One of the better Philip Marlowe films is the simply titled, Marlowe (1969). In this adaption of Chandler’s novel, The Little Sister, actor James Garner gets the nod as the enigmatic detective. It is a quality film and is our recommendation for this installment of Weekend Buff.

In this movie, director Paul Bogart (All in the Family and Oh God! You Devil) and Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night) update Marlowe from 1940’s Los Angeles to the then-modern day late 1960’s LA.

Here Marlowe is hired by Orfamay Quest, a young lady from Kansas to locate her missing brother. The investigation soon turns to murder and a blackmail plot against famous actress Mavis Wald. Wald has shacked up with Los Angeles, nee Brooklyn, mobster Sonny Steelgrave. Wald and her studio bosses are desperate to hide the affair for fear of bad publicity, but photos of the tryst are out there somewhere.

As the bodies pile up, Marlowe has a caper on his hands. The police are also investigating, but true-to-form, Marlowe’s investigative powers are leaving the cops in the dust.

The film has a great cast, with James Garner as a solid, yet slightly atypical Philip Marlowe. The beautiful Gayle Hunnicutt stars as actress Mavis Wald. Hunnicutt exudes Hollywood glam right down to the big 60’s hair and sweet 69’ Jaguar roadster convertible that her character drives. Sharon Farrell is the manipulative client, Orfamay Quest. Both give good performances. Carroll O’Connor is excellent as the insecure LAPD Lieutenant Christy French, supported by Kenneth Tobey as Sgt Fred Beifus. Tobey is a career actor, but he plays such a great cop that I had to look him up to see if he was retired from The Job.

Bad guys include H.M. Wynant as mob boss Sonny Steelgrave, who does a nice job, but is horribly miscast into a poor character, as it seems like the studio didn’t want the stereotypical La Cosa Nostra types as the bad guys. The film was released just around the same time Joseph Coloumbo started the Italian American Civil Rights League, so perhaps they didn’t want to offend Italian Americans – or the mafia.

Steelgrave’s henchman is Winslow Wong, who is played by Bruce Lee. Wong is a great character in this film but drops off too early. Bruce Lee naturally puts on a wild martial arts display that is itself worth the cost of admission.

The film is not Oscar worthy and did not win any awards but is a solid and entertaining depiction of the legendary private eye. It is advertised as neo-noir, but the director and cinematographer could have done a better job of capturing that noir vibe.

What they do get right is the updated Marlowe feel for swinging 60’s Los Angeles. This iteration of Philip Marlowe is a little more realistic and nose to the grindstone than the literary version, and that makes the plot a little more true-to-life. Marlowe is catching clues that the cops miss and putting the puzzle together with facts rather than Sherlock Holmes-like deduction.

Phillip Marlowe gets beaten up, threatened, manipulated, and occasionally outsmarted. He survives mostly because he keeps asking questions when everybody else wants him to stop. He is a dog with a bone and refuses to let go.

Marlowe is the standard hour and thirty minutes, and the film fits the time perfectly. Nothing wasted and nothing extra. You can catch it on YouTube right now for free, but a Marlowe mystery is not something to watch on your phone. You have to pay attention to the angles, the motives, the clues, and the subtleties. This weekend, enjoy James Garner’s modern take on one of America’s greatest characters.

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An absolute classic show. Barney Miller is the gold standard for police comedies, one with many imitators but no duplicators. This was the first police show that I remember watching as a kid as my grandparents tuned in regularly.

Barney Miller relates the investigations, problems, and hijinks of the fictional 12^th Precinct Detective Squad in Greenwich Village New York City. It is a sitcom in the real sense of the word – almost the entire show takes place in the 12^th Precinct Squad room.

Led by Captain Barney Miller, the 12^th Squad is not the ideal of an efficient team of investigators, but they get the job done, just like real NYPD detective squads. The show relies on humor to handle investigations from the ridiculous to the deadly serious. I can tell you from my experience in several NYPD detective squads, that is more like the real thing than most people would guess. Working in a precinct detective squad was my favorite, and funniest, assignment. Humor makes the show and humor eases the tension for real detectives. It is a comedy that hits true to reality.

And that’s why, decades after it went off the air, it remains one of the most authentic police shows ever made. It’s not authentic in the sense of tactics, investigative techniques, or cinematic gunplay. It is authentic in the way detectives recognize immediately. They see themselves in the show. The squad room, the characters, the problems, they just feel right. The exhaustion feels right. The weirdness feels right. The job feels right.

Captain Barney Miller was played by Hal Linden, a Bronx native who is still alive and kicking at 95. Linden won numerous Golden Globes and Emmies for his portrayal of the tired and sarcastic Captain Miller. Linden’s Barney Miller is a subtly funny and competent manager who seems perennially exhausted from long days corralling cats. That’s what being a squad commander feels like. Just managing the chaos.

Linden is supported by a phenomenal cast of characters and actors that portray them. You will find carbon copies of these characters in any detective squad across the country.

Max Gail plays the dedicated but quirky Detective Stanley “Wojo” Wojciehowicz. As other detectives get tired of the routine, Wojo shows up to work ready to conquer the world.

1^st Grade Detective Ronald Harris is played by Ron Glass. He exudes the typical 1^st Grader (perhaps the hardest rank in the NYPD to achieve) vibe – well dressed, professional, and intelligent. He handles his cases with ease and is always looking for his next gig as a writer or actor to get ahead.

The ageless Abe Vigoda portrays Detective Phillip Fish. Vigoda was only 54 when the show started, but he looked like he had aged out of police work years before. And that was the role. Detective Fish was exhausted.

Jack Soo plays Sergeant Nick Yemana, who is hysterical. Yemana is the master of the deadpan one liner. He is competent, has seen it all, but is not bitter. He seems mildly amused by everything going on around him – but don’t drink his coffee, that stuff will kill you.

Other characters include Detective Chano Amengual portrayed by Gregory Sierra, Detective Arthur Dietrich played by Steve Landesberg, Deputy Inspector Frank Luger played by James Gregory, and Liz Miller, Barney’s wife, portrayed by Barbara Barrie.

The actors in this show had a bond that mirrors the bond amongst cops. The cast was close-knit and maintained relationships long after the show ended. Taping was largely drama free and friendly. The first few seasons were filmed in front of a live studio audience and then involved long hours of edits and overwrites. Filming would often last well into the wee hours of the morning. The cast was brought together in tragedy when Jack Soo died of cancer in 1979 while the show was still in production.

Decades after the show ended it is still a favorite of cops across the country. Ask any detective and 90% of them will claim this as their favorite cop show. Not every case is a homicide. Most detectives are catching a mountain of mundane misdemeanors. It gets you bone weary after a while. Barney Miller is a show detectives feel a bond with.

Barney Miller lasted 8 seasons and 171 episodes. Season 3 is probably the best, as the show found its groove. Each episode runs about 25 minutes. You can catch many of them on YouTube for free. Enjoy this timeless classic that rings true and will leave you laughing. Most of the time, this is what police work looks like.

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One of the biggest drivers for corruption is the feeling of futility that many cops suffer from, particularly when they are not supported by politicians and the justice system. Keep disparaging cops and discrediting the work that they do and some turn to misconduct to fight the system that has maligned them.

The movie Training Day (2001) is Hollywood’s outsized take on LAPD corruption as the Rampart Scandal broke. The film was certainly over the top but was inspired by the LAPD’s Rampart Division CRASH Unit misconduct.

The Rampart Scandal story broke in 1998 when Officer Rafael Perez of the CRASH unit began cooperating with Internal Affairs and prosecutors to turn in corrupt members of the LAPD Rampart Division’s CRASH unit. Unlike cops like Frank Serpico, Perez was no ideologue intent on righting wrongs within the LAPD. He was caught stealing cocaine from a LAPD evidence room and agreed to cooperate in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Perez’s allegations tore through the LAPD, leading to allegations of misconduct against 70 LAPD cops and ended the career of Chief Bernard Parks. At the end of the investigation only 8 cops were arrested, and 58 faced internal charges. William Bratton was brought on as Chief of the LAPD to clean up the mess in the wake of the scandal.

The corruption that plagued LAPD CRASH Units was allowed to fester as crime in the City of Angels grew out of control in the early 90’s with homicides passing 1,000 a year. The crack-fueled crime wave seemed uncontrollable and LAPD brass put anti-corruption safeguards on the back burner in exchange for the results being obtained by CRASH cops. That is always a recipe for disaster.

The Training Day version portrays fictitious Detective Alonzo Harris, an insanely corrupt LAPD narcotics investigator. He is charged with evaluating Officer Jake Hoyt who is a candidate for the narcotics team. Hoyt is desperate to fit into the narco unit and follows Harris’s lead. A bad decision, as Harris immediately begins leading Hoyt down the road to ruin. The day starts with Harris forcing Hoyt to smoke PCP-laced marijuana and gets worse from there. Blatant theft, fake search warrants, home invasions, drug deals, and even murder follow in an eye-opening day for the wide-eyed rookie.

The actions of Harris and his fellow officers leave viewers on the edge of their seats, wondering how much worse the day could get. And they aren’t disappointed. Harris and his young protégé wind through their day of malfeasance seemingly trying to violate every law in the California penal code. Harris’s control over his life is rapidly coming apart and disaster looms around every corner. Hoyt finds himself involved in all of it.

The movie has an all-star cast, with Denzel Washington giving a top-notch performance as the Rafael Perez-inspired Detective Alonzo Harris. Washington won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal. Ethan Hawke was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Officer Jake Hoyt. Supporting actors include Scott Glenn as drug dealer “Roger”, Tom Berringer as ADA Stan Gursky, Cliff Curtis as gangster “Smiley”, Eva Mendez as Harris’s girlfriend, Sara, and Raymond Barry as LAPD Captain Lou Jacobs. Even Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, and singer Macy Gray get cameos in the film.

The film portrays cops at their worst, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The audience is left wondering if this could actually ever happen, but unfortunately the film is an amalgamation of acts of corruption that have occurred at one point or another.

Training Day is two hours of pure corruption and violence. Detective Harris is initially seen as a corrupt cop in complete control of the streets, but slowly the audience realizes that he has put himself on the road to self-destruction – just like most corrupt cops. What initially appears to be a film glorifying police misconduct turns to a tragedy and a lesson for those who think they can get away with such behavior.

You can catch Training Day on Amazon Prime Video for the usual $4. Enjoy this action-packed portrayal of corruption and remain hopeful that the bad old days of police misconduct remain where they belong - in the rear-view mirror.

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At a time when Hollywood increasingly mistakes noise for substance, Hard Times feels almost revolutionary in its restraint. There are no bloated speeches, no unnecessary subplots, no gratuitous blood or explosions, and no desperate attempts to explain every emotion or political nuance to the audience. Hill trusts viewers to absorb the world through mood, action, and character. The result is a film that feels timeless.

At the center is Charles Bronson delivering his best performance, period. Never noted as a great actor, his grim stoicism is exactly on-point for this one.

Bronson plays Chaney, a mysterious drifter who arrives in New Orleans during the Great Depression with little more than the clothes on his back and a frightening ability to fight bare-knuckle. Chaney barely speaks, but Bronson turns silence into a weapon. Every glance and measured movement tells you exactly who this man is. In lesser hands, the role could have become a parody of masculine cool. Bronson instead gives Chaney a weary dignity that makes him magnetic from the moment he appears onscreen.

What makes Hard Times special is that it understands toughness without glorifying cruelty. Chaney isn’t a superhero. He’s a survivor. The movie presents fighting not as spectacle, but as labor — brutal, exhausting, and transactional. There’s dirt under the fingernails of this film. It reminds you of how tough boxers and MMA fighters actually have it.

And the New Orleans setting becomes a character itself. Hill captures the city as humid, battered, and half-forgotten, full of smoky back rooms, crumbling streets, riverfront shadows, and desperate hustlers trying to scrape by during the Depression. The city gives the movie its soul. Without New Orleans, Hard Times would lose much of its melancholy charm and authenticity. And the bayou scenes alone drip with character — you’ll feel like you were invited to a genuine crawfish boil (which I suspect the film crew was). It’s true Americana, without the kitsch.

Walter Hill directs with discipline, especially for a debut feature. Every frame feels purposeful. The fight scenes are quick and vicious, avoiding the cartoon choreography that infected later action films. When punches land in Hard Times, they feel painful.

The supporting cast is equally strong. James Coburn steals scenes as Speed, Chaney’s fast-talking promoter and gambler. Coburn brings humor, desperation, and charm to the role, creating the perfect contrast to Bronson’s stoic calm. Their chemistry quietly drives the movie. And any movie with Strother Martin is okay with us.

Visually, the film is gorgeous in a dusty, worn-down way. The Depression-era settings never feel artificial or overdesigned. The jazz-infused score adds another layer of grit and melancholy, making the film feel like an old American folk tale.

What’s remarkable is how modern Hard Times still feels. It predates the stripped-down masculinity later celebrated in films like Drive or The Wrestler, yet it accomplishes many of the same things with greater subtlety.

For years, Hard Times has lived in the shadow of bigger Bronson hits like Death Wish. But this is a much better film — tougher, smarter, and far more artful.

It’s not just a great Charles Bronson movie. It’s one of the great underappreciated American films of the 1970s.

I found and watched if for free, with limited commercials, by simply downloading the Roku app on my television. There appear to be other free options; here’s the link.

Hard Times runs about an hour-and-a-half. It’s a callback to when movies could genuinely transport you to another place and time, without being overdone. A great late night flick — and one that’s aged beautifully, like an Edward Hopper painting come to life.

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