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Cop Killers
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - MVD Visual Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (18th December 2024). |
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The Film
 Alex (Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy's Bill Osco) and (Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend's Jason Williams) are two Rolls Royce-driving hippies who have picked up a bag of cocaine to transport back across the border to an as-yet-unknown connection for $50,000. Almost immediately, they run into a roadblock, and the ensuing bloody shootout – and it is bloody, thanks to a future Oscar-winner Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) make-up – results in four dead cops while Alex and Ray get away unscathed. Alex is worried that the police probably already have their descriptions so they ditch the Rolls Royce and take an ice cream vendor hostage. After a shoot-out at a gas station, they steal Karen’s (Diane Keller) car and take her hostage. Tired of the killing, Alex is sympathetic to the frightened Karen – they snort cocaine off a bible in a hotel room hideout and sleep together – as Ray starts to unravel and wants to get rid of Karen (after she would not let him "relax" by raping her). Shot as "Sweet, Mean, and Deadly", Cop Killers was made quickly on a budget of $50,000 by the business partners Osco and Howard Ziehm (Star Virgin) for a fast return when the negatives of Flesh Gordon had been seized in a raid. The light opening credits theme song (“My once-in-a-lifetime and I are together again…”) suggests that this might turn out to be more of an exploitation road trip movie with one of those 1970s downbeat endings as our amoral leads find out that crime does not pay, but things get violent right after the credits and the film earns its R-rating (the print begins with an MPAA card). Williams is effective as the more ruthless of the pair, finishing off a mortally-wounded cop with a bullet, tossing their ice cream vendor hostage out of the moving truck, and brutalizing Karen. Osco, in contrast, does not have to do much to come across as the more sympathetic and sane one but he is better here than in his later lead role in the bizarre horror film The Being helmed by Osco's wife Jackie Kong (Blood Diner). Keller has little to do as the terrorized hostage, but she engages out sympathies. Director Walter R. Cichy – who scripted a number of Osco and Ziehm adult features like Tijuana Blue – Osco, and co-producer/cinematographer Ziehm certainly made the most of Baker’s resources. Practically every victim gets a gory flesh wound, and Ray even takes a bloody chunk out of a cop’s cheek with the heel of his boot. Late in the film, the filmmakers also throw in a very brief orgy for good measure, although they likely weighted the film towards violence because of the Flesh Gordon situation. If Cop Killers is any kind of success, it is not because of deep characterization or well-executed action scenes but its overall stripped-down quality in terms of story and production. 
Video
Shot in 1972 but theatrically released until 1977 by General National Enterprises, Cop Killers was hard to see after that apart from bootlegs of English-language, foreign-subtitled tape releases until Media Blasters put the film out on DVD on their Shriek Show line in 2006 followed by a 2011 Code Red DVD double feature on the bottom half of The Being (also previously released by Media Blasters). Dark Force Entertainment had previously released the film on Blu-ray in 2018 in a double feature with Project: Kill but did not include the DVD extras. We have not seen that release but MVD Visual's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen Blu-ray presumably comes from the same HD master along with the extras dating back from the DVD editions. The film was shot on Super 16mm reversal stock and blown-up to 35mm (the softness of the opening credits lettering compared to the sharper background image suggests a stylistic choice). Some of the long shots look soft, and although the image is usually well-exposed, shadow detail is non-existent in the sun-bleached exteriors (some exterior close-ups could have used some fill as the actors are either squinting in the sun or their eyes are hidden in shadow). Some of the scratches were likely on the reversal stock before the blow-up. Despite other signs of age, particularly around the reel changes as usual, none of it detracts from the presentation. 
Audio
The LPCM 2.0 mono audio track is clean with only a steady but non-distracting hiss throughout. The music sounds lower than the dialogue and effects, but that may have been how it was originally mixed. Optional English SDH subtitles are a new addition to this release. 
Extras
Ported from the DVDs is an audio commentary by star Jason Williams, moderated by Adam Trash in which reveals that Cop Killers was actually his third film, having been shot after the principal photography of Flesh Gordon. He reveals that executive producer Ted Dye was a Texas theater chain owner who had bought some of Osco's and Ziehm's adult films and wanted to invest in a legitimate film. He also reveals that the Rolls Royce was borrowed from a member of the band The Byrds and that Osco and Ziehm kept raising funds by selling their other films during the production. He discusses the low-budget production with a stripped-down crew, set mishaps, visible crew, paying the actresses who had to strip three times that of the other cast members, but is unwilling to elaborate on how his relationship soured with "bad boy" Osco. He also talks about his debut in Tom DeSimone’s 3D X-rated Prison Girls which also featured his Flesh Gordon co-star Candy Samples. Williams pops up again in the interview "Confessions of a Cop Killer" (15:32). Most of the information is repeated from the commentary, but the discussion is more concise including more information on Flesh Gordon – which he got involved in via an ad he answered looking for a Buster Crabbe lookalike – and it confiscation, the negative of which had been mixed in with pornographic films during the raid and he states that only two-to-three minutes of the footage was not returned. The film’s theatrical trailer (1:44) rounds out the extras. 
Overall
If Cop Killers is any kind of success, it is not because of deep characterization or well-executed action scenes but its overall stripped-down quality in terms of story and production. 
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