dworldeater Vice Squad is a hard hitting, gritty, realistic look of life on the streets. Very low budget, but very high quality production. This very mean and action packed tale of sleazy darkness is one film that surely made its mark. Starring Season Hubley, the first wife of Kurt Russell and in this film she is ultra sexy Hollywood hooker Princess. When Princess works with vice cop (played by Gary Swanson) to set up psycho pimp Ram Rod goes awry. Gary Swanson and his team of cops need to find Princess or Ram Rod before Ram Rod finds Princess and gets his sweet revenge on her. While being ultra dirty and sleazy picture, it also is very sharp looking and well shot. Courtesy of Stanley Kubrick's fave director of photography John Alcott. Who was DP on Barry Lyndon, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and now Vice Squad. The entire cast gave strong performances, but Wings Hauser gives an exceptional balls out performance as Elvis loving, hot tempered maniac cowboy pimp Ram Rod. Easily one of the best villains I have ever seen. Director Gary Sherman made an excellent film that made some waves when it was released. It also influenced many film makers (big and small) to come and holds up as an awesome, classic brutal movie.

Joey Dietrich ...still manage to be this brutally engaging?! For the longest time, I avoided this film because for some reason, I had mixed it in my head with Forced Entry (1975), as the posters looked quite similar. I finally got around to seeing Vice Squad and my jaw dropped to the floor.This film has so many cliché cop drama moments that I couldn't help but laugh hysterically... but when the story shifted gears to the more brutally realistic events of the seedy LA night life, my jaw dropped even further.Ramrod makes for one of the most menacing villains I've ever seen on screen and I would actually compare him to Daniel Day Lewis' Bill The Butcher from Gangs of New York. I had never seen much of Wings Hauser's work prior to this film, but his performance in Vice Squad put him on my map.I think the film's most defining moment for me is when Ramrod chases a battered Season Hubley down the alleyway as she clutches onto the stuffed animal she was going to give her daughter. It's blatantly symbolic and cliché, yet ultimately heartbreaking and uncomfortable.Vice Squad a prime example of a "cult film" and it's one I enjoyed immensely.On a side note, I had watched Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" a day or so prior to seeing this film. Previously, I had only seen Season Hubley in Escape From New York and though I knew she was Kurt Russell's wife at the time, I had no idea that she had such a filmography under her belt. I thought she was fantastic in both films. I wonder whatever happened to her...

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Worth seeing only for the off the wall and over the top performance of Wings Hauser as the crazed and psychotic street pimp aptly called Ramrod who chews up the carpet or celluloid in every scene he's in. In Fact we hear Hauser screaming at the top of his lungs the movie's theme song "Neon Slime" together with the opening credits that puts you right in the mood, in it's ear splitting and cat shrieking sounds, for watching the movie.It's All-American mom and successful businesswoman by day and high paid street hooker by night Princess, Season Hubley, who ends up crossing swords with Ramrod who beat to death her friend and fellow street hooker Ginger, Nina Blackwood, after accusing her of holding out $500.00, that she made turning tricks on the street, on him. Princess after being busted agrees to work undercover for the L.A vice squad to get the goods on Ramrod by getting a job as one of the hookers in his stable. Caught soliciting Princess for cash Ramrod is arrested and about to be sent downtown to be booked. That's when the two Keystone Kops Mendez & Kowalski, Pepe Serna & Joseph Di Giroloma, that have him in their custody take their eyes off him and end up getting clobbered by Ramrod who's now determined to get even with Princess for setting him up.Not knowing that Ramrod escaped and is out looking for her Princess goes about her work as a hooker or lady of the night entraining customers which includes this old weirdo, Hugo Stanger, who like Dracula likes to sleep in a coffin and have her turn him on by waking him up while dressed only in her bra & panties together with a skimpy wedding outfit! This experience had a shocked Princess almost quit her job as a street hooker and go back to closing big business deals and doing housework and make up what she's lost in not turning tricks by playing the horses, and winning at it, at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita!***SPOILERS*** Ramrod who spends almost the entire movie looking for Princess in order to pay her back for what she did to him finally gets his hands on her and takes Princess, kicking and screaming, to his secret hideout at a deserted building in downtown L.A. Taking his time in doing Princess in by trying to slowly torture her to death gives Vice Squad honcho Tom Walsh, Gary Swanson, and his boys Mendez & Kowalski, who after having Ramrod break his nose looks like he's wearing a 1930's football helmet, all the time they needed to track the by now completely out of control psycho down. Still it took a whole lot of shooting blasting driving and running to finally put Ramrod's reign of terror to an end along with him. Still long after Ramrod finally became history were forced to suffer through Ramrod or Wings Hauser's ear and nerve wrecking splitting singing voice as the films ending credits roll up the screen.

merklekranz "Vice Squad" could be the best researched film I've ever seen. The realistic portrayal of life on the street is both seedy and fascinating. The acting is top notch with Wings Hauser as Ramrod, the over the top pimp, Gary Swanson as the strong arm tactics cop, and Season Hubley, the revenge seeking prostitute. The sharp dialect, and excellent photography are two more strong points. There are surprising moments of dark humor, especially relating to some of the customer's fetish preferences. All in all, a great action film that has held up nicely with the passage of time. The conclusion to Ramrod's reign of terror is both exciting and satisfying. Recommended viewing. - MERK