Number One with a Bullet (1987) Cannon/Action RT: 101 minutes Rated R (language, violence, drugs) Director: Jack Smight Screenplay: Gail Morgan Hickman, Andrew Kurtzman, Rob Riley and James Belushi Music: Alf Clausen Cinematography: Alex Phillips Jr. Release date: February 27, 1987 (US) Cast: Robert Carradine, Billy Dee Williams, Valerie Bertinelli, Peter Graves, Doris Roberts, Bobby Di Cicco, Ray Giradin, Barry Sattels, Mykel T. Williamson, Jonathan Gries, Richard Minchenberg, LaGena Hart, Alex Rebar. Box Office: $410,952 (US)
Rating: ***
Let’s take a little trip back in time to early ’87 when two similar cop movies opened within a week of each other. The one you’re most likely familiar with is the first Lethal Weapon movie starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. It’s a classic of the genre. It changed the face of buddy cop movies forever. The one you probably don’t remember is the one that opened the week before, Number One with a Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams. It isn’t a classic. It didn’t even make a ripple at the box office. While the two movies aren’t exactly the same, they’re similar enough to make one wonder if the writers of Number One with a Bullet got a peek at the screenplay for LW before going to work on theirs. It’s highly doubtful, but one never knows for sure.
Detective Nick Barzak (Carradine, Revenge of the Nerds) is a cop on the edge. For the past four years, he’s been after DeCosta (Sattels, Dawn of the Mummy), a respected businessman he suspects of being a major drug supplier. Despite endless stakeouts and hours of investigation, he’s never been able to prove a thing. Everybody, even his partner and best friend Frank Hazeltine (Williams, Nighthawks), thinks he’s crazy. On the streets, he’s known as “Berserk”. When he’s not trying to nail DeCosta, he’s wooing his ex-wife Teresa (Bertinelli, One Day at a Time). He still loves her; she just wants to get on with her life.
Hazeltine is a cool, smooth type who plays trumpet at a jazz club during his off-duty hours. Despite his misgivings about his partner’s sanity, he still goes along with him on his unauthorized stakeouts outside DeCosta’s mansion. Their lieutenant, Kaminski (Girardin, Hollywood Man), spends a lot of time saving their asses from Captain Ferris (Graves, Mission: Impossible) who doesn’t approve of their methods. Barzak and Hazeltine continually defy his orders to leave DeCosta alone which ultimately leads to them being ordered to take a mandatory two-week vacation. Naturally, it doesn’t stop them from trying to get their man.
If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Number One with a Bullet is just like a lot of the cop actioners that came before it and after it. Let’s circle back to Lethal Weapon, shall we? Check out the similarities. A crazy white cop teamed up with a more stable black cop. They joke around with each other and get into situations that typically involve property destruction and loss of life. They’re trying to take down a major drug ring. It turns into a life-threatening situation involving loved ones. HOWEVER, I see one major difference. Follow me on this. Gibson’s character in Lethal Weapon, a suicidal Vietnam vet grieving for his late wife, is completely unhinged and extremely dangerous. I never got that sense from Carradine’s character. He’s angry (sort of), reckless, insubordinate and obsessed with nailing DeCosta, but doesn’t come off as mentally unstable.
To the movie’s credit, the two leads have decent chemistry. Carradine and Williams play off nicely against each other with Barzak playing dumb jokes every time his partner chats up a lady at the jazz club. I like both actors, but I’ve always been especially fond of Williams. He is the absolute embodiment of cool. Bertinelli, in a rare feature film performance, does okay as the ex-wife who insists she’s over her ex-husband but really isn’t. She isn’t given a lot to do. She has a few heated exchanges with Carradine before doing an emotional 180. This, of course, means her life will put in danger at some point. It’s in the genre manual; look it up. Roberts (Christmas Vacation) adds comic relief as Barzak’s mother who nags him about not calling her more often…. on his answering machine.
Directed by Jack Smight (Airport 1975), Number One with a Bullet follows the buddy cop formula to a tee right down to the guys’ case being hampered by a mole in the department. It doesn’t take a Criswell to accurately guess who the mole is. It kind of plays like the pilot episode of a cop show, but that’s not a liability in my eyes. It actually affirms its dedication to form.
Number One with a Bullet is a B-movie through and through with its routine plot, high predictability factor and stock characters. It’s a collection of clichés, but it never feels tired or boring. It has some good action scenes like the mid-air attack by hitmen in a helicopter as the guys attempt to bring home a potential witness. There’s also a neat chase involving an 18-wheeler truck. Despite how it sounds, the action never gets too out of hand. It benefits greatly from its talented cast and sure-handed direction by Smight. It bears mentioning that one of the four writers is James Belushi. Yes, that James Belushi, the one from About Last Night, The Principal and Red Heat.
Overall, Number One with a Bullet is a good flick. It’s a harmless little actioner from Cannon, the kind most filmmakers can make in their sleep. It’s entertaining and occasionally funny. So it’s not perfect. It’s still more watchable than most of today’s bombastic, CGI-heavy action spectacles. It’s a good choice for a dull weeknight.
