The Spectrum Files: Vice Squad

 

As a kid, it's no secret that I was impressionable.  Back then at 9 years old, even though I knew movies were an art form, they still struck me as probably more real than they should have in terms of emotional affect.  To this day, I get a feeling from them, an electrical arc that may be positive or negative, despite my being more up to date with the fact that it's fiction. 

As Frani reminds me, "It's not real".  I get that.  But art still has the power to disturb.  Sometimes, as Rob Zombie said, "It's not safe."  Especially in my case.  Even at 53, I have films on my AVOID, or at least PUT ON HOLD list, because I know some of the events that may take place in the film.  Despite knowing it's a performance, I don't feel psychically prepared for what I know will unfold on screen.  So I wait. 

Anyhoo, while watching Spectrum (my film school at age 9-10), I caught a trailer for Gary Sherman's Vice Squad.  There was a character in there that the trailer did such a great job of making him the personification of evil, that I had to see the film to make sure he got his just desserts.  Mind you, he wasn't a monster, not a creature, not a demon, not even a masked serial killer, per se. 

He was a pimp.  A pimp named Ramrod. 

The trailer gave you just enough of his pure unrefined evil to make you shudder.  An evil magnified by the performance of one Wings Hauser, father of Cole. The offspring known to many as Rip on the overblown television county fair known as Yellowstone. (Rest in peace, sir, we lost Wings recently.  He did leave an interesting body of work.)

Ramrod's path of destruction leads the Hollywood Vice Unit, lead by one Gary Swanson.  This is a role where he displays degrees of empathy, and a vicious prioritization of job over humanity that when put together lead to a good illustration of his dichotomy.  Ramrod becomes his night's agenda, as he brutally beats to death future MTV Veejay Nina Blackwood at the film's outset.  Ramrod's a wily one, escaping incarceration at one point to continue his murderous trail of mayhem through the night.  He ends up attempting to seduce and take into his pimpdom a prostitute named "Princess", a single mother trying make some sort of life.  Little does he know Princess is wired up. That leads to the beginning of the manhunt.

The role of Princess is played by the former Mrs. Kurt Russell and she's incredible.  People talk about what kind of hell Stanley Kubrick put Shelley Duvall through, a sort of psychological torture.  Well, Sherman puts Mrs. Hubley through a physical nightmare and her performance is hard to forget.  It's a shame low-budget sleaze faire like Vice Squad suffers from poor dialogue and even worse acting from supporting characters, because Season Hubley's performance is sad, tortured, angry, rebellious, strong and sympathetic; deserving of acknowledgement, if not hardware. 

Hell, I've even read that Marty Scorcese himself regarded this one as Oscar-worthy.

The Neon 80's is beautifully shot by one John Alcott, veteran of many Stanely Kubrick films, and with that pedigree, a few other flicks some would be surprised he did.  There is some great nighttime shooting,  like low budget Michael Mann.  The action sequences pack intensity and speed, the stuntwork looks like people engaging in real-life dangerous activity instead of stunts.  

Pretty convincing stuff; the film works. 

As a kid, I probably shouldn't have been watching this sex and violence riddled affair, but it wasn't the first time, and certainly wouldn't be the last. Outside of a few uncomfortable scenes, not a lot stuck with me other than the anticipation of seeing it.  But the payoff is still locked in my mind. 

And yes, catching up with Vice Squad 40 years later is worth it.