Vice Squad - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Portions of this review appeared on MovieJawn
Vice Squad comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Directed by Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried and Lisa - which is tragically under-seen), Vice Squad is a bombastic yet realistic bit of exploitation with terrific lead performances including the late great Wings Hauser. A great A/V package comes home with a wealth of bonus materials allowing you to fully experience the West Coast Neon Slime aesthetic like never before! Highly Recommended!
Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take
Vice Squad captures a specific era that has moved on in some ways, though admittedly not all. Much like the dangerous, family-unfriendly New York of filmmakers like Abel Ferrara, there is a peculiar flavor of West Coast sleaze present here that is palpable from the jump. The sound, the visuals, the colors, and the textures all contribute to a sweaty, desperate feeling that's pervasive throughout the entire film. Vice Squad, for me, has also given that particular feeling a name: Neon Slime.
Vice Squad opens with footage from the Sunset Strip accompanying actor Wings Hauser performing the song Neon Slime in an Alice Cooper-adjacent, raw-throated croon, and it perfectly sets the mood for the film to come. When sex worker Ginger (Nina Blackwood in a pre-MTV appearance) is murdered by her pimp Ramrod (Hauser), Vice Squad sergeant Walsh (Gary Swanson) enlists Ginger's friend and fellow prostitute Princess (Season Hubley) in a sting operation to capture the pimp. But when Ramrod escapes capture, he sets out on a single-minded mission of violent retribution against a completely unaware Princess.
Vice Squad pulls no punches, but it also never dwells in the vileness of its brutality. Perhaps my favorite moment from the film is after Ginger is beaten, when we cut to the police station to find Walsh bringing in some perps. The scene is chaotic: cops and undercover officers bringing in people, shouting instructions to desk sergeants and the like; barely enough room to move, and then a huge cop emerges from his office in the back screaming about other cops taking his paperclips! It's honestly hilarious (I'm surely not doing it justice) and then Walsh finds out Ginger is in the hospital and we cut to that scene, which ends with Ginger's death. The juxtaposition of realistic comedy and tragedy is part of what makes Vice Squad feel so vital and alive even 40+ years on. It feels heightened, maybe, but real.
Director Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried and Lisa, which is tragically under-seen) intended Vice Squad to be the first major movie to accurately depict police tactics and, though it might not be the first (apparently Fort Apache the Bronx does this and beat Vice Squad to theaters by a year), the operational sequences on display are riveting. The third act is entirely a chase back and forth across L.A. with the police always precariously on the edge of losing Ramrod's trail as he closes in on the oblivious Princess, going from John to John which delivers more levity via their various kinks and fleshes out the world beyond the bounds of the narrative.
Season Hubley is captivating here as Princess. Being introduced to her in her former identity as a businesswoman only for her to change into her sex worker clothes in a bus station bathroom subtly mirrors the vice squad's undercover strategies and the events to come. Apparently, she was in the process of divorcing Kurt Russell at the time of filming and Gary Sherman advised her, as is the classic Hollywood punchline, to "use it". That she is not instrumental in Ramrod's inevitable downfall is my one real criticism of Vice Squad as a whole. But while on the subject, I would be seriously remiss to end this review without heaping due praise on Wings Hauser's sleazy, wild-eyed performance as Ramrod. From the moment he sweet-talks his way into Ginger's motel room, he radiates a feral menace. His third-act scramble for revenge is the action of a man with no thoughts of self-preservation, which Hauser portrays with a creeping inevitability like watching a predator hunting its prey.
Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Kino's jet-black 4K case combined with the largely also black cover makes the entire package look sleek and menacing. The first printing of the Kino Lorber release also includes a cardboard sleeve of the same graphics. The cover image is a stark black and white, high contrast image of Walsh staring out from behind the wheel of his undercover car, with a smaller, backlit image of a woman standing in an alley, and the tagline: "On the street, the real trick is staying alive." The blood-red logo features a neat detail: the middle stroke of the E, which is called a bar, by the way, has been made into a pistol.
Video Review
The 4K transfer here is largely incredible, sourced from its original 35mm camera negative. There is one notable sequence at Ramrod's apartment where the grain seemed to almost vibrate and this moiré was initially kind of distracting. Whether a product of my television or some combination of colors and patterns, I'm not sure, but it stood out. There are other grain-heavy sequences, but none of them produced this effect, and in general, the grain was a pleasant additional texture in any given scene. There's even one sequence in a strip club where the prevalence of film grain, presumably due to the low light and cigarette smoke in the air, actually added to the environment. Princess has agreed to be a honeypot for Ramrod, and as she stalks into his normal hangout, the heavy presence of the grain makes the atmosphere feel thick with intangible jeopardy as well as the smoke.
The colors in Vice Squad, which takes place over one night, are tremendous. From the reds, golds, and moonlight blues of the main drag, to the sickly yellow motel lobbies, and even a sequence lit entirely by candlelight an inside joke between director Gary Sherman and cinematographer John Alcott (who had previously worked on Barry Lyndon, amongst other Stanley Kubrick films). It's all so tactile. On the Blu-ray, the visual quality is high enough that you can make out the cartoon penis of the flasher graffitied in a bathroom stall, but not quite clear enough to read Walsh's button which, according to one of the commentary tracks, reads "We are all prostitutes". The overall is so good that I am giving this release the highest rating despite my minor, aforementioned quibble.
Audio Review
This was a very well-balanced audio experience for me. As I mentioned, the film opens with Neon Slime but once the dialogue properly began and I found the correct audio level, I never had to tweak it again. I'm sure anyone reading this is familiar with the problem of having to adjust the volume up or down from time to time when viewing some films; quiet dialogue followed by booming gunfire, roaring car engines, or their ilk. Vice Squad was excellently balanced. There were shootouts, car crashes, arguments, screaming, and even organ music at one point, and it was all perfectly mixed. The police shouting into their radios, coordinating assorted vehicles in pursuit of Ramrod—a genuinely riveting sequence—lacked for none of the clarity of any scenes that came before or after. As they say: practically perfect. No notes.
Special Features
For this release of Vice Squad, KLSC appears to have gone back to the Scream Factory Blu-ray to pull out that trove of extra features. We get both commentaries and that massive assortment of recent interviews with various cast and crew members. Outside of the standard KLSC trailer gallery of related titles, there's nothing exactly "new" for this release - which is pretty well okay because in this instance you're still looking at nearly 9 hours of bonus content including commentary time.
4K UHD Disc
- Audio Commentary by Steve Mitchell, writer/director of Wings Hauser: Working Class Actor
- Audio Commentary by director Gary Sherman and producer Brian Frankish
Blu-ray Disc
- Audio Commentary by Steve Mitchell, writer/director of Wings Hauser: Working Class Actor
- Audio Commentary by director Gary Sherman and producer Brian Frankish
- Radio spots
- TV spots
- Trailer
- KLSC Trailer Gallery:
- Stick
- The Hunter
- To Live and Die in LA
- Wanted: Dead of Alive
- Code of Silence
- Murphy's Law
Blu-ray Bonus Disc
- Tracking the Beast: Interview with actor Gary Swanson (HD 58:06)
- Of Poltergeists and Neon Lights: Interview with director Gary Sherman (HD 1:12:23)
- Hollywood Magic: Interview with producer Brian Frankish (HD 1:02:30)
- The Roots of Reality: Interview with actress Beverly Todd (HD 44:07)
- Catching a Killer: Interview with actor Pepe Serna (HD 58:20)
- Princess Driver: Interview with actor Michael Ensign (HD 24:14)
- Hollywood Streetwalking: Vice Squad filming locations (HD 11:37)
Vice Squad will not suit everyone's palate, nor should it, but if you enjoy a fictional walk on a realistic wild-side, it may just be for you. Allegedly, Martin Scorsese once got into an argument in a restaurant with future Columbia Pictures head Dawn Steel over whether or not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would have the gumption to nominate Vice Squad for the Best Picture Oscar, as he felt it was the film of the year.
I may not know everything, but I know better than to argue with one of the foremost living appreciators of fine and not-so-fine cinema. This is a truly incredible example of crime filmmaking, and would be a glorious addition to almost any film library. Vice Squad is Neon Slime, and that’s a very good thing. My one caveat is that there are examples of language that has either grown outdated, or was deliberately intolerant to begin with which, combined with the subject matter, might not be enjoyable for all viewers. But for those with a strong stomach, this release is Highly Recommended.
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