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| Genre: | Suspense |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Rating: | NR |
| Length: | 1 Hour 36 Minutes |
| Cast: | Abel Ferrara |
People expect different things from a cop show today than they did in 1986. Today, we ask that our cops be, in some way, like us: viewers seek, and find, evidence of themselves in detectives like NYPD Blue's Andy Sipowicz. Michael Mann, the executive producer behind Miami Vice, perhaps the definitive cop show of the 1980's, specialized in cops who were broader and flashier and cooler, not to mention better dressed, than the people watching them. Crime Story, Mann's confidently wrought, highly stylized period follow-up to Vice, brought Vice's bold visuals and stylized approach to characterization to the mean streets of Chicago, circa 1963 with a style rarely seen before or since on network TV. Crime Story was a critical success, but not a commercial one, lasting only two seasons on NBC, from 1986-1988. The pilot, reissued by Anchor Bay, reminds us why the show a cult favorite: For starters, it is the first mainstream work by the mercurial Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, Body Snatchers), a director who varies between fierce brilliance and woozy pretension, often in the same film. Here he's somewhat restrained and in great form, coaxing a tough, authentic performance from (former Chicago cop) Dennis Farina as Mike Torrello, top cop in Chicago's Major Crime Unit, and a memorably intense turn from Anthony Denison as Torrello's nemesis, the impeccably pompadoured thug Ray Luca. Ferrara and photographer James Contner also provide some strikingly exciting visuals, notably in a climactic shootout in the women's section of a department store. That stylistic confidence makes Crime Story a remarkable anomaly among the cop show also-rans that fill network schedules, then and now. Dave Roth
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