Michael Keneely (Elliott Gould) and Patrick Farrel (Robert Blake) are world-weary vice detectives in the LAPD. Few of their arrests stick thanks to Carl Rizzo (Allen Garfield), a crime lord who has most of the police department in his pocket. Keneely and Farrel are determined to take Rizzo down, even though the entire police department is against them.
Busting contains examples of:
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti: To keep them off Rizzo's case, Keneely and Farrel are assigned to look for perverts in a bathroom covered in graffiti. Keneely writes Rizzo's name in one stall.Keneely: Kilroy, how you doing?
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: Keneely and Farrel break into Rizzo's apartment, where Farrel samples a white substance from a bottle and identifies it as baby powder.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: The film ends with a freeze-frame ending of Keneely's face, with a voice-over of him applying for a new job after quitting the police department.
- Happy Birthday to You!: At Rizzo's birthday party, his friends sing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow."
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Keneely and Farrel are both brutally beaten by Rizzo's goons.
- Oral Fixation: Keneely chews lots of gum, and Farrel usually has a cigarette in his mouth, even though he doesn't smoke. Farrel calls it a nervous habit.
- Staircase Tumble: During one Chase Scene, the protagonists run down a stairwell so quickly that Keneely tumbles partway down each flight.
- Tantrum Throwing: Keneely angrily throws the blank "trick book" down the hall.
