Review of The Rookie (1990) by Jan N — 15 Dec 2012

This is probably the most cliché ridden film Clint ever appeared in, but for some inexplicable reason I have a real soft spot for "The Rookie". Clint basically invented the buddy cop film formula in "The Enforcer," when Dirty Harry was given a female partner.

In this film, Clint revisits the formula, with grizzled veteran detective, Clint, saddled with the uptight young rich kid, Sheen, but the the avalanche of action film clichés comes so fast and hard, "The Rookie" very nearly becomes a parody of itself.

Besides formula mainstay of the mismatched partners hating each other, but ultimately coming to understand each other, you also get the dead partner in the first 10 minutes, the captain who can only communicate by shouting, and of course the bad guys who embody nearly every 80s action film cliché.

However, despite all of this very good cast, which includes Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, Tom Skerritt and character actors Xander Berkeley, Tony Plana, Pepe Serna, Paul Ben-Victor, and Hal Williams) and the filmmakers, that include Clint as directors along with his usual top notch crew that included cinematographer Jack N.

Green, editor Joel Cox, stunts by Buddy Van Horn and a great jazzy score by Lennie Niehaus. And although the script if probably the main offender in terms of cheesy dialogue and action film clichés, it was actually co-written by Boaz Yakin who went on to write and/or direct fine films like "Fresh", "A Price Above Rubies" and "Return of the Titans" I really can't put my finger on why I like this film so much, but maybe it's because you have so many Oscar caliber actors and filmmakers making a schlocky Joel Silver style action flick.

"Hearbreak Ridge" is probably Clint's #2 cliché cavalcade, but he pulled that one off too.