There's a deadly assailant on a bus, he carries with him a very powerful machine gun who kills several people in an attempt to murder one man.
The homicide department is having an incredibly difficult time of piecing together the crime scene. All matters are made worse when they discover that one of the victims had been their own investigators.
Now there's multiple angles to work at. Why was this one police officer on the bus at this time? Where did the perk acquire his incredibly deadly weapon? What was the point of this crime to begin with.
Most of the film was just Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern patrolling the streets and working any loose end in the investigation they can get their hands on.
Eventually discovering that this criminal investigation may have connections to an older case formally involving Walter Matthau in a inquiry he couldn't accomplished. A lot of the film becomes more about Walter's character trying to piece together the past and open up old cases (and consistently gets upset with Walter for his lack of communication.) while his current partner just wants to get the job done.
There's this whole weird angle to the story involving Walters former partner possibly being connected to the former case and making it more difficult for Walter to achieve. Especially as everything starts to the evolve into this odd sex scandal involving murder, cover-ups and a wealthy businessman who may or may not be using homosexuality is a strange cover for his attending criminal endeavours.
Really that's the most interesting thing about this movie. This police drama starts revolving around he's homosexual clubs the Scandal involving a guy who may or may not be in the closet. But then they discover that there's nothing they can really do if he is out of the closet, because homosexuality in the crime anymore.
But it is still a big enough taboo that it could possibly ruin this guy's life. And that becomes something of an advantage for the detectives as they start to suspect that this guy is the murder. And all of it starts to piece together more.
This is one of those detective movies that doesn't deal with a lot of direct exposition. Instead of just kind of go through the motions as the detectives discover vital pieces of evidence for themselves.
And you the viewer are meant to piece things together in the same way that they're doing.
On the one hand it helps to make the entire world feel a bit more real. As you don't have people who have been working as detectives for years talking to each other as if they're just being introduced to a police academy for the first time. And we end up with more natural dialogue as it's mainly just difference from Walter Matthau towards his partner or straight of arguing between the two.
However there is a problem of not maintaining a consistent story. Sometimes you feel a bit lost and you're not entirely sure what the heck is going on. You've got people talking with each other, but a lot of the times it seems like the dialogue isn't going anywhere. We're just kind of sitting here, moving from one scene to the next. Unsure exactly what's going to happen. A lot of the scenes are not coherently connected either.
Sometimes were following the main detectives, sometimes we're following these other guys who are also investigating the case; but from a completely different angle, involving different people. Occasionally we just end up with a random scene that has nothing to do with the initial case and was just missed information to begin with.
It feels like it would have been better if it was done in the style of television. Where you have three or four episodes syndicated together telling a continuous story.
Conclusion: A fairly enjoyable police procedure with a semi incoherent story and surprisingly fun scenarios.
But only really recommended if you're a large fan of detective stories.
Despite my lukewarm appreciation for the movie, I'll most likely end up watching it again. This is one of those movies that benefits from a repeat viewing.
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