Very well executed

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I wanted to but couldn't!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is true grit originating from the eighties. It is almost unbelievable that this is based on real life as there is so much sleaze. Everyone in this film is either a prostitute, a pervert or a cop. The story is good though and this lifts the production. It is hampered by rather bad technical aspects such as jump cutting, continuity and a bloke with a lens standing clearly in shot in a supposedly empty room. Not scary but the action is oddly thrilling. It is violent although not extreme or gory. Alright for a watch as long as you can get past the huge stack of eighties inner-city clichés.

Saw this back when it came out and just saw it again over thirty years later. Just as weird as ever. I seriously doubt they could make this movie today, or even 10 years ago. N1gger? Fagg0t? Just not gonna fly. Basically a no name cast, or very little known, made it grittier. A few scenes are a tad hokey, but keep in mind it was 1982 Los Angeles. Very hard to come by but one lone torrent is floating around with a single seed. Worth a watch every 30 years to be sure. Cole Hauser, the son of Wings, acts today and is what made me take a second look at his wacky dad. I sure do miss the days of one line reviews allowed here. Yeah, I've been here that long. Just a crying shame I have to blather on at the very end like this.

...still manage to be this brutally engaging?! For the longest time, I avoided this film because for some reason, I had mixed it in my head with Forced Entry (1975), as the posters looked quite similar. I finally got around to seeing Vice Squad and my jaw dropped to the floor.This film has so many cliché cop drama moments that I couldn't help but laugh hysterically... but when the story shifted gears to the more brutally realistic events of the seedy LA night life, my jaw dropped even further.Ramrod makes for one of the most menacing villains I've ever seen on screen and I would actually compare him to Daniel Day Lewis' Bill The Butcher from Gangs of New York. I had never seen much of Wings Hauser's work prior to this film, but his performance in Vice Squad put him on my map.I think the film's most defining moment for me is when Ramrod chases a battered Season Hubley down the alleyway as she clutches onto the stuffed animal she was going to give her daughter. It's blatantly symbolic and cliché, yet ultimately heartbreaking and uncomfortable.Vice Squad a prime example of a "cult film" and it's one I enjoyed immensely.On a side note, I had watched Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" a day or so prior to seeing this film. Previously, I had only seen Season Hubley in Escape From New York and though I knew she was Kurt Russell's wife at the time, I had no idea that she had such a filmography under her belt. I thought she was fantastic in both films. I wonder whatever happened to her...

Gary Sherman's "Vice Squad" is all show, but powerfully biting and sordid exploitation of the seedy strip of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard when the sun finally goes down. For such luridly unpleasant context, the film manages to amuses with rousing suspense, sharply-witted (if foul) script and its authentically raw atmosphere. Even the performances figure prominently. Wing Hauser deservedly dominates the limelight as the frighteningly, aggressive pimp Ramrod. His turn is that of pure spontaneous and nightmarish intensity. Truly hard to forget. Gary Swanson's courageously humane performance as Detective Walsh, the leader of the 'Vice squad' is downright solid, and there's a confidently brassy and strong-willed go-it-alone portrayal by Season Hubley as the prostitute Princess that Ramrod is after for setting him up. The support cast racks up recognizable bit players (Pepa Serna, Beverly Todd, Maurice Emanuel, Nina Blackwood, Michael Ensign, Cheryl Smith, Fred Berry and the list goes on) of rich characterisations. Sherman's sensationally gripping direction doesn't let up or beat around the bush, as he cranks up the energy and brutality. Still there's a slickly professional manner about it, and cinematographer John Alcott shots it with great ticker, and stylish verve. The screeching rock title track "Neon Slime" sung by Hauser sets the tone, and the saucy score has a feverish pitch that enhances the downbeat atmosphere and daring intensity.