Freebie and the Bean
Tags: comedy, violence

Plot synopsis:
Freebie and Bean are a pair of maverick detectives with the SFPD Intelligence Squad. The volatile gratuity-seeking Freebie is trying to get promoted to the vice squad to garner perks for his retirement while the neurotic and fastidious Bean has ambitions to make lieutenant. Against a backdrop of Super Bowl weekend in San Francisco, the partners are trying to conclude a 14-month investigation, digging through garbage to gather evidence against well-connected racketeer Red Meyers, when they discover that a hit man from Detroit is after Meyers as well. After rejecting their pretext arrest of Meyers to protect him, the district attorney orders them to keep him alive until Monday.
After locating and shooting the primary hit man, and distracted by Bean's suspicions that his wife is having an affair with the landscaper, they continue their investigation seeking a key witness against Meyers who can explain and corroborate the evidence. In the midst of this, they foil a second hit on Meyers by a backup team, leading to a destructive vehicle and foot pursuit through the city, after which they learn that Meyers is planning to fly to Miami before Monday. Tailing him, they receive word that their witness has been located and a warrant issued for Meyers' arrest. Unbeknownst to them, the hooker he has picked up is actually a female impersonator and another hit man.
During the arrest attempt Bean is shot by the hit man, who flees with Meyers into the stadium where the Super Bowl is underway. Freebie corners the hit man in a women's restroom and despite being shot himself, rescues a hostage and kills the hit man. The D.A. arrives after the shootings and tells Freebie that the warrant is canceled because the witness was assassinated on the way to the station. Freebie goes nuts and demands to be allowed to arrest Meyers, only to find that he died of a heart attack during the fracas. Freebie is further demoralized to learn that the evidence they gathered was planted by Meyers' wife in an extra-marital conspiracy with the lieutenant in command of their squad.
Bean is not dead after all, however, and in the ambulance the two wounded partners engage in a free-for-all, blaming each other for their injuries, and causing yet another accident.

Review: 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.
A mainstay on cable in the 70's, Freebie and the Bean is by no means "great" but it certainly is thoroughly entertaining to anyone who doesn't let political correctness stand in their way.This is no doubt a film that can offend; the two cops (especially Caan) use muscle whenever they can; a crossdresser is treated horribly and insulted; there's some racial humor.
Cann and Arkin are great in their roles, and show geniune affection and friendship for each other as they try to keep a criminal alive to break a case.Car chase fans especially like this movie, and there are some classic chases here!
The highlight chase shows the duo chasing after a blue car with some truly amazing stuntwork.All in all if you aren't the easily offended type, and like some goofy comedy mixed with action, it's worth a spin, if only to see how movies were made when not under a watchdog's microscope..
The story centres around the wacky verbal and non-verbal relationship between Alan Arkin and James Caan more than it does the fairly week plot.
This Is a classic 70's 'Buddy Buddy comedy/Actioneer, that certainly paved the way for '48hr's 'Leathal Weapon' and many more cop flick's 'Freebie And The Bean' star's James Caan, as the macho tough guy 'freebie' Alan Arkin, is the short fused and neurotic 'Bean' Freebie And The Bean have one goal together and that's to bring down the Obnoxious 'Red Myer's who is the local mafia kingpin, but whilst waiting for the Warrant to Arrest their man,They have to wait until Monday for the Important Warrant to arrive,The pair have to fight off various hit men,It's down to Freebie And The Bean, to catch the assassins's And try and get their man with hilarious and riotous result's which have some of the finest car stunt's committed to celluloid!, Freebie And The Bean Also star's Lorreta Swit, Alex(Godfather Rocco) And Valerie Harper AsArkin's wife,There is a mildly amusing subplot which has Arkin Convinced his Ethnic wife is cheating on him with equally hilarious result's!The film also excel's in the verbal Chit Chat between Arkin And Caan, The film has numerous funny moment's including the scene where Arkin/Caan, whilst in pursuit of the Assasain's Accidentally Skid off the highway and crash in to two old people's apartment wall!
That scene has got to be seen to be believed!The stunt men and women must have got paid a lot for this film, and it show's incidentally the director Richard Rush, later Directed another cult favorite 'The Stunt Man,Hopefully warner brother's will finally release this although the film like a lot of 70's classic's is overtly not PC(politically Correct) It'll be great to view it in It's 2:35 -1 Aspect Ratio, a commentary track by Arkin And Caan, would make a load of fan's happy,.
It's always a pleasure to watch Alan Arkin work, and he works so well playing off James Caan, who's fantastic in this film, too.
Be forewarned, though, if you're bothered by things politically incorrect, you may be offended by Freebie And The Bean.The story is unimportant because it's the comic skits that make this movie work.
Freebie (James Caan) is part of a detective team who thinks the major part of his benefit package is whatever he can walk away with, while  Bean (Alan Arkin) plods along worrying that his wife is having an affair with the landscaper.
Freebie and the Bean crashing their car off an overpass and into the upper floor of an apartment building, Freebie giving Bean a fashion lesson about why buttons don't fall off of expensive shirts, or Bean grilling his wife, played by Valerie Harper, attempting to catch her in a lie about the suspected affair....these are worth watching the film for and are some of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.
Long before the PC crowd raised their ugly heads, there was Freebie and the Bean(1974), a very watchable and funny comedy about two San Francisco cops who nearly destroy the city in their pursuit of a gangster.
Although it's story is a letdown, Caan and Arkin' make a great teaming of "throw the book out the window cops", I'm prepared to forgive this.
This movie works, thanks to Caan, and especially Arkin, who I loved in this.
Valerie (Rhoda) Harper lends great support as Arkin's wife, while Loretta "Hot lips Hoolahan" Swit pops up as the old codger's mistress.
It's the antidote for The Laughing Policeman, that grim "police procedural" from 1973; it's Freebie and the Bean, a crude, politically incorrect, and very funny buddy movie for the sophomore in all of us.Alan Arkin and James Caan play a couple of San Francisco PD Inspectors on the hunt for .
The fun is in Arkin's neurotic and fastidious Bean (you have to forgive the racial slur right from the start) and Caan decked out in a leisure suit and looking for the next "five-finger discount" (hence, the name "Freebie").It's clearly not a movie for your mom--violent and foul-mouthed, with Arkin accusing his wife of infidelity by demanding to see if she's douched recently, and Caan performing noisy cunnilingus on his girlfriend.
It all seems so daring for the 17 year old in 1975, but now, I suspect, I would just cringe and blush at the crudity and concentrate on the hostile chemistry between Arkin and Caan.After so many serious cop-dramas from the early '70s, FATB came across as something of a breath of different air.
In the grand scheme of things, it's not a good movie or a nice one, but there is an entertainment value and a vitality that makes it worth watching.And don't miss the cop car through the side of the apartment building!.
Overlong, over the top buddy-cop action comedy stars James Caan and Alan Arkin as a thoroughly dysfunctional pair of San Francisco police detectives.
Caan plays Freebie, Arkin is the Bean.
Viewers will love the car-through-the-wall gag (and the corresponding deadpan reactions of an old couple in an apartment).Caan and Arkin are energetic as they constantly bicker and banter with each other; the problem for this viewer, though, was that the script is never really that funny; it's seriously lacking in real wit.There are some good actors in the supporting cast.
Alan Arkin turns in a first-rate performance as the "Bean", the straight guy (with a couple of kinks of his own) against James Cann's maverick "Freebie" character.There are a few surprising twists, even though a flick this funny doesn't really need much of a plot.With a strong supporting cast including Valerie Harper and Loretta Swit, I found this feature outrageously funny when I saw it in the theater in 1975, and it's still just as good today.
There is a scene with Alex Rocco as the "D.A.", at which my dad, a real-life D.A. at the time, nearly fell out of his seat laughing.If you can find this classic, by all means watch it.
This is a pretty funny movie from the 70's starring James Caan and Alan Arkin as two screwed up police detectives in San Francisco trying to bust a local numbers guy so they can get promotions.
By today's standards it's very un-pc - lots of ethnic jokes - but it's still a good laugh.James Caan and Alan Arkin are very good together.
Caan ("Freebie") is the guy who's always trying to get something for nothing, and Arkin ("The Bean") is the straight man and butt of his jokes.
Valerie Harper plays Arkin's cheating wife and she's pretty good.
The way one homosexual character is treated will be offensive to many people, especially near the end of the movie.The scene where one of the cops, confronting his wife about his suspicions of her cheating on him, is a comic highlight..
James Caan and Alan Arkin work well together as oddball cops and I can only say bring it out on DVD!.
We had such great memories of seeing it in the theatre, yet we couldn't stand it for more than about 15 minutes.I was so relieved that he wanted to turn it off, but I was so disappointed that this movie wasn't what we remembered.If you watch this today and love it I really envy you.
Great shoot out in the mens room at the old Tenderloin Bowling alley.Great acting , especially when Alan Arkin and James Caan are being chewed out by there police supervisor and they try to explain there screw up.
Two cops (well-cast buddy couple, Alan Arkin and James Caan) bust chops and wreck cars in an attempt to nab a numbers-racketeer.
Supporting cast is solid, with Valerie Harper exceptional in small role as Arkin's wife, and some of the comedy works, but much of the rest is decidedly off-putting.
James Caan and Alan Arkin are partners in this amateur hour detective work film...
James Caan and Alan Arkin play two off beat San Francisco cops trying to take down local crime boss Red Meyer who his also being targeted by a hit-man.
The film is an early example of the buddy cop film and also has high levels of gun toting violence, police brutality and zany car chases which must have inspired The Blues Brothers.I still enjoy some surreal elements of the film such as the scenes Caan and Arkin have with Alex Rocco in his office and the anarchic style is enjoyable to an extent but too often it descends into silliness at the expense of plot development.However one thing noticeable was the amount of shootings in this film.
I understand the film is of its time so certain derogatory terms are expected but did actress Valerie Harper really had to be listed as 'Beans Wife' in the title credits?
The blame for all this has to be laid at director Richard Rush to be so behind the curve.Still the film is fun, Arkin and Caan make a good team and have some good banter.
It is actually Arkin who is unpredictable even though he is more cautious compared to the gung ho Caan.However the similar themed Busting that came out at the same time, which starred Elliot Gould and Robert Blake now looks like to be the better film..
What little chemistry there was between Alan Arkin and James Caan was swamped by gross overacting, meaningless banter and over-the-top yelling.
Caan and Arkin work fairly well together, however the film does not have much to say in terms of friendships.
i would love for my son to see it, i tell him about it all the time, if any one knows where i can rent or but a copy please let me know....people my age, this is a movie to share with your kids, and it is good family fun, There is very few curse words if any, very little if any nudity, this is a move i want and am not ashamed to let my daughters watch as well as my son.
Freebie & the Bean is peerless as a cop comedy.
James Caan and Alan Arkin "disgrace" themselves by starring in this offensive turkey.
Freebie and Bean are two San Francisco cops who have been working for over a year to bring down Red Meyer, a local crime boss with his fingers in many operations.
Alan Arkin in Wait Until Dark and James Caan in the Godfather and that was it before I saw them in this movie.
Alan Arkin, "Where do you get this stuff?" I think Caan is great and charismatic (though pretty nuts) in this movie.
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'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..
A badly dated comedy police caper with Caan & Arkin as the two inept detectives trying to protect a known hood from being assassinated in order to give evidence and put some bigger hoods behind bars.This film is a complete mess from start to finish: it tries to be funny but fails miserably.
Instead of relying on intelligent humour it has to rely on cheap slapstick, repulsive gags and mundane noisy car chases.The film doesn't paint a pretty picture for the San Franciso police department (or any police authority for that matter), especially if they have dullards like these two running around beating people up like they're mad fascists on a mission to seek out and destroy.The appearance of James Caan is a huge disappointment for me, so soon after his pivotal performance in The Godfather, he then has to embarrass himself with the tacky little bauble.Alan Arkin flounces around like a robot with a charisma bypass, or a St Bernard dog looking around in need of a good script.
He is truly embarrassing here.There is nothing inventive or remotely entertaining here, with the possible exception of the wonderful little cameo from Valeria Harper as Arkin's wife.This film also shows its age in other ways apart from fashion and its dent-easy cars.
Somehow the first five minutes of the film really sums this movie up: Caan & Arkin spend time scouring trash cans for evidence.
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.
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.
James Caan and Alan Arkin play two police officers assigned to protect the man they are trying to arrest.
I have never seen and know that I will never see another film quite like Freebie and the bean..
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.
It's a great movie with awesome car chases, stunt work and some achingly funny dialogue, not to mention some terrific performances especially from Alan Arkin as Bean.
If you're a fan of 70's cop/car chase movies.
Tarantino went into great detail about how Richard Rush intended to parody Dirty Harry violent cop films, but few got the joke, even though the film was a big hit.
It's un-PC in that 70's macho way, almost as if Altman directed a buddy cop comedy...But I dig the movie for its weird tone and cool action scenes, along with the great Alan Arkin.
For what it is - a cop buddy movie - FREEBIE AND THE BEAN is the paragon.
Alan Arkin and James Caan play cops in love, an un-ironic friendship displayed with banter and charisma.
(This is even more impressive in light of Alan Arkin's public denigration of working with Richard Rush and this particular film-making experience generally.) They are aided by a Laurel & Hardy-meet-Lenny Bruce sensibility in the script and direction, which demands the extent of their abilities at the height of their powers.
Arkin and Caan are like that in this film; they're constantly shouting at and hitting felons, members of the public and each other, they crash cars, endanger lives, destroy as much property as possible, murder troublesome assassins, break into people's houses, steal things and are generally extreme sociopaths at best.
Extremely well directed by the mysterious Rush, a man who made some of the most interesting and least-seen pictures of the pre-Movie Brat generation (his next film, The Stunt Man, took six years to get made), with great location photography by Laszlo Kovacs.
The first thing I would say about this is I do not believe that this film is racist, "Freebie" (James Caan) is a racist and this is something his Mexican partner "Bean" (Alan Arkin) takes him to task for.
This film appears to deliberately go out of its way to upset every possible expectation leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of this.The Cinematography by the great Laszlo Kovacs is excellent and there is great chemistry between James Caan and Alan Arkin as the sometimes warring partners and sometimes friends.
Outrageous, obnoxious, violent, sexist, profane, vulgar, and raw in almost all aspects of its production, this crimer-comedy from 1974 is infamous not just for its aforementioned exploitation movie-poster adjectives but the hilarious chemistry between co-bastards James Caan and Alan Arkin.
As if the immensely destructive, punctuating car chases aren't enough to earn the movie its R rating, the completely rancid dialog between its leads makes the buddy cop films of the 80s appear positively anemic.
Nonetheless, right when you think the film's poorly written--more like scribbled--female characters couldn't get any worse (or neglected), the luminous Valerie Harper appears in a knockout scene as the wife of Arkin.
Richard Rush, who, up until this point, was known primarily as the director of a bunch of biker films that WEREN'T EASY RIDER, directed this inspired lunacy that teams James Caan and Alan Arkin as cops who'll do whatever it takes to nail dapper mobster Jack Kruschen.
The chase scenes in this film are great.
Thoroughly enjoyable to watch, Alan Arkin and James Caan make a great comedy duo.