Product Details

• Actors: Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Victor Arnold, Jerry Leon, Ken Kercheval
• Directors: Philip D'Antoni
• Writers: Albert Ruben, Alexander Jacobs, Sonny Grosso
• Producers: Philip D'Antoni, Barry J. Weitz, Gerald B. Greenberg, Kenneth Utt
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Fox Home Entertainme
• VHS Release Date: May 29, 1985
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000006GDP
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,687 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cult 1973 crime thriller with plenty of style and substance!, March 9, 2005

By 

P. Ferrigno "firehouse444" (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven-Ups [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Cult crime film, that's virtually unknown by many film fans, however this gritty 1973 crime thriller is still edgy and captivating viewing over thirty years later, and effectively captures the tense and often violent relations between the NYC detectives and their hoodlum prey. The term "seven ups" was actually coined in the late 1960's in relation to a special squad of detectives operating in New York City who were pursuing high profile felons convictable of prison terms of seven years or more.

Ex-NYC detective Sonny Grosso ( the real life "Cloudy" of "The French Connection" fame ) penned the story for "The Seven Ups" based upon some of his personal experiences and observations in the NYC police department. A steely and youthful Roy Scheider is the lead actor portraying uncompromising detective "Buddy Manucci". Scheider was at that time just breaking through to mainstream cinema, and had recently gained high praise from critics for his role as Gene Hackman's cop buddy in the sensational "The French Connection"...plus, Scheider would soon become a familiar face as "Chief Brody" in 1975's biggest blockbuster "Jaws". Fellow actor from "The French Connection", Tony Lo Bianco appears in "The Seven Ups" as an oily, two faced mob undertaker, manipulating both his criminal cohorts and his friend Buddy via the use of sensitive information on the mob's business dealings. The plot of the film primarily centres around the double crossing activities of Vito ( Lo Bianco ) as he uses his child hood friend Buddy ( Scheider ) to identify potential mob identities that Vito's crooked partners can kidnap and hold for an exhorbitant ransom. Both the cops and the mob are rattled as they struggle to identify the mole betraying the fingered mob bosses for hefty ransom's. Vito's kidnapping colleagues are played by swarthy Richard Lynch ( Starsky & Hutch, Vampire, Invasion USA ), and shifty Bill Hickman ( one of Hollywood's top stunt drivers ) and a key sequence of the film has the two merciless kidnappers flee a garage after a shooting to be pursued by Scheider in one of the finest car chases you will ever see on film !

( Forget all the nit-picking criticisms about which direction they are driving on various expressway's, and being on the wrong side of railings, and tour buses etc etc......the fact is that the car chase between the kidnappers in an Oldsmobile Delta 88 and Scheider pursuing in a Pontiac Ventura is brilliantly photographed, well paced, exciting and keep's your eyes glued to the screen ! )

The film was shot during an icy NYC winter, and the use of various bleak and mud spattered industrial estate's, warehouse's and rail freight yard locations around NYC, give the movie a really strong "street" feel that strongly parallels the grimy under belly of the various crooked characters peopling the cast. One can only hope that this under rated piece of classic 70's crime cinema eventually makes it to DVD !! Highly Recommended !!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Low-key, realistic police drama, November 9, 1999

By 

David Dearborn (Connecticut USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Seven-Ups [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It remains in the shadow of its famous predecessor, 'The French Connection,' but 'The Seven Ups' is required viewing if you're in the mood for a no-nonsense, unglorified NYC police story. There's an incredible end to the car chase, the film's trademark, but watch it for the straightforward acting, jolting plot twists, and unvarnished picture of workaday New York in the '70s. The music lends an eerie mood, and there's plenty of small touches of realism. My favorite is a grim view of a muddy New Jersey wasteland--trains of oblivious commuters roar by the cops and villains on foot. 'The Seven Ups' is a rare breed--it looks like it could have happened the way it was filmed. Unspectacular but rewarding.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New York Locations Galore, April 19, 2004

By 

Michael McEwan (Yonkers, New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seven-Ups [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Not a review, but a commentary on filming locations, all in New York, most in the Bronx. The funeral parlor scene (at Hoffman St & E184 St across from St Barnabas Hospital) features footage of the Third Ave El train tracks, demolished soon afterwards. The funeral procession follows along Pelham Pkwy past the White Plains Rd train station. Other Bronx landmarks seen are the Valentine Theater on Fordham Rd, the HighBridge (that supplied drinking water from upstate through the Old Croton Aqueduct over the Harlem River into Manhattan), the Arthur Ave Market, the Botanical Gardens Conservatory, and Tracy Towers on Mosholu Pkwy. The shootout at the end takes place on the Amtrak rails between Co-Op City and Pelham Bay Park. The car chase starts on Manhattan's West Side and (despite driving over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey) ends with the crash on the Taconic Pkwy in Westchester County. Locations seem to have been chosen for their gritty looks, and the action is rife with geographic incongruity, with rather distant areas represented as being adjacent.