Backstreet Justice

Nothing particularly original but this is a well-made little thriller with a tough performance by Linda Kozlowski in the lead role. Refreshingly, her character handles most of the action herself without needing to be rescued by the male lead.

A female police officer has her hands full clearing up a Pittsburgh neighborhood and trying to clear her late father's name on corruption charges. What you'd expect! Nothing exciting.

First of all, Linda K. looks so-o-o-o-o-o different with red tresses versus her straight blonde Croc Dundee hair. You forget the other characters she has played. Bruce Willis and Dennis Farina did another movie about police corruption in Pittsburgh so their film council must feature that in their brochure. This film takes excellent advantage of the river, hills, downtown, older homes and tram of Pittsburgh. Though their is the Ever-Present crusty Captain that wants to have the license of the P.I. and the helpful insider (Rockford Files, Simon & Simon, etc. etc.) the movie has sometension and you don't find out the final twist until the end. A few boo-boo's to look for: When Linda is getting shot at in the alley she starts with the silver long-barrelled revolver from her boyfriend but it transmutes into a short-barrelled blued handgun. In her second appearance at the Union Hall she is braless and then has one on as she comes upon the crime scene where the Big Mouth's wife is killed. I am told that 20 year old film that has sat undeveloped in a camera in an attic would probably not be able to be developed, but no one was willing to say "Absolutely Not." I applaud her for doing her own extended nude scene and not ripping us off with a body double. Most of the badges are authentic round Pittsburgh badges but at least one is a generic eagle-on-top badge. All that being said, rent it or buy it - it will be worth the price.

This was a vehicle for Linda Kozlowski, and sadly, there's really no other reason to see it. Ms. Kozlowski was talented and beautiful, and I wish she had a much more extensive career, as I would have liked to have seen more of her. In this film, she was as good as the material allowed. I thought that the plot was not developed very well, and the police procedures didn't make much sense.

Linda Kozlowski is pretty much the whole show here. As a female P.I., she strikes a believable balance between toughness and vulnerability: she is not superhuman but she is fearless (even reckless), she is not an expert fighter but she can and will fight anyone when the need arises. It is quite refreshing to see a woman portrayed like this in the movies, and Linda's performance is excellent (even if it's easy to spot the 2 or 3 scenes where she was stunt-doubled). As for "Backstreet Justice" as a whole, apart from a fairly explicit - and sensual - sex scene, it plays more or less like a TV-movie-of-the-week, and just isn't very interesting. I give it a 6 out of 10, but if the exact same movie had been made with a male lead, I'd probably give it a 3.