HOLLYWOOD VICE SQUAD

US, 1986, 101 minutes, Colour.
Carrie Fisher, Ronnie Cox, Frank Gorshin, Trish Van Devere, Leon Isaac Kennedy.
Directed by Penelope Spheeris.

Hollywood Vice Squad is one of those many films about cities and their police forces. This film is influenced by the popularity of the television series Miami Vice. However, the themes and the treatment have long been in use - it is only the frankness of the '80s which is more explicit.

This film has the added advantage of a strong cast of character actors and actresses. It was directed by Penelope Spheeris. It is really television material for the cinema screen.

1. The popularity of television police series? The film based on fact? Crime and corruption in the American cities? Police heroics? The sensationalising of Hollywood and the work of a Vice Squad?

2. The use of Los Angeles, Hollywood, the streets, day and night, squalor, sleaziness? Los Angeles by dap, the wealth suburbs? The police precincts? The contrast between ugliness and hope? The editing and pace, special effects and stunts? Score?

3. The screenplay and the interweaving of the stories? Based on fact? Similar to stories of other cities, differences?

4. Audience reaction: interest, reaction to corruption, sensationalism, expectations of law and administration, the effects on the police who have to be in contact with such criminals and crime, experience danger and violence?

5. The opening with the Chinese detective; his patter, his disguise? The drag queen and the violence, the danger, the pool? His partner, the involvement in the main case? Undergoing dangers? Being shot at? The film ending with the Santa Claus disguise?, The serious and humorous tones of the work? Police characters, buddies?

6. Petty and her disguise as a hooker, the danger, the client, the car, the arrest? The clash with the men? Her jogging, discovering the pornographic film-makers? The attitude of authorities, her having to learn detail about her work, preparing her case for the courts? Her snooping in the garage and almost getting caught? The raid and the bust? The personal story, her mother's visit? Sketch of a policewoman?

7. The mother searching for her daughter? The mid-West, the photos, the daughter leaving? The mother believing in her goodness? Her continued search? The police captain, response to the story? Emotional response? The squad involved in the search? The involvement? The recovery of the daughter, the reconciliation with the mother? The sharpness as well as the sentiment of the ending? The perennial story of the youngsters being caught up in the vice of the city?

8. The escort agency, Walsh and his henchmen, staff? The transvestite at the desk? The girls, the drug dependence? His treatment of the girls? The girls dying of drug overdoses? The police reaction to the agency?

9. The police and the street arrests? The undercover police? The plan to bust Walsh? The black policeman and his pose as a Detroit pimp? His associate? The disguise, toughing it out? The hotels, Walsh's henchmen, the meetings, the bargaining? The use of Marie? Dinner and the gun under the table? The hiring of the killer? The crossed cheques amongst the police? The restaurant violence, the threat to the Chinese detective in the room with Laurie, his partner getting through the bathroom window? The violence? The girl and her confrontation with Walsh, his death? The background of escort agencies, their use? The hold over the girls? Crime personalities?

10. The background of the illegal betting, Jesse and the raid on his house, the detectives with their hold over him? The identifying? The background of the police, the bald strong policeman and his phone call to his family? His intervening in fights in the street? Achieving of goals?

11. The Captain and his administration of the team? His own background?

12. The life of the city, law and justice? hope? Good and evil, right and wrong?