Freebie and the Bean (1974) is the ultimate buddy movie. The constantly shifting dynamic of the two leads, the realistic, erratic inconsistency in their behaviour defines this sub-genre. Not by chemistry, but by sheer unpredictability. Although Bean (Alan Arkin) is the smartly dressed one, buttoned up in a 1960s rug salesman’s suit, he can be just as wild as Freebie (James Caan). Like his partner, Freebie is a borderline corrupt cop (he hooks free threads, they both indulge in police brutality); unlike his partner, Freebie likes trashing cars and dressing as a honky pimp. He tends to be first into the action, though Bean and his terrible temper have no qualms finishing it. They are both as foolish and reckless as each other. The blind leading the blind; their only stability is their stupidity.
Watchable as always, Caan plays Freebie as a wannabe stunt man with bigger balls than skills; ably demonstrated when he instigates a car chase through the streets of San Francisco that makes Bullitt look like Herbie Goes Bananas. Director Richard Rush stages this pursuit as both realistic and utterly ridiculous, achieving a chaotic blend of destructive excitement and hilarity. It stands up perfectly well today on sheer audacity alone.
Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper. Harper was nominated for the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year.[1] The film was directed by Richard Rush. Stanley Kubrick called Freebie and the Bean the best film of 1974. Arkin and Caan would not appear in another movie together again until the 2008 film adaptation of Get Smart.
Freebie and the Bean, this year's final cop comedy, seems the worst of the lot, probably because it has a cast of otherwise good actors doing bits of business (sometimes called acting) as if they thought they could upstage all of the movie's automobiles, which are seldom still. Cars tail one another endlessly. Sometimes they race and every now and then there's a very complicated, very dumb, all-out chase. Even a single parked car becomes something of a plot point.
