Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series ''Happy Days'', Winkler has ...
, and stars
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
, Norman D. Golden II, and Ray Sharkey in his final role. Reynolds plays a veteran cop who reluctantly takes an eight-year-old boy (Golden) as his partner to solve a murder investigation.
''Cop and a Half'' opened at #1 in the US and grossed $40.7 million worldwide against a $14 million budget. The film was followed by a lower budgeted, direct-to-DVD sequel, ''Cop and a Half: New Recruit'' (2017).
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
with his grandmother and dreams of being a cop. He watches police TV shows, knows police procedures and plays cops and robbers with his friend Ray (Sammy Hernandez). One day, while snooping around in a warehouse, he witnesses a murder. He goes to the police, who want the information but he refuses to give it unless they make him a cop. They place him in the care of veteran Detective Nick McKenna (
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
), who dislikes children and the two team up in a comic series of events to find the killer and take down a drug kingpin who ordered the hit.
Cast
*
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (19 ...
as Rachel Baldwin
* Holland Taylor as Captain Rubio
* Ray Sharkey as Vinnie Fountain
* Sammy Hernandez as Ray Sanchez
*
Sean O'Neal
Sean O’Neal (born November 29, 1975) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Sam Anders in the television show '' Clarissa Explains It All''.Frank Sivero as "Chu"
* Rocky Giordani as Quintero
* Marc Macaulay as Waldo
*
Tom McCleister
Thomas McCleister (born May 26, 1949, New York City) is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Ike on '' Married... with Children''. McCleister also played the part of Kolos on the series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', ap ...
as Rudy
*
Ralph Wilcox
Ralph Wilcox (July 9, 1818 – April 18, 1877) was the first teacher and practicing doctor in Portland, Oregon.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. He also served in the Provisional Government o ...
as Detective Matt McPhail
* Tom Kouchalakos as Detective Jenkins
Production
Macaulay Culkin was approached to play the child. Culkin dropped out, along with
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the Westerns on television, western series ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'' (19 ...
, who was attached to play Det. McKenna, when the film was delayed for script rewrites. The child co-star was rewritten to be female, then back to male once Golden was cast. Shooting took place in Tampa, Florida between April and June 1992.
Reynolds reportedly argued with director Winkler through the shoot and later became convinced that producer Brian Grazer refused to work with him again as a result.
The film's original score was composed by Alan Silvestri.
Soundtrack
Joey Lawrence
Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr. (born April 20, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and game show host. He got his start as a child star in the early 1980s and is best known for his role as Joey Russo in '' Bl ...
The film holds a 13% approval rating on the film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F. Jay Boyar of the '' Orlando Sentinel'' wrote, "Just about the only really enjoyable thing about ''Cop and a Half'' is Norman D. Golden II, who is genuinely cute and a pretty good little actor besides." Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin seemed to agree: "A hemorrhoid-and-a-half to anyone who sits all the way through this...abjectly painful comedy, which does about as much for Reynolds' career as ''
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
''Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot'' is a 1992 American buddy cop action black comedy film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty. The film was released in the United States on February 21, 1992. The film rece ...
'' did for
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
's." Critic
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
also excoriated the film, seeing it as indicative of "artistic bankruptcy" on Burt Reynolds' part, and singled out Norman D. Golden II's performance as "awkward". Siskel later called it the worst movie of 1993. Siskel speculated that NBC thought little of the film when they aired it in its broadcast-network debut, pointing out that they scheduled it opposite the 1997 Super Bowl. However,
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave it 3 stars out of a possible 4, saying, "There isn't much that's original in ''Cop and a Half'', but there's a lot that's entertaining, and there's a winning performance by a young man with a big name, Norman D. Golden II, who plays little Devon Butler, a kid who dreams of someday wearing the shield."
Box office
The film debuted at No.1. In its second week it dropped to number 3. Industry analysists expected it to open with $4 million, but it grossed $6 million. '' Variety'' attributed the film's opening to its poster, which they said is reminiscent of '' Kindergarten Cop''. It grossed a total of $31.9 million in the US and another $8.8 in other territories for worldwide total of $40.7 million, making the film a considerable success against its modest $14 million budget.
Awards
Sequel
A
straight-to-DVD
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
sequel, entitled ''Cop and a Half: New Recruit'', was released on August 10, 2017, starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Lulu Wilson.