User Reviews

What does an actor do when his TV show gets cancelled? Well, if you are William Shatner you slap on a ridiculous moustache and lambchop sideburns combo and audition as a heavy in a Pilot about the day-to-day action-packed life of the District Attorney office of Los Angeles County. What does a cast-off of a TV Western do? Well if you are David Canary you follow in the successful footsteps of your former Bonanza co-star Pernell Roberts and star in a Pilot about another public service organization in a major California city (no wait "San Francisco International" (1970) failed as a Pilot) With talent like this where can "An Incident On A Dark Street" round out the cast – hey how about second banana "The Godfather" Italian Stereotypes? Please tell me what was up with Richard S. Castellano?? (formerly "That fat Clemenza") As a second-generation Sicilian-American – on both sides of my family – I am not offended that he portrays a Sicilian as a mobster as much as he portrays a Sicilian as a monosyllabic mush-mouthed idiot who takes pets to bed with him in an apartment furnished in early-rathole. After his incredible emoting during his first meeting with David Canary's character I was wishing it was him who was killed instead of his brother, portrayed by Tony Giorgio – (formerly Bruno Tataglia). And Frank, paisan, when you stick your hand down a culvert expecting to touch a leather satchel of incriminating evidence against the Leopold Organized Crime Family (Leopold is Sicilian?!, must be that offshoot of that hell-raising Franco-Sicilian Mob my grandfather told me about on Palermo's lower east side…) and instead feel something metal – you don't pull on it – MINGIA! With guys like this in the Mob there is not much more work that DA James Olson will have to do before he retires and allows himself to get beamed back to the alien planet that spawned him. I mean c'mon is there anybody weirder looking that James Olson? Bob on Soap comes off less wooden than this guy! But thank god that we can round out the DA staff with the likes of Robert Pine and David Doyle. Robert Pine? Did this guy do anything after his weekly witty repartee at morning Roll Call with Ponch and John on CHiPs? And David Doyle? I don't know what it is about this guy but in this movie he just exudes oiliness. After watching him I get this unsettling feeling he may have rode around with the undercover cops on that pederasty case a LITTLE too long. (What's a pederast Walter? Shut the F*** Up, Donnie) But don't sell Mr. Doyle short; the one star I give this movie is attributed to his performance as the Bad Cop in the Bad Cop-Good Cop interrogation worked on our favorite morbidly obese goombah – priceless! I would have given this movie two stars but it lacked enough 70's pilot stalwarts. Give me Max Gail, Clu Gulagher, OK even Stuart Margolin and then maybe two stars. And how about more scenes with Shatner and his blond honey in the babydoll lingerie? The fact this outfit even made it to TV was interesting So if you are looking for that cheesy smell that went out with the '70s, "An Incident on a Dark Street" will allow you to reminisce with plenty of unintentional comedy

Not a very good film dealing with corruption in the mayor's office regarding the bidding of contracts.

Whoever did the make-up on the late Richard Castellano? He looked absolutely awful. With his sunken cheeks, he looked like he was a punching bag, far from 3 years back when he was wonderful in the memorable "Love and Other Strangers" with Bea Arthur.

This entire story could have been told in about 20 minutes. It is rather dull despite a good cast of players.

There is a peripheral story about an executive caught up in drug trafficking with the added by-line that his young wife is dying. You don't even have time to shed a tear.

Bought Incident on a Dark Street the other day at the DVD store for about three dollars. I had not seen the movie since it first showed in 1973. After Star Trek William Shatner was in just about every T.V. movie and show. He would play the good guy or slime-ball however he always added a lot to the program like he does now on Boston Legal. You got to give Bill credit for being a survivor. Does anyone out there know whatever happened to Owen Orr ( the square built man ) who slapped Bill around at the end? Murray Hamilton did a good acting job with Gilbert Roland during the restaurant scene. He was another actor who was in everything from The Hustler to Jaws. The girl who played Bill's mistress was hot. They should do a remake of this with the surviving actors making cameos. I would rather watch this then reality T.V.

A team of lawyers lead by austere no-nonsense district attorney Joe Dubbs (well played by James Olson) try to get the goods on smooth mobster Dominic Leopold (a nicely suavely portrayal by Gilbert Roland). The lawyers need to get antsy informant Frank Romeo (a fine performance by Robert S. Castellano of "The Godfather" fame) to testify against Leopold in court. Director Buzz Kulik, working from a tight and engrossing script by E. Jack Neunan, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace and maintains a properly serious tone throughout. The excellent cast of familiar faces helps a lot: a pleasingly restrained William Shatner as crooked businessman Deaver G. Wallace, future "C.H.i.P.S." TV series regular Robert Pine as eager assistant D.A. Paul Hamilton, Jr., David Canary as friendly, dedicated lawyer Peter Gallagher, Murray Hamilton as Wallace's worrywart business partner Edmund Schilling, David Doyle (Bosley on "Charlie's Angels") as ramrod lawyer Luke Burgess, James Davidson as hot-tempered suspected drug runner Arthur Lloyd Trenier, Kathleen Lloyd as Trenier's concerned wife Louise, and Marlene Clark as Dubbs' doting secretary Rose. Castellano clearly cops the top thespic honors with his impressive turn as Romeo; he brings an appealing vulnerability to this scared little man who gets in way over his head. A scene with Romeo being chased in a back alley by a street cleaner rates as a definite exciting highlight. This film earns extra points for its realistic and unsentimental depiction of being a lawyer as a hard and thankless job. Moreover, there's a little welcome humor ("Don't call me sir") tossed in to keep things from becoming too heavy-going. Elmer Bernstein provides a lively and rousing score. The gritty urban street locations add authenticity to the plot. Well worth watching.

I found the DVD of this movie lying around my house and decided to watch it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The movie played out like a Law & Order episode, but this was definitely more suspenseful.

The basic premise of the movie is exposing the mob in the town and one man dies of it. Director Buzz Kulik puts in a Twilight Zone like approach to the movie as he directed several TZ episodes. It played out well despite only being a movie made for TV. They could had showed some of the trial at the end of the movie, however, it wasn't necessary.

The stars in this movie was top notch, the cast gets a 10 out of 10 as everyone executed their character masterfully. William Shatner, who recently came off playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek and the first film, plays a villain in one of the darkest roles in his career. I enjoyed the appearance of David Canary, Adam Chandler of All My Children. He does a fine job as a lawyer and one of the few non-western roles he did at the time. Seeing Richard Castellano only a year after The Godfather was an unexpected treat, I always enjoyed his work. He dies quite unexpectedly in the movie. Murray Hamilton also puts in a superb performance as Shatner's lackey so to speak. Actually, I could go on for hours talking about the actors, I'll just say the quality is not of TV movie quality, but that of a good movie showing in theaters.

If you have not seen this movie, I strongly recommend giving this movie a shot, a solid suspense story combined with a first-rate cast and you have arguably the best TV movie of the 70's.