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Simply Perfect

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

From start to finish, F&B is a wide-open romp, send-up, spoof of police movies and, more so, a lampoon of Hollywood's love affair with car crashes. Cars crash all over the place, for no apparent reason. In the middle of San Francisco, a simple collision is followed by a sedan literally flying over the stopped cars, Dukes of Hazzard style. A bobtail flatbed truck, again inexplicably, carrying live chickens through downtown SF tips over spilling chickens all over as a man runs up to the driver and says "You won't believe this but I'm from Allstate."The background dialog is hilarious and requires a lot of rewinding. Radio talk-shows, people in the crowd...they all have punch lines!My only complaint is the only available copy has aggravating, variable volume. Dialog is often too low at normal volume--The scene changes and it is so loud I have to reduce the volume. This, I am told, is "theater sound" designed for live audiences. Whatever it is, I don't like it.In any case, I have always LOVED this movie as it breaks ground by being intentionally campy, but just enough to make it seem MAYBE it is a serious film. In that context, it has a very serious and cohesive plot- -It's just punctuated with ridiculous chases, unparalleled stunt driving (especially the motorcycle scene)and intentionally bad/intermittent Spanish accents by Arkin and Valerie Harper.The paid critics, most of whom panned F&B just don't get it. It's a spoof and a damn good, original one. This movie won't make Hulu's Criterion Collection, that's for certain...if it did, I'd watch.

I have been laughing myself silly at this movie since I first saw it on Christmas Day, 1974.Funny, violent, loud and much like a traffic accident in that you can't look away. Freebie and the Bean is like a truly tasteless joke; you know it is probably wrong and still you laugh so hard.Two lovably inept cops manage to keep from being suspended while they attempt to protect a local mobster from out of town hit men. Richard Rush's comedy chase film contains the wildest car crashes this side of The Blues Brothers.With a healthy dose of sexist, racist and scatological humor, you just need to chill out and enjoy the jokes and one liners. James Caan and Alan Arkin assume the usual buddy cop roles and run wild. Relax, it's just a movie made at a time when we weren't so paranoid about poking fun at our differences.Best scenes? The car chase that ends up on the third floor, the bowling alley shootout in the men's room and the mano a mano (sort of) confrontation in the ladies' room at the Super Bowl.The banter between Freebie and Bean is priceless, including a terrific exchange where we don't know if they're discussing a wife's infidelity or the dog stools in the yard. Great script by Robert Kaufman (Love at First Bite) and story by the incredible Floyd Mutrux (American Hot Wax, The Hollywood Knights). Warner Home Video, a company that does listen to movie fans, promised us this DVD release for years, and now they have delivered. If you haven't seen this comedy classic in widescreen, you will be impressed!

Before Riggs and Murtaugh, or even Starsky & Hutch, there's Freebie and The Bean, most in-your face buddy team of the police force. Maybe they are the laughing stock of the police force. These team make Dirty Harry want to change his ways of handling crime. These guys put the P.B. in Police Brutality! But in a funny way! Other than attacking the perpetrators they attack each other. Freebie(James Caan) is a hot-head and practical joker, while Bean(Alan Arkin) is calm in some ways just as the same as Freebie. Ford really put themselves in high gear with their vehicles, and the famous white LTD, took a lot of punishment through the movie. My favorite scenes is where the car leaped off the bridge, and made a window in someone's apartment. Calling a tow truck? HA! You better call a crane instead. While most cops work out their differences, Freebie and the Bean handle their way, they go at each others throats! This movie is funny, scary, and adventurous all together, with the choice of stars, everything was pulled off great. And how. What a comedy! While you have a chance. 4 out of 5 stars.

Funny movie with two really good actors. I had seen both in serious roles before this. Alan Arkin in Wait Until Dark and James Caan in the Godfather and that was it before I saw them in this movie. I could not believe how funny they were. Alan Arkin, "Where do you get this stuff?" I think Caan is great and charismatic (though pretty nuts) in this movie. When the car sails through the building and lands in the bedroom of the old couple I thought I would lose it in the movie theater. It was such a great scene.I have asked a lot of people over the years if they've seen this movie and no one has or does. I can't believe that people here remember it. I've grown to respect both Arkin and Caan's work over the year and this may have been a throw away film for them both but it still ranks high on my hit parade.