Running Scared is a triumph of showmanship over storytelling, surface over substance. Writers Gary Devore (Raw Deal) and Jimmy Huston have fashioned a fairly standard story about undercover cops chasing a cocaine kingpin, and Director-Photographer Peter Hyams (Outland, 2010, End of Days) delivers both a dark urban atmosphere and a hyperkinetic pace, but it is the actors who keep Running Scared on it’s feet.
Co-stars Gregory Hines (The Cotton Club, White Nights) and Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers) steal the show with their comic braggadocio and quick-fire badinage. Crystal and Hines manage to inject the film with enough street-wise sass to turn this otherwise petty vehicle into a rip-roaring roller coaster ride.
Both Hines and Crystal take calculated risks: prior to Running Scared, neither was best known for his thespian pursuits. Hines was a tap-dancer, Crystal a comedian. However, they both boosted their reputations with solid turns in this film. They are well supported by Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue, The West Wing) as drug overlord Julio Gonzales, who comes across like Michael Corleone’s darker side, and Joe Pantoliano (The Fugitive, The Sopranos) as street punk Snake, who would sooner sell his soul than take a bath.
Director Hyams, continuing the tradition established by his earlier films, is his own photographer on Running Scared – and herein lies a key problem with this film. Though his scenes are, with few exceptions, staged with consummate skill, Hyams has difficulty putting them all together. He often seems so absorbed in the details of his film that he loses any sense of the big picture. He is at his best when filming gun-play and car chases. This is indicative of Hyam’s work in general: his early film, Capricorn One, was in effect one long chase sequence. Everything else in the movie fell flat.
Despite its lack of focus, Running Scared is worth a look from those not already jaded by television cops-and-robbers. This film may be on parole, but Hines and Crystal are certainly arresting.
