| Home | About | Blu-ray | DVD Reviews | Upcoming DVD Releases | Contest | Podcasts | Forums | Judges | Contact |
|
|
|
All Rise...Judge Daryl Loomis bases all his decisions on hunches. The ChargeThere are eight million stories in the naked city. This is twenty of them. Opening StatementInspired by the 1948 classic noir, Naked City was a phenomenal television program that aired between 1958 and 1963. During these years, lead writer Stirling Silliphant (Route 66) and company revolutionized the television police drama, focusing as much on the criminals as the police. Led mostly by Paul Burke (Valley of the Dolls) as Det. Adam Flint and Harry Bellaver (From Here to Eternity) as Det. Frank Acaro (the first season was a half-hour program with a slightly different cast, switched to an hour after its cancellation and reboot), Naked City presented years of brilliant programming that featured a slew of guest stars who were the real highlights of the show. Twenty of these episodes, with stars of the past and future, are presented here on Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes, a highly worthy, if fairly random, collection from Image Entertainment. Facts of the Case• "Sweet Prince of Delancy Street"—Both a father and a son
are accused of the same robbery turned murder and each of them confesses. Who's
covering for whom? That's what the detectives are there to discover. • "Portrait of a Painter"—A mentally disturbed painter
awakes one morning to find a painting of his beautiful wife and her dead body on
the floor. He doesn't remember doing either, so goes to his psychiatrist, who
elicits a confession from him, but the detectives believe it was coerced. Can
they find the real culprit? • "The Night the Saints Lost Their Halos"—Driving around
one night, a pair of buddies goes past the place where one of them used to work.
On a whim, they decide to rob the place, but things go wrong, the security guard
puts a bullet in one of their legs. While the investigators try to find them,
they try to dress the wound and stay out of sight. • "The One Marked Hot Gives Cold"—A man who was orphaned by
his father breaks into the orphanage where he grew up to steal his records and a
few dollars (the value of a hat stolen from him in the old days). In the police
investigation, they discover a man with a checkered past, a lot of pain, and a
loving heart. • "Down the Long Night"—An ad man believes that a man from
his past is going to try to kill him, so goes to the police for help, but since
no crime has been committed, they can't do anything. One cop, though, goes out
on his own time to investigate, only to discover that both have dark secrets to
keep. • "To Walk in Silence"—An investment banker is hit by a
stray bullet during a mafia hit and, fearing for his reputation, refuses to
cooperate with the police. He has to make a very difficult choice when the
gunman comes for the bullet. • "Shoes for Vinnie Winford"—A rich youngster with terrible
anger and mommy issues is wanted by the police for selling fake cabaret
licenses. He thinks his status should exempt him and makes the one who can
testify disappear. • "Tombstone for a Derelict"—A group of Neo-Nazis begin
killing vagrants for some obscure purpose. When the investigators finally track
him down, they discover that the leader has a special message to deliver. • "Alive and Still a Second Lieutenant"—A corporate vice
president has to reckon with his anger and his morality when he murders a man in
a street fight over a parking space. • "A Hole in the City"—A career criminal is on the run from
the police after a robbery and murder. He hides out at his aunt's house after
not seeing her for twenty years and learns that the memories that drove him to
crime aren't exactly factual. • "Bullets Cost Too Much"—Detective Flint witnesses a
robbery that ends in murder and is unable to stop the crime. While his name gets
scorched in the papers, the criminals enlist the help of a doctor cousin to keep
one of their ranks alive. • "Prime of Life"—Flint goes through an existential crisis
when he must sit witness to the execution of a murderer he helped to
imprison. • "Robin Hood and Clarence Darrow, They Went out with a Bow and
Arrow"—After a series of liquor store robberies, a store owner tries to
prove to his two sons that he's a hero by doling out some vigilante justice. • "Ladybug, Ladybug"—A wealthy father is targeted in an
extortion plot and, when he won't pay or work with the police, the criminal
starts aiming for his family. • "One of the Most Important Men in the Whole World"—The
two most important people in a young boy's life, his Mafioso father and his
hard-nosed teacher, come at odds over a failing grade. • "Line of Duty"—A detective feels extreme guilt after
being forced to shoot his first perp. He tries to go to the man's family to
apologize, but gets a very mixed reaction and little help. • "Spectre of the Rose Street Gang"—A construction site
digs up the skeleton of a fourteen year old boy, estimated to have died over two
decades ago. With no leads except for a mysterious lighter, the police must wait
for the one man who might know something to come to his senses. • "The Multiplicity of Herbert Konish"—The investigation of
random complaint brings up the bizarre tale of a man living six complete and
separate lives. • "The Pedigree Sheet"—A car accident results in a dead
man, by bullet, and an uncooperative teenager who clearly has something to hide.
By finding her father, the police are able to undercover the truth. • "The Tragic Success of Alfred Tiloff"—A crook tries to
finally impress his wife by kidnapping a little girl and ransoming her back to
her parents, but his conscience finally gets in the way of his motivation. The EvidenceThe only complaint that I have about Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes is the lack of rhyme or reason to the particular episodes included or the order in which they appear. It's a tiny problem, though, because the added benefit of the lack of organization is the ability to see just how diverse this show actually was. Some are the standard murder-investigation-resolution template, which works just fine; Adam Flint's cerebral, modern police work contrasts well with Frank Acaro's old-school ways and they have a good chemistry together. More interesting, though, are the many episodes that verge from this. "Prime of Life" is basically a Satre story in a police show, with a five minute wait for an execution essentially taking fifty minutes to pass. "Ladybug, Ladybug," alternately, gets into the mindset of a child forced to choose between his diametrically opposed father figures, in which the police play a minimal role. Naked City also deals with some more directly taboo issues, which I really didn't expect from the show. The Robert Redford showcase, "Tombstone for a Derelict," tackles Neo-Nazism, William Shatner's "Portrait of a Painter" handles sheer insanity, and Robert Duvall's first of two episodes in the collection, "The One Marked Hot Gives Cold," my favorite episode presented here and genuinely one of the finest single television episodes I have seen, discusses bullying and child molestation in a fairly frank manner. On the more fun side, look for a very young Christopher Walken looking very different while performing in a nearly identical fashion as his current persona and Dennis Hopper playing well against what would become his type as an ultra-rich man-child. As a production, Naked City was top-notch. Silliphant's expert writing keeps the show consistently compelling (though he didn't write every episode, he's always credited as a story consultant) and the on-location New York footage is basically a character unto itself. The only real down episodes are the two inclusions from the original season. At only a half-hour, it seems as though they'd move quickly, but they are far less graceful than later seasons after he show found its feat. It seems to be the advent of Det. Flint that gives the show heart and a more modern feel, but whatever the reason, it's far better in later years. Regardless, this is only two episodes out of twenty, and the eighteen hour-long episodes are purely phenomenal television. Image Entertainment has done fair work on their release of Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes. Presented over five discs, the episodes all look fairly good, especially considering the age of the show. They're pretty clear and crisp, with a minimum of damage to the original material and solid contrast. The mono sound mix is basically flat, but there's virtually no noise to inhibit the dialog, which sounds good throughout. There are no extras in the collection. Closing StatementNaked City is great television, one of the best police dramas ever to have aired. It was a fantastic showcase for the main cast and an even better one for the guest stars, whether they were young or already established. Not nearly as old-fashioned as one might expect from a show of this era and compelling throughout, Naked City is not to be missed and this collection is as good a place as any to start. The VerdictNot guilty. Give us your feedback!Did we give Naked City: 20 Star-Filled Episodes a fair trial? yes / no Other Reviews You Might Enjoy
• Tortilla Soup |
|
DVD | Blu-ray | Upcoming DVD Releases | About | Staff | Jobs | Contact | Subscribe | Find us on Google+ | Privacy Policy
Review content copyright © 2013 Daryl Loomis; Site design and review layout copyright © 2013 Verdict Partners LLC. All rights reserved.
