"The Seven-Ups" (1973) Directed by: Philip D'Antoni

3 months ago
43

☆Detective Buddy Manucci has been under pressure from the senior officers in the New York City police force because his team of renegade policemen, known as the "seven-ups" (so called because most criminals they arrest receive sentences from seven years and up) have been using unorthodox methods to arrest criminals; this is illustrated as the team ransacks an antiques store that is a front for the running of counterfeit money. Buddy received information about the counterfeit ring from his regular snitch & childhood friend, informant Vito Lucia.
☆There has been a growing rash of kidnappings of organized crime figures and white-collar criminals in the city. Max Kalish, a high-level racketeer & loan shark, is kidnapped from his house by two strangers impersonating police detectives. A ransom for his release is paid at a car wash. Manucci, while making the rounds through his old neighborhood, is tipped off by a local barber & family friend that he has witnessed an increased presence of guns on the streets during the last few months. This causes Buddy and the squad to start trailing some of the key crime figures to gather clues for the escalating unrest and tensions amongst the local syndicate.
☆They learn of the kidnappings when crooked bail bondsman Festa is grabbed in public by two men claiming to be from the District Attorney's office. Buddy seeks more information from Vito, who turns out to be untrustworthy. Unbeknownst to Buddy, Vito is the mastermind behind the kidnapping operation. He works with the two thugs, Moon & Bo, who have been performing all the kidnappings by impersonating various authority figures.
☆The squad stake out a funeral meeting of Kalish and his people, disaster follows, and it leads to shootings causing the death of one of the Seven-up officers and life-threatening injuries to one of the crime family members. A violent car chase ensues as Buddy chases after the shooters, Moon and Bo, which takes them throughout Upper Manhattan and beyond. Other officers give chase and attempt to block the two at the George Washington Bridge but Moon and Bo crash through the police barricade and continue across the bridge and into Palisades Interstate Parkway and the Taconic Parkway outside of New York City. They escape when Buddy's car violently collides into a truck, shearing off the roof. Miraculously, he survives the near-fatal accident.
☆Manucci and the rest of the Seven-Ups are placed on suspension pending investigation as NYPD Internal Affairs considers them prime suspects of the kidnappings. This leaves the squad to continue piecing together the puzzle on their own. After Buddy and his squad break into the house of Max Kalish and his wife, confronting them at gunpoint, the information collected from Max allows Manucci to fill in the final blanks of who is responsible for all the kidnappings.
☆Buddy meets up with Vito again, intentionally setting him up for failure by giving him false information in an attempt to smoke out the kidnappers/shooters. Buddy's plan involves staking out the house of a parking garage worker who was involved with the kidnapping causing the shootings. Falsely informing Vito earlier that the garage worker in question possesses all the info needed to pursue and convict all of the kidnapping suspects, Vito then notifies his associates, Moon & Bo, who follow the garage worker to his house in an attempt to assassinate him. They are then intercepted by the Seven-Ups. After a subsequent gunfight and a short foot chase, Moon & Bo are both killed.
☆The next day, Buddy meets up with Vito one last time informing him his game is up, but promises he won't be arresting him. Instead, he will ensure the local crime families are all notified how Vito was responsible for the kidnappings and ransom extorted from them. Buddy then walks away leaving a now very terrified and emotionally distressed Lucia to contemplate his fate.

Loading comments...