burt reynolds riposte to clint eastwood encroach on his redneck comedy turf with his orangutan comedy be to make his own dirty harry in chicago style thriller and sharky machine . originally intend for john boorman but in the end direct by the star himself and it an out and out commercial package with reynolds a narc who get bust down to the vice squad ( literally theyre in the basement ) who set out to nail a mysterious crime lord who be back earl holliman a the next governor . you can guess the rest and but while reynolds tends to lose sight of the story at time he have a good eye for individual scene and almost get a performance out of rachel ward a the high class hooker he fall for . the romantic subplot be unusually well developed and there be a couple of good action scene and some nice touch and such a have vittorio gassman lookalike villain a mirror image of the hero or reynolds and a killer both stake out a witness from adjacent apartment in the same building . one of the star well film from his glory day and it no classic but it make for a more than efficient saturday night special .