SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Burt Reynolds plays a streetwise private detective from Brooklyn hired by an eccentric millionaire to locate diamonds stolen by flamethrower-wielding killers, a burglary that may be a cover for an export deal in government arms; wealthy Dyan Cannon also hires the shambling shamus (for $75 dollars a day plus expenses!) to follow her suspicious-acting brother, who figures in the dirty business. Screenwriter Barry Beckerman was apparently doing a violent send-up of "The Big Sleep"--but forgot the sly humor; everything here is hammered home, most especially Reynolds' prowess with the ladies (and if there isn't a naked babe on his pool table, there are plenty to ogle on his walls). Fine New York City locations help, but the plot's detour into military territory is uninteresting. Reynolds, acting 'cute,' is no Humphrey Bogart; he does a comedic double-take like a seasoned pro, but has nothing else going on under his patented charm. *1/2 from ****

This film is worth viewing just for the pantomime Reynolds does during the opening credits; some really funny stuff. I also liked the fact that an old Twilight Zone alumnus, Buzz Kulick, directed. Reynolds is not a great actor and he knows it. He tends to play the same character in every film he appears in. The one exception is of course the masterpiece Deliverence, where he plays the stoic man of action to the hilt. Shamus is a fast breezy piece of work that is fun to watch and it appears that Burt Reynolds had fun making it. Reynolds also has a tie to The Twilight Zone. In an episode called The Bard, playing a method actor called Rocky Rhodes, Reynolds does a hilarious parody of Marlon Brando.

This film brings back good memories for me. It's the first film that I had enough nerve to ask a girl out to when I was a teen. As my first official date, I was soon upstaged by the very rising star power of Burt Reynolds.I think this film must have been planned as a recurring character for Reynolds--sort of a low brow "Saint" or a poor man's James Bond. Like "Remo Williams--The Adventure Begins" it unfortunately ended as soon as it began. Bigger and better things came to Reynolds soon after this release and he apparently sought not to be type cast as an American P.I. with a Scottish variant of the name James.Still, it was a good film, and exciting and action packed by the standards of the day. Reynolds is a cool, believable and likable hero figure who acts like Popeye on spinach in the fight scenes. Cannon is good scenery in the film, but not much more. This isn't her fault-- the script treats her like little more than a prop. The villain in the film is hate worthy, though not formidable, but his "henchmen" provide good conflict for the "I do my own stunts" Reynolds. I give the film a 7 out of 10.

I saw this film in Grade 11, and found Reynolds hard edge well done. He sleeps on a pool table, and fights with a chain. Even Sly would have a hard time topping Reynolds in this one. Reynolds must have grew up tough inorder to put some real life experience into this one. If Burt did Mike Hammer he would have saved his career. 7/10