How sad is this?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Cars, motorcycles, airplanes, and even a bicycle all show their mettle in this high tempo crime thriller! The piece plays out in some ways like a recruitment video for the department before police departments were recruiting via video at all. The depiction of police technology, training, and procedure was spot on for the time period, and I am fairly certain that much of the filming took place in actual, operational Michigan State Police facilities.The plot is well put together for a movie of this length, and the director brings the audience along in such a way that creates suspense. There is quite a bit of humor in key places that lighten the mood, somewhat, and actually reflects quite well the way law enforcement generally react to difficult situations by making light of themselves. It doesn't have nearly the production value of modern thrillers, but the driving and the chases are top-notch. There's even a car that could have served as inspiration for James Bond's first car, before Fleming even wrote his first novel, I believe.I serve as a volunteer chaplain in the department, currently, and was loaned a copy of the film by a local retiree. I don't know if it is ever broadcast like many other movies of that era, but if you get a chance, watch it. Something that stands out to me in the film is the unflappable character of each trooper depicted; something that lives on in the troopers who currently serve the State Police and the people of Michigan.

Although early Paramount programmers are something of a rarity in DVD stores, "Car 99" (1936) does not exactly fill us with super enthusiasm, despite the superb presence of super-charismatic Marina Schubert, who easily steals the acting honors from suave "innocent", Sir Guy Standing, homey Ann Sheridan and brash newcomer, Fred MacMurray. Ostensibly a thriller, the movie more often turns into a slapstick charade. In fact, director Charles Barton (in this, his second film, he is obviously out to duplicate his excellent debut with "Wagon Wheels") utilizes his comparatively large budget by trying to pack in too much material too fast for comfortable viewing. The blustering performances of William Frawley, Charles C. Wilson and even MacMurray himself on occasion, don't help. The film actually improves on second sight where one can appreciate the more leisurely approach of players like Ann Sheridan, Dean Jagger, James Craven, Robert Kent and John Howard to this uneasy blend of farce, frolic, high-speed bike and car chases, mild detection, alluring moll, stop-at-nothing gangsters and crime.

That's perhaps the first Charles Barton's movie I saw since a while. I know he made lots of Abbot and Costello stuff, in the 40's. Anyway, he only made comedies. For Universal studios, I guess.That one is from Paramount studios. It's not a comedy, but not a real film noir either. Only a good little policemen flick. It begins like a film adapted from a Joseph Wambaugh's novel - New Centurions, for instance.There were many movies around that scheme. Police force confronted with different affairs. This one shows a rookie - Mc Murray - who meets a "charming" family who is actually a bunch of crooks, bank robbers who use a high tech car - for its time - with automatic changing car plates, smoke screen in case of pursuit, and high frequency radio to catch police messages !!!You've guessed that it's a fast paced and entertaining film I am talking about. As were the other crime and gangsters films Paramount produced during that time, late 30's. See the movies starring the young Anthony Quinn, Lloyd Nolan, Akim Tamiroff, J Caroll Naish, movies directed by the likes of Robert Florey or Louis King.I'll make comments about them later. I have all of them in my library. But this one is worthwhile. Take it if you can.