Musical Montage: Michael McDonald “Sweet Freedom”
In the buddy cop boom of the 80s, alongside classics like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs, Running Scared was a deeper cut entry in the genre starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines. The duo were cop partners in Chicago who are on the trail of a dangerous drug dealer named Julio Gonzales. Although the duo manages to capture Gonzales, they are almost killed in the process and their captain forces them to go on vacation due to what he believes was a sloppy bust. The duo heads to Key West and decide to retire and open a bar down in Florida. Back in Chicago, the pair inform their captain but he informs them that Gonzales has been released on bail, so the duo has one more case before they can live the dream in Florida. Scoring the pair’s vacation adventures in Key West is the song “Sweet Freedom” by Michael McDonald. The song was released as a single alongside the movie and hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and there was a music video that co-starred Crystal and Hines as they get a postcard from McDonald and head down to hang out in Florida with him. Check it out below (Oh, and for some bizarre reason, the person who uploaded this video on Dailymotion has 24 seconds of a POV motorcycle crash, so just ignore that).
