Crime Story – Season
One + Two (Box Sets)
Picture: C+ (Pilot)/C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
Michael Mann was on a roll in the 1980s and Crime Story
is one of his most interesting projects to date. Pushing what were the boundaries of network TV as the Big Three
were starting to merger with hundreds of cable channels was this show set in
the 1950s. The problem was the 50s and
80s did not mix well and audiences rarely were interested at the time. The Outsiders and Rumble Fish
were haunted by its style, Diana Ross’ RCA Records launch put too much emphasis
on that music style in some of her early singles and it backfired, while TV
series set then just were not catching on.
The era the show was set in was sadly held against it form the start,
including by broadcasting network NBC, who shifted it around too much.
The twist here is that the show has Chicago crime fighters
going after organized crime, leading to the series mostly permanent locale
being Las Vegas. The show is smart
enough to make the town a character, with the show striving (especially in a
pre-digital era) for authenticity that works.
The casting is also solid with Dennis Farina as lead crime fighter Lt.
Mike Torello, Anthony John Denison, John Santucci, Stephen Lang, Bill Smitrovich,
Bill Campbell, Ted Levine, Joseph Wiseman, John Polito and even Andrew Dice
Clay. Pam Grier has a run of a few
episodes and Jack Angel is the narrator.
That is a nice amount of talent to work with, not to mention the fine
writing and directing with Mann’s guidance.
However, the show to often (unintentionally to boot) found
itself in a twilight zone between the 1950s and things it was doing in the
1980s style. The use of music was far
from the many great 1950s police dramas (Racket Squad, The Untouchables)
for the era offered. The acting was
authentic, but the use of remakes beginning with the cover of Del Shannon’s
classic Runaway, sent a mixed message about the show. Was it totally in the past or just in its
spirit? It was in the Gangster genre
before the 1990 feature film boom, Martin Scorsese’s Casino and The
Sopranos, the latter of which this show influenced. This was a tough-minded show and that is one
of the other reasons it holds up as well as it does today. Farina, though, is the actor who holds the
show together in profound ways. A great
character actor, he can do lead roles with ease and deserves more of them.
Anchor Bay has issued its two seasons in separate DVD box
sets including the Pilot in the first set.
The show ran 43 more episodes before it was cancelled, but we are
skipping listing the show’s titles because they give away too much. We recommend you begin with the first season
and watch them through in chronological order.
Especially if you are a Sopranos fan, you will be surprised at
the high quality of writing and acting here.
I will say that the conclusion of season one is a bit much and probably
hurt the credibility of the show for those trying to take it seriously, though
it was meant as a grand joke. Having
not seen the show since its original broadcasts, the show has become better
with age. Mann has not done a TV series
since.
The 1.33 X 1 image is not bad on the Pilot show, but very
disappointing on the rest of the shows, demonstrating very poor digital compression
that drags down the color schemes, depth, detail and almost everything
else. James A. Contner (now a director)
and Ronald Victor Garcia were the cinematographers for the show and the series
always had great production design and color.
Too bad each DVD squeezes five hour-long shows per disc. Even A&E was pushing it a bit when they
would put The Avengers on four each.
This is just too much. When
digital HD version roll around, the difference will be shocking.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is stereo, boosted for the
original monophonic sound, which often shows its age and has distortion in some
of the shows. Todd Rundgren did the
music for the first few shows, then left and was replaced by producing legend
Al Kooper and composer Charlie Calello.
Remarkably, there are no extras on any of the DVDs form either set,
though paper foldouts with text about each season is included. If you have not seen the show or liked the
show before, you will want to look at it, so long as you do not have high
expectations for the picture.
- Nicholas Sheffo
