The Seven-Ups Reviews

D'Antoni had already produced two action films, BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION, and opted to direct as well for this one. The chase scenes are excellent, but the humanity is left behind in favor of screeching cars and an attempt at gritty realism that never quite convinces. Scheider runs an unorthodox division of the NYPD which includes Arnold, Leon, and Kerchevald. Lo Bianco is Scheider's chief informant on the streets. The group is after crooks whose crimes will result in them getting more than seven years in jail. Lo Bianco has his own plan and uses Scheider's confidential list of loan sharks to nab the Shylocks and hold them for ransom. When Kercheval is killed, Scheider engages in a frenzy of unlawful assaults on criminals in an attempt to get to the bottom of things. In one sequence, a car is chased under a semi-trailer, decapitating the passengers. At the end of the movie, Scheider promises Lo Bianco that he will tell all the mobsters who was behind the kidnappings and let them do the job the cops won't. The photography is dim, and there is nothing much special about the acting. Don Ellis's score helps immensely to buck up what would have been an otherwise undistinguished cops-and-robbers tale. Lots of violence and tough language.