Hot Stuff (1979)

The Miami police department sets up a massive sting operation by having four cops (Dom DeLuise, Suzanne Pleshette, Jerry Reed, Luis Avalos) act as fences for stolen goods. I have an inexplicable affection for this amiable if disposable 70s comedy. The improbable plot benefits from the bright Miami setting as well as a screenplay with some grit or at least as gritty as a silly comedy can be. I suspect this is most likely the work of the co-screenwriter Donald E. Westlake whose novels spawned such films as Boorman's POINT BLANK and Godard's MADE IN U.S.A.. The film is helped immeasurably by Dom DeLuise (who also directed), who's the funniest roly poly comic since Lou Costello and makes the most inane punchline hilarious. With Ossie Davis, Marc Lawrence, Pat McCormick (who has the film's funniest line) and Richard Davalos (whose weight gain makes him almost unrecognizable as the young actor who played James Dean's brother in EAST OF EDEN).