Action

Comedy

Crime

Thriller

Running Scared

The Turman-Foster Company

David Foster Productions

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

United States of America

English

Gregory Hines

Billy Crystal

Steven Bauer

Darlanne Fluegel

Joe Pantoliano

Dan Hedaya

Jon Gries

Tracy Reed

Jimmy Smits

John DiSanti

Larry Hankin

Don Calfa

Robert Lesser

Betty Carvalho

Louis Perez

Etel Billig

Meg Register

Deanna Dunagan

Jim Ortlieb

Julian Pena

Ernest Perry Jr.

Ron Cummins

Natividad Ríos Kearsley

John LaMotta

Richard Kuss

Jeff Silverman

Dax Brooks

Jaime Alba

Debbie Johnson

Fred Buch

Ricardo Gutierrez

Frankie Davila

James Noah

Bob Zrna

Joe Guastaferro

Mike Bacarella

Johnny O'Donnell

Richard Wharton

Tony Zurita Jr.

Saralynne Crittenden

Alex Leonard Jenkins

William Lozada

Irma O'Quendo

Charles D. Scholvin

Joel Becker

Kevin Bassett

Stephen Burrows

Luis Contreras

Bob Harks

Robert A. Janz

James Leaming

Al Leong

Robert Minkoff

Rick Sawaya

Adrian Tafoya

Michael McDonald

Peter Hyams

Gary DeVore

Jimmy Huston

David Foster

Lawrence Turman

Jonathan A. Zimbert

Rod Temperton

James Mitchell

Penny Perry

Albert Brenner

Alan L. Nineberg

Larry Williams

Udi Harpaz

David M. Haber

George Gaines

Sugar Blymyer

Lee Harman

Deborah A. Dell'Amico

Aldric La'Auli Porter

Jim Van Wyck

David B. Brenner

Randle Akerson

Gene S. Cantamessa

Marty Church

Norval D. Crutcher III

Carlos Delarios

Mike Dobie

Trevor Jolly

Michael J. Kohut

Aaron Rochin

Samuel C. Crutcher

Robin Haskins

Henry Millar Jr.

Robert Bruce Myers

Kenny Bates

Jerry Brutsche

Bill Couch

Cliff Cudney

Jimmy Lynn Davis

Greg Wayne Elam

Hubie Kerns Jr.

Rick LeFevour

Carey Loftin

Jimmy Ortega

Kay Whipple

John Escobar

James Fierro

Daniel Maldonado

Billy Craft

John Baron

Ralph Gerling

Myron Hyman

Aaron Pazanti

D. Michael Wheeler

Burke Mattsson

Show me another career they let you shoot people.

Running Scared is directed by Peter Hyams (also on cinematography duties) and written by Gary DeVore, Gary DeVore and Jimmy Huston. It stars Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, Steven Bauer, Darlanne Fluegel, Joe Pantoliano, Dan Hedaya, Jon Gries, Tracy Reed and Jimmy Smits. Music is by Rod Temperton.

The buddy buddy action/comedy cop formula has proved to be a most viable filmic commodity over the years. It gathered apace in the 1980s and right at the forefront is this often forgotten fun little treasure.

Plot has Hines and Crystal as Chicago cops, tough and full of wise cracks, they are tasked with trying to bring down high profile drug dealer Julio Gonzales (Smits). The timing is unfortunate because after a holiday in Key West the boys decide they have had enough of police work and want to retire there. Can they bring down Julio Gonzales? Can they stay alive in the process? Questions to be answered in an entertaining hour and forty five minutes.

The chemistry between Hines and Crystal is set in stone, they are a great pairing and very quickly you warm to them. As per genre requirements some of their character's methods are unconventional. the gags are thick and fast, and crucially very funny - while the support slots are nicely filled (Pantoliano a joy).

In the mix as the two cops ponder retirement is the looming presence of two younger cops ready to step into their shoes, which of course makes for sparky rivalry. There's the emotional beat of "the ex-wife" as a critical plot development, though amazingly Fluegel is under written and hardly in the piece! And Smits never fully convinces as the chief villain, but he also is weirdly under written. 

Basically if you have a kink for this type of genre piece, especially ones produced in the 80s - and to have an understanding of that decades style of film making - then there's a good time to be had here. 7/10

Car Chase On The Train Tracks

No Pants, No Negotiation

Briefcase Full Of Cash

Official Trailer

Best Movies

Running Scared

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Gregory Hines

Billy Crystal

Steven Bauer

Darlanne Fluegel

Joe Pantoliano

Dan Hedaya

Jon Gries

Tracy Reed

Jimmy Smits

John DiSanti

Box office

More Like This

L'infiltrée

Nightwatch

Valkyrie

The Butterfly Effect

Death Proof

We Own the Night

Hard Target

The Gift