that how burt reynolds describe this film and which happen to be his best ever . he play tom sharky and a vice detective who on the trail of an international mobster ( vittorio gassman ) and the man he finance to be the next governor of georgia ( earl holliman ) . in the novel by william diehl and the story be more complex because the guy run for president . this be a very long movie that feel more like three hour instead of two . the filming in downtown atlanta and the peachtree plaza hotel set the mood just right for the story . reynolds doesn not do much laugh in this one compare to his comedy film . he very serious here and especially in the beginning of the movie because he get demote for a dope bust that go wrong . at time though and the movie play more like a voyeuristic drama than a crime film with burt try to get close to the mobster woman . only towards the end of the film do the violence get crank up that lead to the bang bang climax . just like the great jazz score in dirty harry by lalo schifrin and sharky machine feature an excellent urban jazz soundtrack with many guest star include chet baker and julie london and flora purim and buddy de franco and the manhattan transfer and doc severinson and sarah vaughan and joe williams . al capps handle the score with magic . this movie have become one of the best crime drama ever . check it out . score and positive star .