Turk 182

1985 film by Bob Clark

Turk 182 is a 1985 American action comedy drama film directed by Bob Clark and starring Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, Kim Cattrall, Robert Culp, and Peter Boyle. It is also one of the first movies to receive a PG 13 rating.

Then current and former members of WABC's Eyewitness News team portrayed television journalists reporting on Turk's exploits, including Roger Grimsby, Bill Beutel, Roseanne Scamardella and Tom Dunn.

In 1980 Dyan Cannon announced she would direct and star in the film. It was not made for another number of years, with Tim Hutton starring and Bob Clark directing. "For me, it's a comedy," said Hutton, "because I smile in the movie He's very much a kid, a kind of naive guy with a twinkle in his eye who goes around thinking he can get away with everything."

Turk 182 was panned by critics. It holds a rating of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film zero stars out of four, calling it "a laughably bad, offensive movie with holes in its story that you could drive a truck through." Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Just why anyone thought this garbled, improbable saga of sweet revenge would captivate moviegoers' imaginations is a mystery that calls for a studio detective, not a critic Bob Clark's broad brush strokes —which worked so well in his comedies— rob the picture of what little moral authority it might originally have had, turning its characters into sitcom style bozos and giving the story all the emotional wallop of a light beer commercial." Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Clark's film lacks even the broad logic required of a wish fulfillment fantasy, and skewers any conviction Timothy Hutton's aggrieved crusader might have by granting him the omnipresence and magic skills of Superman or Captain Marvel." Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated, "Timothy Hutton has turned into an actor worth watching in anything — even in 'Turk 182!,' a movie with a sloppily sentimental heart that's as big as the city in which its story takes place." Clay Warnick of The Washington Post was somewhat positive, writing, "The struggle is interesting not because the heroes are appealing, or because their cause seems particularly valid, but because of Robert Culp's expert performance as the villainous mayor of New York." In one of the film's rare wholly positive reviews, Variety stated, "Besides its compelling storyline, 'Turk 182' features outstanding performances across the board, with Hutton perfect in the role of the determined unassuming hero. He and Urich are very convincing as brothers with an unusually strong bond, and Urich draws a very accurate and sometimes moving picture, particularly during hospital scenes." It received two Golden Raspberry Award nominations for Worst Supporting Actor (Robert Urich) and Worst Musical Score.