Partners is a gay-themed buddy comedy from 1982. It stars Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt as a mismatched pair of cops. After a series of murders in the Los Angeles gay community, heterosexual police sergeant Benson (O'Neal) is assigned to the case. He is ordered to go undercover as half of a gay couple. The other half of the couple is Officer Kerwin (Hurt), a records clerk who everyone in the department knows is gay although he thinks he's closeted.
The film derives much of its alleged humor from Benson's discomfort with homosexuality and his stereotypical ideas of "gay behaviour." The film does deserve some small measure of credit for showing the evolution of Benson's attitudes toward Kerwin and by extension gay people in general, although upon its release Partners was near-universally reviled by critics. Critical reaction was perhaps best summed up by Rex Reed, who wrote for the New York Post, "Hollywood's latest crime against humanity in general and homosexuals in particular is a dumb creepshow called Partners - stupid, tasteless and homophobic, this sleazy, superficial film implies that gay cops can't be trusted to work with straight cops because they might fall in love with them."
Vitaphone production #1183-84, 2 reels
Benson is a police detective. After a series of murders in the Gay community he is ordered to go undercover with a gay police clerk named Kerwin as his partner. In order to be noticed they have to be flamboyant enough to attract attention which Benson finds rather disturbing. Can an uptight heterosexual and a mousey homosexual form a meaningful relationship? Written by John Vogel
C.A. "Carry All" Roach is a merchant on wheels, selling odds and ends from his coach. When Chet Jarvis buys a trinket and needs change of a $20 bill, Roach gets it from his money belt, which does not go unnoticed by Jarvis. Dick Barstow raises horses for a living, but has to get $1500 to pay off a loan he needed for stock. His good friend, Roach, lends him the money by handing him the money belt in exchange for an IOU. Dick likes Roach's young grandson, Bud, so much, he makes him a partner. Later, Dick finds Roach murdered, the coach overturned, and Bud unconscious. Jarvis, who bought the trinket for Dick's girl Jean Morgan, tries to frame Dick, having also stolen Roach's wallet containing the IOU, and mentioning the money belt Dick has to the sheriff. Dick is arrested for murder because he has the incriminating evidence, but he escapes to try to prove his innocence. Written by Arthur Hausner
A half-hour comedy that follows the oft-contentious friendship of Michael and David, a pair of 30-somethings whose schemes to get by are always putting them in hot water. In this pilot episode, Michael's live-in girlfriend threatens to kick him out of the apartment if he doesn't take over his deceased uncle Saul's fish market. Meanwhile, David's roundabout way of asking out the girl at the pet shop sets off a series of misunderstandings and a visit from animal protection. Written by Anonymous
