Film Review: Hustle (1975)

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Few things in the history of American cinema provide such a clear representation of the era in which they were made as the crime films of the first half of the 1970s. At least this could be said about films set in big cities, where issues like rampant poverty, drug addiction, racial tensions and an explosion of crime were difficult to ignore. For many producers, such films also provided a cheap excuse to use more liberal censorship standards and provide the audience with exploitative content like sex and violence. But some film-makers were quite aware that urban problems were part of a much bigger picture, and that the explosion of crime in the streets went hand in hand with rampant corruption in high offices, an issue made apparent in the aftermath of 1960s social turmoil, the Vietnam War fiasco and the Watergate scandal. One of the films that tried to make such a connection was Hustle, a 1975 crime drama directed by Robert Aldrich.

The protagonist of the film is LAPD Lieutenant Phil Gaines (played by Burt Reynolds, who also co-produced the film with Aldrich), a world-weary policeman quite aware that his attempts to bring at least some law, order and justice to the increasingly violent streets of Los Angeles look quixotic. The latest chapter in this sad story appears to be the discovery of a young woman’s body, after which Gaines and his partner, Sergeant Louis Belgrave (played by Paul Winfield), are put in charge of the homicide investigation. The woman is quickly identified as Gloria Hollinger (played by Colleen Brennan), a prostitute, former stripper and pornographic actress, and the post-mortem suggests suicide by deliberate drug overdose as the most likely manner of death. Gaines finds that one of the dead girl’s clients was Leo Sellers (played by Eddie Albert), an attorney with strong organised crime and political connections. The investigation is further complicated because Sellers also uses the services of Nicole Britton (played by Catherine Deneuve), a French woman who works as a call girl and also happens to be Gaines’ girlfriend. As both lovers try to reconcile their professional and private lives, another problem arrives in the form of Marty Hollinger (played by Ben Johnson), the dead girl’s father and a disgruntled Korean War veteran who, convinced that his daughter was murdered, decides to seek justice his own way, forcing Gaines to stop him in order to prevent further violence and tragedy.

After its premiere, Hustle had success among critics and audiences, but it quickly sank into relative obscurity. That might be explained by its being one of the less typical specimens of the genre. The audience probably expected another standard police action film with Reynolds, then at the peak of his iconic macho stardom, delivering the role of another Dirty Harry-like cop who cleans up the urban jungle with simple and spectacular methods. Steve Shagan’s script provides a couple of such scenes, but they are merely the background for the main plot, which puts more emphasis on character. And Gaines is actually light years away from the standard 1970s police film hero. Reynolds plays him as a vulnerable individual, traumatised by the failure of his past marriage and even more frustrated by his inability to protect society from the vilest of evildoers like Sellers, who actually represent the very system Gaines is part of. Reynolds plays this complex role very well, and his love affair with a prostitute, which would look bizarre in most other films, looks quite realistic. In his efforts, he is matched by Catherine Deneuve, one of the greatest 20th-century film actresses, in the best-known Hollywood role of her career. She delivers another realistic portrayal and helps the audience accept why these two damaged characters could have found a romantic antidote to their cynicism in each other.

Another reason why Hustle isn’t that well-known might be found in the generally unpleasant tone of the film, making many viewers, even those who appreciated its qualities, less eager to remember it. Shagan and Aldrich tried to be as realistic as possible and decided not to spare the audience from scenes and plot elements many other Hollywood film-makers would avoid. This can be seen at the beginning, when Marty Hollinger faces every parent’s worst nightmare in the most shocking, traumatic and humiliating way possible. Another such example comes at the finale, when what was supposed to be a conventional happy ending gets brutally interrupted by one of the most shocking conclusions in New Hollywood history. This, and problems with the pacing that make Hustle somewhat overlong, might explain why many have chosen to leave this film in the 1970s, a dark and depressive age that it so strongly resembles.

RATING: 7/10 (++)