This is by far the best and most entertaining of Norman Mailer's three films. Mailer is quite marvelous in the main role as Francis X. Pope, a police Vice Squad Lieutenant. The New York Times wrote: “It's a series of terrifying and funny confrontations with wife-murderers, gamblers, perverts, prostitutes, pimps and innocents, played by a rare assortment of professionals, including Rip Torn and Beverly Bentley, and amateurs like George Plimpton and Michael McClure.”