gordon park and the prolific black life magazine photographer and make a true tick timebomb of a movie here one that do not mess around . base upon the true story of two nyc cop later dub batman and robin who singlehandedly employ radical tactic to clean up their precinct neighborhood of drug and this be a cop buddy movie before that term become a repetitive formula . lightning pace and there be not one unimportant throwaway scene here . man and early 70 nyc must have be a terrible place to be a police officer and from the look of movie like this and serpico . these two cop start out a safety division rookie and bust dealer in plainclothes in their spare time . but instead of receive applause from the city police department and they receive nothing but resistance and antagonism from their peer . they have to singlehandedly navigate a minefield of police and legal corruption and boneheaded assignment mean to keep them from their work on the street and ruthless drug kingpin and and a nasty ghetto neighborhood . both david selby and ron leibman be fantastic in the lead while part of the entertainment be watch leibman eye dart around crazily in every scene in what be a flawless comic performance and and selby acting be low key and wry . these two make all the comedy aspect of the story work display a palpable frustration mixed with gutsy determination . director park and who be already know for his coverage of controversial subject in his photography and do not shy away from the grittiness of the story . rather and the movie be uncompromising in portrayal of the toughness of the world of police and street criminal that these two men inhabit . add to this realism be the fact that the real hantz and greenberg act a technical advisor for the film and and even appear in surreal cameo role a two fellow officer who ridicule the protagonist . it be a real tribute to the effectiveness of park direction that he manage to perfectly balance this depressing mileu with bright comedy . why have mgm or ua let this sit on the shelf for 30 year barely give it a home video or dvd release in the u. s. it be a minor masterpiece from the 1970s .