Change Your Image
euripidoze
Reviews
EZ Streets (1996)
Ahead of its time
This show was produced before 10-episode seasons were a thing. If that genre had been launched before 1994, I think this show would have been as big as The Shield or Bosch. As it was, not enough people watched it in the first few weeks, and so ithe major network that hosted it pulled the plug.
Every week it was like watching a movie - that's how good the story, script, and acting were.
Paul Haggis created, wrote and directed. Multiple integrated plot lines were woven together as Ken Olin's dogged detective goes after Irish gangster Joe Pantoliano in a depressed city. Seasoned characters like Mike Starr, John F. O'Donahue, R. D. Call, Richard Portnow, and others fill in the other threads to create a very engrossing show.
Manhunt (2017)
Season 2 really well done.
The reviewers who voted this down because it "insults white Christian patriots" either stopped watching after one episode, or parroted what they heard on Fox "News", or both. The mountain folk, except for the actual murderer Rudolph, are portrayed as honest and decent people who are rightly leery of the FBI but also deeply moral.
Jack Huston's Rudolph is a charming zealot/sociopath. Brad William Henke as the de facto leader/spokesman of the locals does his usual terrific job. Cameron Britton is almost as good as Richard Jewel as he was as Edmund Kemper. Arliss Howard as the bomb expert also stands out. The story of the FBI's pursuit was well-written, with the disagreements and conflicts and dead ends eventually leading to some level of success, though at the expense of Richard's good name. It's always difficult to discern how much a teleplay like this is dramatized (made up) but if you watch it in that light this one is pretty good.
The Killers (1964)
Good watch for Don Siegel fans
If you liked Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Charley Varrick, etc., you will like this. It's violent (the censors deemed it too violent for TV in 1964) on many levels and tells a pretty grim story only loosely based on Henningway's story. It's obviously made-for-TV, with the screen aspect ratio and low-budget sets, but well made in that context.
The acting is great all around. Lee Marvin (Charlie) and Clu Gulager. (Lee) are the steely sociopathic hit men - Charlie the world-weary pro wanting a last score so he can retire, and Lee his young partner who really likes his work. John Cassavetes is the doomed sap, Angie Dickenson the femme fatale, Ronald Reagan the vicious crime boss, and Claude Akins and Norman Fell Cassavetes's pals in the flashbacks. All play their roles well. The hotel room scene was way over the top for 1964 TV, but well done and fits well with the rest of the film ("nobody ever knows what we're talkin' about Charlie").
8/10 - I liked it better than the Burt Lancaster version, and Siegel is one of my all-time favorites.