''Rent-a-Cop'' is a 1987 American thriller

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

starring

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

and

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...

. Reynolds plays a disgraced police officer, now working as a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

, who falls in love with Minnelli, who plays a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

. The film saw both lead actors to be nominated for the 1988 Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor and Worst Actress. (These nominations were not solely on the merits of ''Rent-a-Cop'', however; Reynolds and Minnelli were also cited for '' Switching Channels'' and '' Arthur 2: On the Rocks'', respectively). Minnelli ended up "winning" the Worst Actress prize. The film earned under $300,000 in American ticket sales. Initially released on 26 November 1987 in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, its American premiere came two months later on 15 January 1988. Although set in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, the movie was mostly filmed in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Plot

Chicago cop Tony Church and his team are completing a drug bust. Just as the cops make the arrest a masked thief called Dancer intervenes and executes all of the officers. Church attempts to apprehend Dancer but Dancer outwits him and takes a hostage Della. Della manages to escape as Dancer flees and Church is left facing the blame of the disastrous bust and winds up getting fired from the force. Della, a high-priced hooker, unbeknownst to Church and the other cops, happened to be in the hotel at the time and caught a good look at Dancer's face. She encounters Dancer again as he attempts to assassinate her but she manages to escape. Afraid Dancer will come after her again and succeed in killing her, Della decides that she needs protection and she tracks down the lowly Church, who is now working as a security guard in a shopping mall. She offers to pay Church to act as her bodyguard until Dancer is apprehended. Church's longtime colleague Roger, tracks him down and advises him to steer clear of the case as it destroyed his career. Unfortunately for Church, Roger is revealed to be a corrupt cop who is involved with Dancer. Della and Church form an unlikely bond and a relationship blossoms. Church and Della decide that the only way to apprehend Dancer is to use Della as bait. They come up with a plan and just as it seems to have gone wrong, Church emerges to save Della's life and kills Dancer. The final scene shows Church and Della attempting to give their new relationship a chance.

Cast

as Tony Church *

as Della Roberts * James Remar as Adam "Dancer" Booth *

Richard Masur Richard Masur (born November 20, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on '' One ...

as Roger Latrele *

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

as Beth Connors * Bernie Casey as Lemar *

Robby Benson Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor, director, and musician. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the films ''Ode to Billy Joe (film), Ode to Billy Joe'' (1976), ''One on ...

as Andrew Pitts * John P. Ryan as Commander Wieser * John Stanton as Haskell Alexander * Michael Rooker as Joe * Larry Dolgin as Capt. James *

Roslyn Alexander Roslyn may refer to: People * Louis Frederick Roslyn (1878–1940), British sculptor * Ros Atkins, Roslyn Atkins (born 1974), British journalist and broadcaster for the BBC Places * Roslyn, Palmerston North, a suburb of the city of Palmerston Nor ...

as Miss Barley * Cyrus Elias as Victor

Production

Although filming was to have begun in October 1986, it was pushed back to November.''Rent-a-Cop'' was the feature film debut of director Jerry London, who had made his name through his work on television mini series such as ''

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

''. Burt Reynolds was paid $3 million for his role in the film. "His last couple of pictures were dark movies," said director Jerry London. "Audiences didn't come out of theaters with that warm glow Burt can give. I think this film will do it. Everyone says Burt hasn't been better in years."REYNOLDS SEEKS REBIRTH IN NEW YEAR, NEW FILM: UN-SENTINEL EditionDavis, Ivor. Sun Sentinel19 Jan 1988: 1E. ''Rent-a-Cop'' was Minnelli's first film in five years. She had been admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic in 1984 for substance abuse problems. "Everybody I know, including myself, gets into trouble," she said. "When you dole out too much credit to public opinion, when your sense of self gets blurry, when you feel that what people think is more important than how you feel . . . that's when it's dangerous and that's an easy thing to happen - to me, to a housewife. That's when you worry about getting enough sleep, so you take a sleeping pill; when other people think you're overweight, so you take a diet pill. And then you find yourself in rehab." "The cop and the hooker story has been done a million times," said Reynolds. "The secret to doing the story is always the cop that hates the girl and the girl that hates the cop, but they need each other for whatever reason."Burt goes for laughs in `Rent a Cop': ITY EditionPolk, Peggy. St. Petersburg Times23 Jan 1987: 4D. Reynolds said he and Minnelli "like each other enormously, and that's kind of the subtext of what we are doing. We make each other laugh a lot." Reynolds and Minnelli would improvise routines about Reynolds's real-life nostalgia for the 1950s. Location filming took place in Chicago. Studio work was done in Rome. "He is an intelligent, sharp and hard-working professional," said London about Reynolds, "and the chemistry between him and Minnelli is wonderful. I think ''Rent-A-Cop'' is an audience picture, the kind of film where you have a good time for an hour and 40 minutes. It is just what Burt and his audience need."

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics, having a

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

score of 14%, with 12 out of 14 professional reviews being negative. Walter Goodman reviewing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised Minnelli's performance, but described the plot as sloppy and the directing as efficient but uninspired.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave it 2 out of 4 stars, saying "''Rent-A-Cop'' is a collision between a relationship and a cliche, and the cliche wins, but not before the relationship has given us some nice moments".

References

External links

* {{Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress 1987 films 1987 action comedy films 1980s comedy thriller films 1980s police comedy films American action comedy films Films directed by Jerry London Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films set in Chicago Films shot in Italy Golden Raspberry Award–winning films Films about police officers Films about prostitution in the United States Films about security and surveillance 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language crime comedy films English-language action comedy films English-language comedy thriller films