Following a fiery murder-robbery, McCoy (Burt Reynolds) is hired to solve the mystery.
The case leads him to a powerful man (Ron Weyand) armed with a squad of deadly guard dogs, a beautiful heiress (Dyan Cannon) and a stockpile of military grade weapons.
If Burt Reynolds was not in it -and it had not been released on a free platform - I probably never would have watched Shamus.
And I am glad I did because I would have missed one of the most shocking, arresting, flat-out abrupt openings to a movie ever.
I had to restart the movie to clock it again.
After the studio logo, we dissolve to an overhead long shot of a couple in bed making love.
Cut to a reverse shot on the skylight, revealing the previous shot was from the perspective of two figures in flame-retardant suits.
The lady spots the figures and screams just as they fire a flamethrower down at the couple!
Wow!
Our introduction to Reynold’s McCoy is similarly eye-catching, in a completely different key.
Awakened by a phone call, McCoy gets off his bed - a mattress on a billiard table - and wanders around his massive loft, making breakfast and doing the bare minimum to clean himself up.
It is an interesting, slovenly entrance for our hero, although Reynolds is a little too put-together and cool to convince as failing PI.
While it trades in the tropes of gumshoe fiction, the intro of more weapons and set-pieces foreshadow the action thrillers that would come to epitomise the genre.
Aside from the flamethrowers, we get some savage dogs, and a car chase around a military surplus yard.
Reynolds makes a good case for the value of movie stars - he draws your attention, is believable in the action scenes, and makes the somewhat laughable seduction scenes come off as the foreplay of a charming cad. I was shocked to realise this was released right before Reynolds became a big star.
The film is not nearly as interesting as the set up or various ingredients would suggest.
It is a generic detective thriller, enlivened by the star’s sparkling charisma and game physicality.
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