"Pink Cadillac" was one of Clint Eastwood's few flops. Not only did the film do poorly in the box office, but critics hated it. Was all this really merited or was the film actually much better? Well, after watching about 90% of it, I must say that the hatred is, in this case earned. Why only 90%? Because I disliked the film and characters so much I couldn't make myself finish the movie...and that is very rare for me.Eastwood plays Tommy Nowak, a skip tracer. This is a person who works for a bail bondsman in order to track down folks who ran away to avoid prosecution...thus leaving the bondsman with a huge debt. He's really good at what he does and is very clever in order to catch these people...which is why what he does with Lu Ann McGuinn (Bernadette Peters) makes very little sense. In her case, for once, her tears and request for his help after she's captured makes little sense--especially since she is on the run from the law AND already lied to him and escaped from him already. However, the pair go off on an adventure to see her baby before she is turned in...and along the way the sleaze-bag husband and his Neo-Nazi friends show up and Nowak must contend with them.There are two huge problems with the film. First, Nowak's character is very inconsistent and makes little sense. Second, and most importantly, there really is no chemistry between him and Lou Ann. These are problems and good writing wouldn't have let such glaring problems get into the script. Overall, a dopey film which tries, in vain, to be a comedy but just comes off as forced and disappointing.

"Pink Cadillac" is one of those films which seem to owe their existence to a scriptwriter or studio executive noticing a catchy song title, thinking it too good to waste on a mere song and concocting a film script to fit it. (See also "Pretty Woman", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Addicted to Love", "Jumping Jack Flash" and others). At least the film does actually feature a pink Cadillac.The film also served another purpose, that of finding another role for Clint Eastwood who had recently made his fifth and final "Dirty Harry" movie, "The Dead Pool". Having tried "tough cowboy" and "tough cop", with occasional forays into "tough soldier" and "tough trucker", Clint decided to try "tough bounty hunter". His character here is Tommy Nowak, a "skip-tracer", that is to say a bounty hunter who specialises in tracking down people who skip bail. (The name "Nowak" is pronounced either in the authentic Polish way as "Novak" or as the anglicised "Noack", depending on who is speaking). His latest target is a young woman named Lou Ann McGuinn who has run off in her husband Roy's pink Cadillac. This was, however, an unwise choice of getaway vehicle because Roy is a member of a violent white supremacist movement and the car contained a large quantity of counterfeit money belonging to the group. Now Lou Ann is being chased not only by Tommy but also by a scary gang of Neo-Nazi fanatics. Let's just hope he gets there first.Although Eastwood was nearly sixty when he made the film, he could not resist the chance of an on screen romance with an attractive younger woman (in this case Bernadette Peters), so when Tommy finally does find Lou Ann it is inevitable that they will fall in love and join forces to fight the evil white supremacists.The film was not generally popular with the critics. The New York Times called it the "laziest sort of action comedy" and predicted that it "will probably settle comfortably near the bottom of the list" of Eastwood's movies. There is probably some justice in that criticism. The plot could have been taken straight from the "Lazy Screenwriter's Guide to writing- by-numbers, and the film will never rank alongside the likes of the first "Dirty Harry" or "Pale Rider" or "Unforgiven" or "Gran Torino" in the pantheon of Eastwood's work. I have always found Eastwood more effective in serious drama than in comedy, and "Pink Cadillac" is essentially an action-comedy rather than an action-adventure.That said, however, it is not altogether bad. Eastwood and Peters make a likable couple, despite the age difference, and although the bad guys are predictable and stereotyped, that is probably inevitable in the context of an action-comedy, a genre which operates under different laws from those which govern serious action dramas. "Pink Cadillac" may be lazy, but it is also fairly amiable. 5/10

This movie has some rawness and grit, interesting story line, plot, and sub-plots, with Eastwood as a tough no-nonsense detective, Speer, and Reynolds as an ex-cop and Private Eye, Murphy, who butt heads with each other, in Prohibition-era 1933 (last year of Prohibition, in fact), but team up to investigate mob murder and corruption. It also has some funny lines and wittiness. And of course, Eastwood, with his intensity, as well as his piano playing, is in true form as usual. The costumes are great. The sets are delightful and the cars dazzling. The treat in the movie is Jane Alexander as Reynold's long suffering brilliant secretary. Worth watching just for the pleasure of her company.The plot is a good one and the story believable just poorly executed, despite good performances. There's not a whole lot of saving graces other that what has already been mentioned but at least you can see some different, although hollow, acting performances by Madeline Kahn, Rip Torn, Richard Roundtree, Jane Alexander, and Irene Cara. Clint didn't direct this film, but his production company produced it and Buddy Van Horn directed it. Van Horn is Clint's stunt coordinator and Clint surrogate, and has directed several Clint films (most notably The Dead Pool). Maybe that's the idea of this film, but it didn't succeed in delivering the camp factors. The whole film felt like a middling effort, but at least it had the grace of showing a young Jim Carrey doing stand-up, which showed how little he changed over the years.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Clint Eastwood is Tommy Nowak, making his living working for a bond company, tracking down and bringing back those who have jumped bail. The opening scenes establish his character by showing him in action in two different cases.Bernadette Peters has always been a favorite of mine. Here she plays a young mother Lou Ann. Her husband is mixed up with a gang of Caucasian supremacists who are also thieves. It turns out her husband and their friends have a big stash of counterfeit money and, when a raid happens she is the only one there, thus the one arrested. Out on bail, she slips away and Nowak is hired to track her down.This isn't a particularly good movie. The title comes from the car that Lou Ann's husband owns, and which Lou Ann and Nowak end up traveling in. There is a big gun fight near the end. But when it is over it all adds up to nothing much.