Supercop and Sweetness
A warm Christmas story about two cops, with conflicting views on Life and Christmas, who investigate a gang of thieves that strike only once a year: at Christmas. Can they catch the bad guys in 4 days and turn their super bad relationship into a super sweet one?
HOW THE STORY CAME ABOUT
The short answer is I can’t remember! If memory serves me correct it started out as a twist to the Lewis Carol story of A Christmas Carol in the sense that the hero, Jesse, has to face the 3 Christmas Ghosts: the ghost of his fiancée’s death (Past), the real bad guys in the story (Present) and his new perky partner (Future).
THE SETTING
This modern day romantic drama is set in Chicago. Chicago wasn't chosen for any specific reason other than that I would love to visit the city one day and if this film ever gets made, well then it's my ticket!
THE GOOD
Jesse Cullinan is a detective who transfers to Chicago from New York after his partner, and fiancée, are killed in a shootout with a bad guy. Jesse harbors feelings of guilt about the shooting and has become the world’s ultimate cynic. He lives in a grey apartment with a cat, Nibbles, as his only companion. He is anti-social and largely ignored and frowned on by the cops in his office. Nobody wants to work with him and the only person that has any form of control over him is Captain Eddie Gruber, his boss.
Kelly Austin, a native Chicagoan, is the total opposite to Jesse. Beautiful, clever and charming, she is well loved by everybody at the station, even more so by Chris, a fellow officer who has romantic designs on her. Kelly has great faith in Life and believes that there is good in everything. She is prone to use a lot of cliques when she speaks.
Eddie Gruber is the Officer in Charge of the detectives of the Chicago Police Department. He is the man who has to keep a tight reign on Jesse and Kelly, stepping in when they go at each other and offering moral support on the case.
THE BAD
The three bad guys, who are the crooks in the story, are enigmas to each other: they use fake names and their contact details are known only to their leader. They are professional and thorough in the way they go about their work. At first glance these men are of nondescript nature.
Dewey, real name Tommy Doyle, is a safecracker from Florida who believes that there is no safe that cannot be opened. Dewey appears to be a laid back character who has no pains about shooting somebody if he has to.
Cheatam, real name Mike Nichols, works for an insurance company in L A and is the brain behind the gang. He picks the targets from the firm’s clients and does the planning.
Howe, real name Karl Wagner, is a Midwestern cop who drives the gang’s getaway vehicle. As the cop in the group, he supervises the gang in the way they dress and how they act on the scene of a crime. Howe is very much into Christmas and loves to sing carols, mainly to annoy Cheatam.
THE STORY
Three high class robbers, who go by the names of Dewey, Cheatam and Howe, only come out to work once a year on Christmas Eve. Two years now they’ve made clean getaways with a total of $20 million worth of loot and the police are under pressure to catch them this year. The Commissioner and the mayor are making noises about bringing in the FBI, CIA and anybody that can remotely be of assistance to help them catch these guys. The gauntlet has been laid down for the Chicago P D: catch them or face the music.
Captain Eddie Gruber grudgingly decides that his best detectives will have to carry the ball for the whole department. Both are good at their jobs, but that’s where the similarity ends. Jesse Cullinan is an anti-social recluse with a chip on his shoulder while Kelly Austin is the department sweetheart and loved by cops and crooks alike. More opposite you could not have had.
Neither Jesse nor Kelly want to work with the other on the case (something else they have in common) and it is only on the orders of Eddie, and the fact that cracking this case would make the one superior to the other, that they grudgingly take it on.
Unfortunately the peace doesn’t last long and when they venture out into the street on an evidence gathering mission, they start arguing and Kelly ends up in a toy store buying a gift for her nephew, much to Jesse’s disgust. This is the last straw for him and they return to the station. Both are determined to have the other kicked off the case.
Meanwhile at the station, a TV crew has Eddie in a tight spot and matters are not helped when the two heroes argue on public television. Eddie hauls them over the coals and matters are heightened when the mayor phones following the news bulletin.
The bad guys arrive in the city the next day and on a number of occasions the cops and the bad guys are within yards of each other, not realizing it. Jesse decides to shake down his best informant, the loudmouth Lyle. Lyle tells them that nobody knows who the bad guys are but that they’re taking bets about where they’re going to hit next. Jesse, the cynic, bets against Lyle when he gives him the name of the hot favourite victim.
Jesse and Kelly end up in his apartment after a waitress at a diner spills coffee on her blouse. There Kelly sees the photo of Jesse’s late fiancée and the miserable conditions under which he lives. This gives her an insight into the man and softens her opinion of him. Sparks of a romantic nature are ignited between them but things are interrupted when Chris phones her.
After dropping her at her apartment, Jesse recons the American-European Diamond Exchange (AEDEX) and bumps into Cheatam doing the same. Jesse is suspicious of him and later has a mugshot drawn up, which comes back unsuccessful on the police computers.
They visit the bank and the businessman who were the victims of the first two robberies the next day and learn that both have connections to an underwriting company in L A. On a hunch they speak to the M D of AEDEX who is uncooperative and refuses to tell them whether or not there is a stash of diamonds in the company vaults.
Back at the office, Chris is pushing Kelly about her relationship with Jesse. He asks her to move in with him but she sidesteps the issue, claiming the case is her most important issue at the moment. Chris is openly jealous of Jesse, who naturally doesn’t give a hoot for his attitude. Matters come to a head when Kelly and Jesse are caught under the mistletoe and are obliged to do the obligatory kiss. This has a profound affect on Jesse, awakening feelings in him he thought were dead.
Later that night Jesse and Kelly are part of a stakeout of AEDEX and Jesse again runs into one of the gang members without knowing it. Sometime after midnight, they investigate the absence of the AEDEX guards and at that stage a shootout takes place between them and the robbers. Two of the gangsters are trapped on the roof of the building and are arrested.
Outside, they figure out who the third gang member is and give chase. Howe is cornered in an alley and shoots Jesse in the shoulder, the bullet meant for Kelly. Saving her life finally breaks the shackles of guilt that Jesse had been weighed under by and he is able to ask her out on a date.
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