_**Boston-set 87th Precinct story starring Burt Reynolds, Tom Skerritt and Raquel Welch**_ Police officers in Boston confront a range of common urban crimes, including a killer who uses explosives for his purposes (Yul Brynner). The film features Burt Reynolds, Tom Skerritt, Raquel Welch and Jack Weston among its performers. "Fuzz" (1972) is an 87th Precinct story derived from the book by the same name, written by Evan Hunter, also known as Ed McBain. It shares similarities with other big-city detective movies of that time period, such as “Bullitt” (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), “The Night Stalker” (1972) and “Deathwish” (1974). However, it’s arguably the weakest of these because (1) the attempts to inject humor into serious situations, reminiscent of “M*A*S*H” (1972), feel contrived and (2) the screenplay tries to manage too many separate events involving a large number of characters. An instance of this awkward humor comes from painters who are constantly working at headquarters. Some of the attempts at comedy do land, though. If these artificial elements had been lessened, the film would have likely been more effective. Resolving issues in scripts requires time, and time translates to expense. Despite its flaws, if you can adjust to the movie’s unusual feel, there's a lot to enjoy, including a strong cast with many familiar faces like Charles Martin Smith, Steve Ihnat and Cal Bellini. It’s also worth noting that the film improves as it progresses; the final portion is the strongest part. The picture clearly influenced the TV show Hill Street Blues. Fifteen months after its release, 24-year-old Evelyn Wagler was tragically murdered in Boston's impoverished Blue Hill district. This crime may have been a copycat incident inspired by the film’s portrayal of homeless people covered in gasoline and set on fire. The situation worsened due to indications that it was a racially motivated attack; the victim was white, and the six teenage perpetrators were black, as Wagler witnessed before dying four hours after the assault. Those responsible were never apprehended. The movie has a running time of 1 hour, 32 minutes. GRADE: B-/C+

Source on TMDB