SnoopyStyle Frank Dooley (John Candy) is a patrol cop who catches fellow cops Nedler and Rizzo stealing TVs. However they turn the tables on Frank and he's the one dismissed from the force. Norman Kane (Eugene Levy) is an incompetent defense lawyer who leaves after his client threatens him. Dooley and Kane end up as security guards. Captain O'Connell is the owner of the security company. Lazarus and Klepper are union reps. Maggie Cavanaugh (Meg Ryan) is an instructor for the security company and O'Connell's daughter. Frank and Norman catches a group stealing from the warehouse they're guarding but they're outgunned. They are fined $100 and try to complain to the union president Michael Carlino (Robert Loggia). Kane challenges the union leaders and the guys are forced to guard the toxic dump. They investigate and find corruption in the union.I understand how Dooley ends up as a security guard but it makes no sense that Kane becomes one. There's no point in the first act. It's not funny and the two comics aren't together developing chemistry for their characters. Once they get together, it has some better moment that is worthy of a good Police Academy movie. However there are too many moments worthy of a bad Police Academy movie. It's pretty broad and badly directed. Lester is not good at directing comedies. Candy and Levy can't salvage much from this.

gwnightscream John Candy. Eugene Levy, Meg Ryan, Robert Loggia and Kenneth McMillan star in this 1986 action-comedy. The late, Candy (Summer Rental) plays ex-cop, Frank Dooley and Levy (Splash) plays unfit lawyer, Norman Kane who team up together after getting jobs as security guards. Soon, they get into action and mishaps when discovering a criminal conspiracy involving their Captain, Clarence O'Connell (McMillian) and Union President, Michael Carlino (Loggia). Ryan (Top Gun) plays O'Connell's daughter, Maggie Cavanagh who finds romance with Norman and Tony Burton (Rocky) also appears briefly as Cappy, Frank's friend & retired thief. I grew up watching this and always enjoyed it. I think it's underrated and Candy & Levy were great together. I recommend this good 80's action-comedy.

david-sarkies John Candy is not one of the all time great actors, but he is memorable in his own way. His characters tend to be cute, cuddly, and sometimes simply clumsy. His characters were enjoyable and his movies entertaining. Unfortunately, now that he is dead, others try to imitate his style of acting and just don't seem to come close. Everybody is an original and that goes just as true for John Candy as it does for everybody else. Armed and Dangerous is about a police officer, Dooley (John Candy) who catches a couple of crooked cops stealing television sets, but is framed instead. Another character, a hopeless lawyer, is encouraged by a judge to quit law and find another career, so they both become private security guards. As guards they are forced to join a union and discover that this union is conducting some very illicit business, including staging robberies when the security guards are off duty. Dooley and the ex-lawyer are caught by this scam and decide to expose the crooks. This movie is an anti-union movie. In every part of the movie, the union is portrayed in a very bad light. The union bosses are all crooks and the cast is made up of very thuggish looking characters. The boss is corrupt and the union is more concerned with making money for themselves than for looking after the workers. When confronted with a lawyer who asks too many questions, they ban the lawyer from the meetings so that they might continue with their crooked schemes. The purpose of this movie seems to reinforce in our minds that unions are evil and that they should be disbanded. Americans have always hated unions because they are too left and infringe on the right of the individual to make money. The movie ignores that facet of the union that protects the worker though. Instead we are constantly forced to see the evil side of the union and not the good side. It is an entertaining movie with its share of comedy. Armed and Dangerous is a movie that John Candy fans will appreciate, and though I do not consider myself a devout fan, I do not mind him. In another way this movie seems to be like Police Academy, except it does not focus on the training but rather the work.

MartinHafer When I think of films that just seem like they never were edited and the stories were never re-written to work out all the kinks, I can't help but think of this one.Having been a huge fan of SCTV, I was looking forward to seeing this film. In fact, my wife and I had just gotten married and could barely afford the price of admission but we found a way because we thought with Eugene Levy and John Candy is HAD to be great! Wow, were we disappointed. While we had a few laughs here and there, the film never really gained any momentum and could have been so much better. In particular, Eugene Levy was mostly wasted in his flat and uninteresting performance. Someone apparently forgot to tell him it was a comedy! As for the plot, it's about two security guards who make good. That's really all I care to say. I mean, considering the lack of effort of practically everyone involved, why should I bother saying anything else? If it's on TV, it's worth a look if you have nothing better to do.