Sharky's Machine
Tags: revenge, neo noir, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
Tom Sharky, a narcotics Sergeant for the Atlanta Police Department, is working on a transaction with a drug dealer called Highball. Another member of the force, Smiley, shows up unexpectedly during the sting, causing the drug dealer to run and Sharky to give chase, ultimately shooting the suspect on a MARTA bus, but only after the wounding of the bus driver. In the aftermath, Sharky is demoted to vice-squad, which is considered the least desirable assignment in the police department.
In the depths of the vice-squad division, led by Friscoe, the arrest of small-time hooker Mabel results in the accidental discovery of a high-class prostitution ring that includes a beautiful escort named Dominoe who charges $1,000 a night. Sharky and his new partners begin a surveillance of her apartment and discover that Dominoe is having a relationship with Hotchkins, a candidate running for Governor of Georgia.
With a team of downtrodden fellow investigators that includes veteran Papa, Arch and surveillance man Nosh, referred to by Friscoe sarcastically as Sharky's "machine," he sets out to find where the trail leads. During one of the stakeouts, a mysterious crime kingpin known as Victor comes to Dominoe's apartment. He has been controlling her life since she was a young girl, but now she wants out. Victor agrees but forces her to have sex with him one last time.
The next day, Sharky witnesses (what appears to be) Dominoe being killed by a shotgun blast through her front door, killing her and disfiguring her face beyond recognition. Sharky has privately been developing feelings for her while viewing through binoculars and listening to her bugged conversations. The man who shot her, known as Billy Score, is a drug addict and Victor's brother. He answers to Victor, as does Hotchkins, who is in love with Dominoe but remains a powerless political stooge under Victor's rule.
Dominoe suddenly turns up to Sharky's surprise, and is told that her friend Tiffany used her apartment and is the one who was mistakenly shot by Billy Score. Dominoe is convinced that if Victor wants her dead, she is going to be dead, but reluctantly leaves with Sharky to be hidden away at his childhood home in the West End neighborhood. Meanwhile, Nosh informs Sharky that most of the surveillance tapes have disappeared from the police station, leaving both of them wondering if the investigation has been compromised. Nosh is then confronted by Billy Score, who kills him off-screen.
Sharky confronts Victor at his penthouse apartment in the Westin Peachtree Plaza and vows to bring him to justice. Victor smugly tells Sharky that Dominoe is dead and cannot testify against him, but is stunned to be told by Sharky that she is still alive.
While attempting to find Nosh at his home, two men spring an attack on Sharky and he is knocked out cold. He awakens on a boat, where he is held captive and tortured by Smiley, who turns out to be working for Victor. Smiley informs him of the killing of Sharky's old narcotics division boss JoJo (who was run over by a car), and reveals that Nosh is dead as well. He cuts off two of Sharky's fingers while demanding to know where Dominoe can be found. Sharky attacks and shoots Smiley, and he manages to escape. Later, Sharky turns up with Dominoe at a Hotchkins political rally, to the candidate's considerable shock. Hotchkins is placed under arrest, and Victor finds out about it on the evening newscasts.
Billy Score, in an agitated state, shoots and kills Victor. Almost immediately, Sharky and other police officers arrive at Victor's penthouse in an attempt to catch Billy. He is pursued through the upper floors of the Westin where like a ghostly apparition he appears and disappears, killing Papa and seriously wounding Arch. Billy ultimately is gunned down by Sharky, crashing through a window and plummeting to his death nearly 700 feet below. In the end, Sharky returns to his childhood home, where Dominoe is now living with him.

Review: I like Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights) playing a cop, and he didn't do too bad as a director here either.He had a great supporting cast of cops and criminals: Vittorio Gassman makes a great crime boss; Henry Silva (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) makes a great psychopath; Brian Keith ("Family Affair"), Charles Durning (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Bernie Casey, and Richard Libertini (A Grandpa for Christmas) all make great partners; and, there is, of course, Rachel Ward ("The Thorn Birds"), who got a Golden Globe nomination out of her performance.Lots of action, superb performances, and a great story..
Sharky's Machine finds Burt Reynolds as a narcotics cop who after a failed buy and bust that wasn't his fault, but that got a few people killed in it, he finds himself demoted to the vice squad in Atlanta.The prestige is hardly as good as the narcotics beat, but it does have its fringe benefits.
She's an expensive item, servicing both notorious mobster Vittorio Gassman and law and order gubernatorial candidate Earl Holliman.Their surveillance however records a murder and the rest of the film is Sharky and his new colleagues from vice trying to solve this prestige case.Though it's a Burt Reynolds film and those usually have some humor to them, the comedy is kept in check as the film turns as deadly serious as Dirty Harry.
It was reported in fact that Clint Eastwood was offered this film.Look for some good performances by fellow vice cops Bernie Casey and Brian Keith and by Henry Silva the coked up brother of Gassman who does the dirty work of the organization and loves his job.It's not a bad film, a mixture of Dirty Harry and Laura.
I haven't seen every single movie that Burt Reynolds has ever made, but this one (which I've just finished watching, for the third time) may very well be his best!
On the other hand, he managed to avoid many of the usual cliches in the presentation of the "tough cop" role he plays (notice, for example, the scene in which he attempts to kiss Rachel Ward for the first time, or the fear he expresses just before the final showdown with the indestructible Henry Silva).
Superb, brutal, hard-boiled crime drama starring Burt Reynolds as a burned-out Atlanta cop transferred to the absolute slime hole of Atlanta's vice department after a drug deal turns sour.
It stars Reynolds, Vittorio Gassman, Rachel Ward, Henry Silva, Carol Locatell, Brian Keith, Bernie Casey, Earl Holliman and Charles Durning.
Plot finds Reynolds as Atlanta narcotics cop Tom Sharky, who finds himself busted down to vice squad after a drug bust goes badly wrong.
Tom Sharky is a tough dude, a manly man, a perfect role for Reynolds in fact, but he also needs to be loved, he likes roses and wood carving, he looks back to a childhood lost, it's this compelling characterisation that lifts Sharky's Machine above many other cop thrillers in a similar vein.The film is, however, still violent and unflinching in its observations of this seedy part of Atlanta.
Vice copy (Burt Reynolds) falls for a high-price call girl (Rachel Ward) who's under the thumb of an underworld lord (Gassman).
In this film, we have Burt Reynolds, Vitoorio Gassman, Rachel Ward, Brian Keith and Charles Durning.....and none of them are boring, believe me.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind while watching SHARKY'S MACHINE is that Burt Reynolds directed it...
For me it left me impressed, as it's up there with Burt Reynold's best features ('Deliverance', 'White Lightning' and 'Boogie Nights') and streams back to those 70s/80s gritty, hardboiled urban crime thrillers that weren't afraid to be forebodingly obscure and go out of their way to set-up characters, pack-it with realistically brutal force and effectively incorporate the local locations (Atlanta being the case here) to the fold with grounded photography.
The performances are fairly spot on with Reynold's formulating a great rapport with exceptional actors Charles Durning, Earl Holliman, Brian Keith, Richard Libertini and Bernie Casey.
I have always been a huge Burt Reynolds fan, I've always admired his humility and his way of engaging with the audience be it as actor or Director.The film opens to the enchanting tones of Randy Crawford signing Street life, incidentally the film ends on a duet to what closely must resemble the sound of the emasculation of two cats with a blunt knife.Anyway Sharky is demoted to Vice when 'he' messed up a drug bust.
Down in Vice is where we meet the gang who all add wonderful dimensions to this film and each shines in his role, Charles Durning is hilarious he screams with such intensity you really become concerned for his blood pressure.Just when it looks like Vice might be boring a whole can of worms opens up when they begin to stake out some 'High class' call girls (the stake out is a little long almost in real time), the plot involves a puppet politician and the puppet master played amazingly by the one and only Vittorio Gassman.Sharky starts to fall for 'Dominoe' (gorgeous but she's gotta give up the cigarettes she sounds like the Bouvier sisters from the Simpsons) one of the 'High Class' call girls, incidentally Burt Fell for another 'High Class' call girl in 'Hustle'.Burt was very generous with the script he gave some of the best stuff to the supporting cast, in actual fact sometimes through the movie in his quest to build Sharky as the strong silent type the lack of script for himself turned Sharky into the strong boring type.
He couldn't string two words together he just looked bashful so bashful he almost looked mentally challenged, he did everything bar kicking his heels looking at the floor and saying "Gee golly I ain't never done kissed no girl be fower hu hulk".In all it's a very entertaining film, it drags a bit here and there, but it always comes back to life and the last 30 minutes are a roller-coaster, watch out for Henry Silva who plays a whacked out hit man, my favorite scene is when he points his gun at Arch and...
***SPOIERS*** Atlanta crime auctioneer with Burt Reynolds,Sgt. Sharky, and his tough and well oiled "Sharky's Machine" Let. Frisco, Charles Durning, and officers Papa & Arch, Brian Keith & Berney Casey, breaking up the Atlanta crime Syndicate who's on the verge of putting "Their Man" in the Geroria Governor's State House.
As Sharky starts to investigate this strange arraignment he finds out that the good family man, married with five children, Hotchkins is also on the payroll of Vittorio "Victor" Gassman the mob "Godfather" of Atlanta.The high-price call-girl Dominoe, Rachel Ward,who's involved with Hotchkins is tired of being a hooker and want's to leave Victor's stable of call-girls and live with Hotchkins as his live-in mistress after he gets elected governor of Georgia, which is already a forgone conclusion, but their's only one slight hitch; will Victor let go of her.
Statueques and beautiful Rachel Ward as Dominoe is thought to have been murdered by Gassman's drugged-out hit-man Billy Score,Henry Silva,who blew her face off with a shot gun but in reality it turned out that he really killed Dominoe's call-girl room-mate Tiffany, Aarika Wells, with Dominoe away in the country.
This was probably the first real bloody cop thriller of the 1980s and delivered the perfect blend of humor, action, mystery and style that is missing in today's films.This one has it all: A psychotic Henry Silva jacked up on PCP, $1,000 a night call girls, ninja assassins and Burt Reynolds getting his fingers sliced off, one by one, with a butterfly knife.
This movie is worth watching just to see Henry Silva get shot six times, crash through a window, and fall thirty stories from the top of an Atlanta high-rise.
Burt is supported by Brian Kieth, Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, Richard Libertini, Rachel Ward, and everyone's favorite bad guy Henry Silva.
Seems strange to relate that in the same year that Burt made the zany, all star, laugh a minute, Cannonball Run (and the moderately successful Smokey And The Bandit Part 2 in 1980) that he took an unexpectedly darker turn with his labour of love Sharky's Machine, based on William Diehl's novel.Ace Narcotics cop Tom Sharky is reassigned (i.e busted down) after a sting operation goes badly awry and a civilian is shot.
He's soon introduced to a colourful array of misfit, oddball and veteran colleagues (wonderfully played by Charles Durning, David Keith and Bernie Casey) in the one unit where noone in their right minds willingly transfers to - Administrative Vice.Initially resentful at his unwanted posting - he's wasted chasing hookers, perverts and flashers, to paraphrase his bellicose former commander - the violent murder of a blind Chinese hooker and an undercover cop at the hands of psychotic hitman Bily Score (Henry De Silva) f so draws Sharky and his team (the titular Machine) into a web of corruption and intrigue, central to which is Domino (Rachel Ward) a high class prostitute and the object of Sharky's growing obsession...I don't know if Burt ever spoke to Alfred Hitchcock, but it's a well known fact that he was touched that 'Hitch' saw Smokey and The Bandit as his all time guilty pleasure!
Sharky's Machine (1981) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Sharky (Burt Reynolds) is an undercover cop trying to pull off a drug bust but it turns deadly and an innocent man is killed.
He pretty much demotes himself to the vice squad where he quickly gets involve in a mob hit, which is connected to a prostitute (Rachel Ward) and a political figure she's with.SHARKY'S MACHINE is an exceptionally good thriller that had Reynolds also working in the director's chair.
You've got Charles Durning, Brian Keith, John Fiedler and Bernie Casey on Reynolds' team and they too add great support.
The film clocks in at just over two hours but there's not a slow moment in the film and SHARKY'S MACHINE remains one of the stars best movies..
I was so looking forward to watching this film, when it was shown on UK Television in 1985, after reading the novel by William Diehl, sadly the script for the film was a pale shadow of the superb book, Burt Reynolds was the right choice to play Sharkey, and Rachel Ward and Charles Durning were ok, but the the rest of the casting was poor.The plot deviated quite a lot from the novel, and seemed unrecognizable by the end of the film.I hope that another director will look at the material again, and redo this, because with the right backing a new version could be excellent..
My favorite scene in "Sharky's Machine" came early on, when Reynolds's character gets demoted to the vice squad and walks down to the bottom floor, finding what the vice squad looks like (and showing how it reflects all the sleazy stuff that they have to investigate).
It's not any kind of great movie but I enjoyed it.The rest of the cast includes Vittorio Gassman, Charles Durning, Bernie Casey and Brian Keith..
Sharky's Machine is one of Burt's most exciting films, and one of his best, not only that, when you consider he directed this.
Released in 1981, "Sharky's Machine" stars Burt Reynolds as Sgt. Tom Sharky, an Atlanta cop who's demoted to the lowly vice division.
The story, as reported, is that Burt Reynolds was friends with Clint Eastwood in the late 70s and Burt suggested that he would do a Dirty Harry-type movie if Clint did a comedy, like Burt's numerous good ol' boy flicks.
So Clint did the two "Every/Any Which Way" movies (1978 and 1980) and Burt eventually did "Sharky's Machine," which he described as "Dirty Harry in Atlanta." While Burt certainly rivaled Clint as the best masculine actor of the mid-60s through the 80s (although I give Clint the edge), all five of the Dirty Harry pictures are better than "Sharky's Machine," even the heavily maligned "The Dead Pool" (1988), not to mention other Eastwood cop thrillers, like the excellent "The Gauntlet" (1977) and arguably "Tightrope" (1984).
Sharky's Machine (also directed by Burt Reynolds) is his finest work...preceding Boogie Nights.
While he was great in Boogie Nights, I think that this was Burt Reynolds' best performance.
Burt Reynold's Direct's and star's in this great Cop film, Reynold's play's the Sharkey of the title, who is a tough cop whilst working in undercover a drug bust goes wrong, and is demoted to vice, The machine of the title refer's to the motley crew Reynold's's assemble's to bring down a crooked governor who is involved in high class prostitution Cocaine and contract murder,The motley crew is played by Brian Keith, Blackploitaion favorite Bernie Casey, Richard Libertini,(as alway's quirky as an ace sounds-man) Charle's Durning, as the chief, The beautiful English rose Rachael Ward play's Dominoe a $1000 dollar's a night hooker whom Reynold's's protect's and eventually fall's for, When staking out an apartment used by the governor.Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, play's the High stake's pimp, who has a deadly gang of triad's at his disposal, And Henry DeSilva, play's His psychotic brother hit man who is highly strung On prescription painkiller's and angel Dust,The action packed finale see's the remaining member's of the 'Machine' Engaged in a deadly shootout with Desilva, which culminate's in one the Most spectacular stunt's ever put to Celluloid,Alas Hollywood has ran out of idea's and is contemplating a remake of Sharky's Machine!
I would even go farther than that: i watched classic ones like "Bullit" and "The French Connection", all of them great films, but "Sharky's Machine" is even better!
"Sharky's Machine" is the kind of movie which is not made anymore in Hollywood, it represents the golden era of the cinema, it represents Burt Reynolds, David Niven, William Holden...it represents all this people and more, it represents a movie making type where people, at the time, used to put their heart and soul in doing their jobs...
The film begins with an unforgettable scene, where Burt Reynolds must kill a dangerous and evil drug dealer on the streets of Atlanta.
In short if you want to watch Burt Reynolds best films than this one must be included.
The film is funny at points with & good plot & good performances from a great supporting cast (every character is real & the bad guys are not so one sided they are really well thought out)A nice offbeat romance in the 2nd half & it has some good old fashion shootouts & fistfights (no CGI thank God REAL ACTION!)If Clint Eastwood did his best impression of a Burt Reynolds movie with "Every Which Way But Loose" & "Any Which Way You Can" then Burt responded with his best Clint type flick with this, & it comes off great!.
Burt also directs this movie and fills it with great action and fight scenes.
Along with "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights", this is Burt's best effort as a tough, hard nosed cop up to his neck in sadistic mobsters, crooked cops, cheating politcians and beautiful hookers......you gotta enjoy watching Rachel Ward vamp it up !!This a really punchy action flick from Reynolds with a great supporting cast including some of the best character actors of the early eighties.
Charles Durning plays his short tempered boss in the Atlanta vice squad, Bernie Casey as his "Zen" influenced partner, and Brian Keith as "Papa" the junk food loving member of the machine.And let's not forget those bad guys with Earl Holliman as a corrupt politician, cold blooded, manipulative Vittorio Gassman as the mob boss, the icy, unstoppable assassin Henry Silva,.....
He soon develops an interest in taking down underworld kingpin Victor Scorelli (Vittorio Gassman), although his *real* interest is in Dominoe (Rachel Ward), one of Scorellis' $1000 a night hookers.Although burdened by some bad dialogue and a script that's not always that compelling, "Sharky's Machine" makes for a decent viewing.
This is a movie, like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, that I've seen a million times, and still enjoy popping in the DVD player every now and then.It's got everything, great script, characters, film score, camera work, etc.
Totally owns all of his scenes.Sharky's team of investigators, Henry Silva as the drug addicted assassin, and Rachel Ward turn in superb performances as well.
Sharky's Machine is easily one of Burt Reynolds best efforts.
Whether he's acting or not his demeanor is perfect for the character- the cackling, smarmy Burt that we're used to would have ruined the role.Next, we have our All-Star Team of Character Actors: Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, Brian Keith, Richard Libertini and horror-face himself Henry Silva.
"Sharky's Machine" is not one of my go-to Burt Reynold's movies.
Under rated cop film directed and starring Burt Reynolds.
Sharky's Machine is an exceptional police thriller in the vein of Dirty Harry, directed and starring Burt Reynolds.
It had a lot going for it: Burt Reynolds actor and director, a solid one-two punch; a William Diel novel adaptation, and the south land of Atlanta Georgia, at this time, a land of opportunity for film production out of Hollywood.Reynolds' Tom Sharky falling in love with Rachel Ward's Dominoe the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold is here echoed as it was in "Hustle" when he played opposite Catherine Deneuve, and that film also had a corrupt politician at its core, but with downbeat ending not the Hollywood happiness in "Sharky's Machine".The story is pure Detective procedure/actioner.
Henry Silva is truly icy as a hit-man.Detective Tom Sharky (Burt Reynolds) is on a narcotics case in underground Atlanta when everything goes wrong.
This is a rather gruesome scene.Burt never made a movie that surpassed "Sharky's Machine.".
Burt Reynolds directed this action movie and (surprise!) he is actually a pretty good director.
Still, this film is certainly entertaining if you like crime and action movies.