Contrary to rumours that this is second-string American new wave, this Pacino-Hackman double-hander is a freewheeling masterpiece. Gene Hackman and Al Pacino giving the performances of their lives as two drifters who team up in the hope of setting up a carwash business in Pittsburgh.

It's a wonderfully muted performance from Pacino. The guys ride the boxcars; they get drunk and laid and into trouble. They even wind up in prison – briefly. And their chaotic, fragile friendship is all that they have. This is a jewel of American cinema.  Peter Bradshaw  The Guardian