Stakeout has, perhaps, become one of the more ignored and forgotten of the 'buddy' action comedies and thrillers from the 1980s - but I'm not really sure why. Whilst it may lack the immediately memorable and sometimes iconic moments of Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run, 48 Hrs and Lethal Weapon, it is at least almost as good as all of them.
When I first saw it, I did have a slight problem with the mixture of tones in it. From the marvellous and ultimately fishy opening chase to the slapstick raids on Madeleine Stowe's apartment to another chase through some back yards, when the focus is on Estevez and Dreyfuss, the tone is almost always tongue-in-cheek save for one or…