373. Robert Duvall plays Eddie (while the real Eddie plays his sergeant Scanlon), who kinda-sorta pushes a guy off a roof and gets suspended, then his partner dies under suspicious circumstances so, you know, he figures that out. I mean, The French Connection was such a huge hit that it spawned a whole genre of 70s NYC cop moves (and Italian equivalents) and to be honest I've liked almost all of the ones I've seen. I'd never heard of this one though until Vinegar Syndrome released it under their cinematographie line so I bought it. I mean, Robert Duvall tough cop action drama? I liked The Outfit, how bad could this be? Well, I think now the reason this isn't talked about alongside those others is it kinda sucks. It's like 40 minutes too long, there's no real driving force. they have a set piece chase sequence trying to replicate William Friedkin's but with a bus that just didn't work for me at all. And on top of it all, the big score that Duvall uncovers really confused me. A local bookmaker's lining up a deal to send guns to Puerto Rico for a liberation movement? Granted, I know nothing about Puerto Rico, but "Puerto Rico Libre" is not a phrase I'm familiar with. Haven't they been a US territory since forever? Were they going to liberate themselves from America? I do sort of know there was a huge influx of Puerto Ricans into New York City around that time but for whatever reason that didn't pack as big a punch as discovering the source of heroin coming in from France. Usually this is when I fall back on the wonderful location photography - NYC in the 70s is a particular cinematic favorite of mine - but this was mostly in the dark and/or rain. I dunno... just didn't connect with me really. Back to the shelf it goes. |
