Freebie and the Bean is a 1974 black comedy action film directed by Richard Rush, starring James Caan and Alan Arkin. It's an early example of a Buddy Cop Show.
Freebie (Caan) is a violent, corrupt, thieving racist. Bean (Arkin) is a neurotic Mexican-American who's prone to dramatic emotional outbursts. The two of them are police detectives, working with the SFPD Intelligence Squad, who have spent fourteen months trying to bust racketeer Red Meyers (Jack Kruschen). Finally, they find evidence while digging through his trash; now all they need is for their witness, Harry Motley, to testify against him. Unfortunately, Motley is out of town, while a hit man from Detroit is also after Meyers. Freebie and Bean are determined to keep Meyers alive for the few days until Motley returns... even if it means committing mass destruction of property.
Adapted into a TV series in 1980, which starred Tom Mason as Freebie and Héctor Elizondo as Bean and aired on CBS for all of nine episodes.
Freebie and the Bean contains examples of:
- Angrish: After Freebie drives the car off a ramp to jump a train during a pursuit despite Bean's protest, Bean turns and glares at Freebie before attempting to strangle him. Once Freebie fends him off, Bean only responds with growling until they catch back up with the criminal.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Freebie and Bean break into Motley's apartment and question a Creepy Crossdresser (Christopher Morley) who is in his bathtub. When they're about to leave, the man protests, "Hey, aren't you gonna give me the third degree? Knock me around a little bit, a little S&M? I'll yell and scream, if that's what gets you off."
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop: Not only are Freebie and Bean criminals, they're terrible at their job. One scene has them getting into a loud brawl with a "hitman" who turns out to be an unarmed Cadillac salesman from Detroit, right in front of the window where Meyers is getting a haircut.
- Big Guy Rodeo: When the protagonists try to arrest a suspected assassin, the man's girlfriend leaps onto Bean's back, then tries to grab onto a telephone pole with her free arm. She ends up with her arms wrapped around the pole and her legs around his waist, holding him in place until uniform cops pry her off the pole.
- Bilingual Dialogue: Bean's wife (Valerie Harper) talks to him in a mixture of Spanish and English, while he mostly sticks to English.
- Car Fu: Freebie rams the police car against a shooter's van to see which vehicle wins. The van does – the car's hood and front wheels fall off, so Freebie steals a bystander's motorbike to continue the chase.
- Earlier in the film, a suspect they're chasing fishtails into a parade and runs down several members of a marching band.
- Car Meets House: One Chase Scene ends with the protagonists' car flying off the Embarcadero Freeway and smashing into the apartment of a very confused elderly couple.
- Chase Scene: Three of them! All boasting spectacular stunts and a total of over 100 car crashes over the course of the film.
- Chronically Crashed Car: Freebie and the Bean's 1972 Ford Custom 500. Every chase it's in, the car is damaged before being wrecked at the end of two of them; it's smashed through a wall at the end of the second and later falls apart after losing a head-on ramming contest with a van.
- Crush Parade: Played literally and inverted; at one point, one of the chases goes through a parade where the fleeing car runs down several members of a marching band and, according to Bean later saying he's responsible for six people laying in the street back there, Freebie may have run over some of them.
- Death Glare: Bean gives Freebie one after performing a dangerous jump that he was telling him not to do.
- Disney Death: Bean is shot in the chest. When Freebie returns to the scene, a blanket has been pulled over his face, leading Freebie to think that he is dead, until the ambulance ride, when he suddenly pushes the blanket off and starts talking. Freebie is so angry that he immediately gets in a brawl with Bean.
- Drives Like Crazy: Freebie seems to go out of his way to slam into as many other cars as possible during chase scenes.
- Dual Wielding: Freebie and Bean follow one criminal into the men's room and order him to come out. When they see him reaching for the gun on the floor of his stall, they start blasting away with two guns each.
- Five-Finger Discount: Freebie regularly steals from businesses, although he says it's not really stealing because he doesn't hide merchandise under his clothes or threaten people with a gun - he just takes whatever he wants and threatens the owner with an inspection if he complains.
- Fruit Cart: The shooter's van smashes through a fruit stand and several newspaper stands.Owner: Hey, sucker! You just bought 60 crates of apples!
- Frying Pan of Doom: Bean knocks the shooter back with a pot.
- Groin Attack: The crossdresser shoots Freebie in the arm and knocks him to the ground with his martial arts skills. Freebie kicks him in the groin, then kicks him in the face when he doubles over.
- Hypocritical Humor: After sending their car sailing off a ramp and over a train to avoid losing a fleeing suspect against Bean's wishes who then turns and glares at him before lunging at and trying to strangle him. Freebie shoves him off while saying he's gonna get them killed and calling him crazy, even though he's the one who jumped their car over a train.
- Justice by Other Legal Means: Attempted by the protagonists, who arrest Meyers for indecent exposure (he once unzipped his fly in a park to fix his truss). Not only does it not work, they get chewed out by the D.A., Walter Cruikshank (Alex Rocco), for letting Meyers know the police are interested in him.
- Kitchen Chase: The shooter crashes his van and flees into a restaurant kitchen, pursued by Bean. Dozens of plates are destroyed, a giant pot of sauce is emptied on him, and when Bean shoots him, he falls onto a lit grill.
- Miranda Rights: After Freebie has already beaten up a man, Bean says, "Oh yeah, I wanna inform you of your rights. You're allowed to consult a lawyer if you so desire."
- No-Tell Motel: Bean spies his wife's car outside a motel at night, but can't bring himself to go in and confront her. Freebie moves a "No parking at any time" sign by her car so it'll get towed, and he can check the records at the DMV to see who she was with. It turns out she lent the car to the neighbor, who took it to the motel. She was at a parent-teacher conference that night.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Bean becomes convinced his wife is cheating on him when she suddenly becomes much more cheerful and attentive.
- Police Brutality: Freebie jumps at the slightest excuse to beat people up.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Freebie is a racist who spends much of the movie hurling racial slurs at Bean.
- Running Gag: Whenever a chase starts, Bean hangs a pair of items from the car's rear view mirror. In one chase, it's a pair of baby shoes.
- Shame If Something Happened: Freebie questions a man on a crane by asking him if he has worker's comp, then saying, "Would they cover you if one day you slipped and fell off or something? Are you covered for that?" When the witness answers that he isn't going to fall, Bean ruins it by yelling, "HOW ABOUT IF YOU GOT PUSHED OFF?"
- Sherlock Scan: Attempted by Freebie in a bowling alley, with deductions like "They have blonde hair, bad teeth, and pale lips, so they don't drink beer," and "He has filthy hands, so he's a psycho." Bean grumbles, "Where do you get that shit?"
- The Tooth Hurts: Bean threatens Freebie with this after the latter tears open his shirt to prove a point during an argument in a clothing store.
- Bean: Come with me to the street... 'cause I'm gonna knock your teeth down your throat!
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Bean has one of these after their car goes sailing off the side of an overpass and crashes through the wall of a third story apartment. He opens the front passenger-side door on the car (which immediately falls off), stumbles across the apartment and straightens a picture frame on the wall before collapsing.
- Train Escape: One suspect drives across train tracks right before a train blocks Freebie and Bean's car. Not to be deterred, Freebie drives up a ramp and over a flatbed car.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The elderly couple whose apartment Bean, Freebie, and their car end up in barely react to the duo's sudden and violent entrance.
- Victimized Bystander: Dozens of bystanders are injured or killed during the chase scenes. Probably the biggest example is when the villain drives through a parade and knocks over a bunch of marchers, none of whom are shown or mentioned after that scene.
- You Know What You Did: While interrogating his wife about her supposed affair, Bean demands to know why "the thing" is missing from the bathroom closet. When she points out that she keeps many things in the closet, he snaps, "You know exactly what I'm talking about!" It turns out he means her douchebag.
