Scruffy sniveling weakling two-bit criminal Alex (a perfectly wimpy Bill Osco, who also co-produced the film) and his equally foul, more hard-nosed no-count vicious partner Ray (a marvelously mean portrayal by Jason Williams of "Flesh Gordon" infamy) are a couple of pathetic low-life hoodlums who wind up killing four cops when a coke deal for $100,000 bucks goes completely awry. The pernicious shaggy long-haired hippie pair go on the lam and embark on a wild'n'woolly crime spree: they steal an ice cream truck, abduct lovely young lass Karen (fetching blonde looker Diane Keller),and bump off several more folks. Man, does this baby have all the right tasty ingredients to qualify as a hugely enjoyable piece of vintage funky 70's drive-in exploitation junk: bluntly efficient direction by Walter R. Cichy (who also wrote the terse, concise script),a steady pace, raw, gritty, unpolished cinematography by Howard Ziehm, exciting occasional outbursts of gory action (none other than future Oscar winner Rick Baker did the bloody make-up f/x),a sappy folkie theme song, coarse, profane, priceless dialogue (sample line: "Why don't you snort a little dope; maybe it'll calm you down"),a little cheesy soft-core sex, a hard, no-nonsense and downright sadistic harsh tone, a spare, moody score by Hal Yoergler, a stirring last reel car chase, engagingly scrappy acting from a game no-name cast (James Nite in particular contributes a hysterical performance as a hapless ice cream man),a beautifully bleak bummer ending, and even a handy helping of rape, gratuitous nudity and degradation. An unjustly neglected gnarly little trash movie nugget.

COP KILLERS is a typical on-the-run slice of 1970s exploitation featuring a couple of druggies who are chased through the American desert and blow away a number of cops during the pursuit. They take a young woman hostage and the film becomes a hostage thriller along the lines of RABID DOGS but without anywhere near the same kind of tension and suspense. Mostly, this is a cheap and sleazy production that wallows in excess. It has some nasty bursts of bloodshed here and there, with convincing effects contributed by a pre-stardom FX artist Rick Baker. The characters are all unpleasant and the story hackneyed from the beginning to the expectedly nihilistic outcome.

Alex (Bill Osco) and Ray (Jason Williams) are two drug transporters making their way across the desert with their product on their way to meet a buyer. Along the way they kill cops, people, high jack cars and take Karen (Diane Keller) as hostage. The film is pure 70's cult action. Hippies, telephone booths, and 33.9 gas. The soundtrack is dorky too.

The film is not for serious viewers, but 70's Drive-In cult fans.

Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Diane Keller, Donna Stubbert, Judy Ross- only movie credit for all three actresses, not a career builder)