Number One with a Bullet 1987

Nick Barzak, Robert Carradine as Det. Barzak, is an irrational, unkempt cop whose volatile temperament collides with his cultured, polite partner, Det. Hazeltine, Billy Dee Williams. The two narcotics detectives bring a long history of wild behavior and hard-earned results to a partnership that somehow keeps swinging between chaos and accuracy, their dynamic constantly shifting the tone from sharp wit to hard-edged pursuit.

Together they chase a circuitous, highly circumstantial trail of clues through Los Angeles as they zero in on a new narcotic that’s been dubbed black tar. The investigation kicks off at a church fair, a scene that quickly spirals into fever pitch when Barzak ends up in drag and a suspect is cornered in an armed standoff, revealing a blend of street grit and offbeat humor that threads through the case. Their work exposes how the case is as much about temperament and timing as it is about evidence.

When the community needs calm, the pair are sent out of town to fetch a snitch, Boudreau, who is killed en route but manages to name his boss before dying. Boudreau, Alex Rebar as the man who holds a crucial clue, becomes a crucial pivot in the chase and the sense that someone higher up is orchestrating the operation.

Barzak relieves his stress by roughing up a street pusher, while Hazeltine copes with pressure in more Zen-like fashion and through a string of casual liaisons that keep the mood buoyant even as danger closes in. The investigation intensifies when a lead from a fence sends them toward the hit-man who killed Boudreau, aided by an addict who helps outline the scope of a larger operation. Just as they close in, another hitter disrupts their progress, and the pressure builds to the breaking point.

Meanwhile, Nick’s ex-wife Regina, played by Shari Shattuck, enters the picture, adding a deeply personal stake to the peril that surrounds them. During a forced vacation, the pusher is re-interrogated and points them toward a big deal about to go down, a development that could crack the whole case wide open. As kingpins nearly slip away and the danger escalates for both detectives and those close to them, the team uncovers a mole inside their own department, sending tension skyward.

Captain Ferris, played by Peter Graves, looms as a disciplinary threat, threatening to suspend either man if they fail to prove their case. In a volatile mix of nerve, stubborn risk, and relentless focus, Nick pushes forward, even as the danger tightens around his personal life. The plan to expose both the mole and the real ringleader hinges on the unlikely alliance of Nick, his mother, Mrs. Barzak (Doris Roberts), and the fence, who pull the threads together to challenge a corrupt network and to bring the truth to light.