Final Tactic

FINAL TACTIC (1975)

Directed by: Walter Grauman
Written by: David Levinson
Starring: Nick Pryor, William Lucking & Gerald Gordon

If you get caught, we don’t know you…

A cool tagline for a cool little TV movie that never saw the light of day as a series. A shame really, as Final Tactic is a breezy 78 minutes of criminals turned cops, polyester suits, car chases and enough one liners to rival most Schwarzenegger films. Three ex-cons (William Lucking, Nick Pryor, and James Hampton) and a bent cop (Roy Jenson) are recruited by tough talking police officer Gerald Gordon to help battle organized crime. Regular cops aren’t cutting the mustard and getting the results needed, so the department resorts to hiring crooks so they can use their skills to catch likewise law breakers. At first reluctant to make the career change, the new crime fighting team soon bond and become adept at catching the bad guys.

Fast and snappy, Final Tactic coasts along on its easy going, crooks with charm narrative, delivering witty dialogue with 1970s style and TV pacing. The cast is likeable and seem to be having fun and the production benefits from a cool car chase and some other eye popping stunts that elevate it from typical TV fair. A car stunt involving a leap over a wall and a sequence where a helicopter lands in swimming pool give Final Tactic an edge and make this pulpy, fast talking flick worth tracking down. Good fun.

Also known as Force Five.