“Caught in the act,” says one of many vixens in Officer O’Neil’s path. “Take me alive… How should I plead?” Well for this guilty pleasure exploitation film, the answer should be obvious.
Title character Dirty O’Neil lives up to his name – and not because his uniform’s unwashed. Whether he’s arresting hitchhikers, going undercover as a nurse to bust perverts, coaching a girl’s basketball team, or following up on random complaints from citizens, sly cat Jimmy O’Neil, played by the late Morgan Paull, always winds up with another (and yet another and another) beautiful lady.
But he’s not only in it for the good times. He digs his job… Protecting the small town where he resides… and when three grimy criminals attack one of his girlfriends, he has to step up and really take action.
Paull, in an interview with me last year, and who played the Tyrell agent Harrison Ford replaces in BLADE RUNNER, noted: “So that’s the chance of the business. Harrison Ford was up for several movies, including DIRTY O’NEIL. He got the hit, I got the bomb… What can I say?”
Alright so it’s no STAR WARS... But DIRTY O’NEIL satisfies from beginning to end. Art Metrano, the antagonist in several POLICE ACADEMY films, plays O’Neil’s scruffy partner. But the true highlights on this seventies gem (available for streaming on Netflix) are all the lovely vixens including June Fairchild, Tara Strohmeier, Kitty Carl, Jeane Manson and Katie Saylor.
Because no matter what happens, there’s always another pretty face around the corner.
JAMES: I’ve never been to jealous watching a film than DIRTY O’NEIL: you wind up with the most amazing women…
MORGAN PAULL: Well let me tell you, I was happily married at the time so it was the greatest waste of talent in my life. My wife checked every night… She called the set to say, “Have they rapped yet, have they rapped yet?” She wanted to know everything, so those girls – we had our scenes and that was the end of it.
JAMES: What do you think of DIRTY O'NEIL?
MORGN PAULL: It’s the lowest budget movie in history, believe me… I mean our lunch was whatever they could find at a local hotdog stand. But it was a lead role and it was supposed to be funny, a takeoff on all the cop movies that were going on… And it had potential of being funny. Art Metrano was funny and I was trying to be somewhat funny… And the premise was funny. But you know – it was what it was.
On the late Morgan Paull: "He was a very gentle, easy-going guy." Tara Strohmeier
Morgan Paull is DIRTY O'NEAL
Art Metrano with Morgan Paull: on the beat
Always working, always playing
Tara Strohmeier daydreams about coach O'Neil
Kitty Carl and Tara Strohmeier
Protecting the piece
Taking a break
Another O'Neil beauty
June Fairchild as the sexy hitchhiker
June Fairchild and Morgan Paull
Hitchhiker getting Dirty
June Fairchild
Love that font
REST IN PEACE MORGAN PAULL 1944-2012
AND LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH MORGAN PAULL
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