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Shamus (1972)
Director: Buzz Kulik
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
No-nonsense title for a no-nonsense ex-pool player turned private eye. Hired by a shady rich man to find out who killed a diamond thief, Reynolds stumbles on something bigger: gun-running and the illicit sale of surplus US military equipment. He is also stumbled upon (metaphor intended) by Dyan Cannon, as the voluptuous sister of an ex-football star, who thinks her brother's somehow involved and enlists the shamus' professional help. It's a stereotyped, amoral tale; the film doesn't bother to tell us who is running guns, where and why. Kulik is more concerned with careful social and dramatic realism; the shamus is no Bond-fantasy hero, just a tough guy who hits first and asks questions later, and is frankly a stud. Little details (like the way he mouths 'Shit!', and when the window sticks), the unsentimental but real moments of male comradeship between him and a cop, him and his underworld contacts, the downbeat ending, make the film worth watching.Author: MV
Cast & crew
Director: Buzz Kulik
Producer: Robert M Weitman
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, John Ryan, Joe Santos, Giorgio Tozzi, Ron Weyland full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 106 mins
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