Review of Vice Squad (1982) by Drew C — 01 Feb 2015

I went into Vice Squad expecting a glorified exploitation film of crime, objectified nudity, and just about the same sort of dirty tropes of the genre. While it may have the feel of something like The Exterminator, the film seems fairly honest and doesn't attempt to necessarily expose or glorify anything and exposes whatever is necessary.

The film deals with a police unit with a usual tough job of handling crime on the heavily prostituted and crime ridden streets of 80's Los Angeles, and does it well. After a mother prostitute loses a close friend to a psycho named Ramrod, she is used by the police to lure him in and bust him.

Unfortunately, Ramrod busts away from the police and is now after the woman. What the film deals with is the idea that the prostitution underworld is dirty, yet filled with women who are simply making a needed living.

When the business involves dealing with strangers, you're also putting your life at risk each time you hop into a car with a male. Who do you trust to be a fair customer or a sadistic psycho? It's that lesson that's expressed in all the trouble that the pimps and prostitutes deal with in the film, and despite the police's efforts to stop this crime, a very line is uttered at the end of the film to the cop: "I don't know why you keep doing it.

You're never going to change the streets." That's crime in general. Sometimes there's problems that will escalate and not go away so easily, sometimes made worse with police interfering, but someone's gotta try, don't they? The police do their job because if no one tries to control crime, crime would spread, and they have to do what they can.

Vice Squad may still feel a bit sleazy, and disturbing, but it's not a trashy film, the actors are okay and and the intent of the film is made apparent and well. It's still pretty low-brow, but it deserves more credit than it deserves.

It's hardly as relevant now perhaps in its time period, so one must watch this now for its intent and to place themselves in the 80's if you are to make this worth your time.