He may not have the scruples of his son Art Hindle, but at least he's not like his father, Scott Brady. Darren McGavin it's a terrific performance as the patriarch of an Irish family reflecting on his life as a cop in New York City after his son graduated from the academy. The film flashes back to his days as a rookie where a scandal involving his father nearly derailed his career, but he ended up moving to a high position in the department, and tries to avoid corruption as much as possible even though it's tossed at him everywhere he turns. Basically a decent guy, he faces racism within the community from fellow Irish-Anerican towards every other race, with anti-Semitisn in particular abundant, and other officers insisting that every Hispanic the encounter on the streets is no good. But his son wants to change all that, slugging his squad car partner for a racist remark he said when Hindle provided mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an elderly black woman, a victim of the hit-and-run. There are several reasons to applaud in this scene, first for his humanity towards the woman, then how he deals with his racist partner, touchingly when a black witness to the hit-and-run goes out of his way to shake his hand, telling him that he's a real man.
Even at two and a half hours, this film never lags, is filled with terrific performances. Veteran actor James Flavin, who played many cops back in the golden age of movies, is a high ranking official who uses his clout to get his brother off on a charge of peering into a little girl's window, and Will Geer plays an old school powerful corrupt businessman who becomes McGavin's father-in-law. Robert Hedgys ("Welcome Bank Kotter") plays a street gang member whom McGavin tries to help by not arresting him on several occasions where he's seemingly breaking a law, including carnal knowledge, something that McGavin realizes would destroy his life.
The always captivating Suzanne Pleshette plays an aggressive newscaster who becomes McGavin's mistress, initially having been dismissed by him when she shows up for the scoop. It's her character who has the potential to expose department corruption. There's a lot going on, and a lot of characters, but the film even with this flashback structuring is easy to follow. The script is really good, and issues of varying forms of corruption and unfairness in enforcing the law are several of the issues dealt with in detail. Robert Reed, Teri Garr, James Olson, Jeanette Nolan and Lureen Tuttle have other important roles, with Nolan as the mother of Brady and Tuttle as his widow. It's too bad that the film has a basic generic title that doesn't really express the powerful elements of this forgotten TV movie.
Even at two and a half hours, this film never lags, is filled with terrific performances. Veteran actor James Flavin, who played many cops back in the golden age of movies, is a high ranking official who uses his clout to get his brother off on a charge of peering into a little girl's window, and Will Geer plays an old school powerful corrupt businessman who becomes McGavin's father-in-law. Robert Hedgys ("Welcome Bank Kotter") plays a street gang member whom McGavin tries to help by not arresting him on several occasions where he's seemingly breaking a law, including carnal knowledge, something that McGavin realizes would destroy his life.
The always captivating Suzanne Pleshette plays an aggressive newscaster who becomes McGavin's mistress, initially having been dismissed by him when she shows up for the scoop. It's her character who has the potential to expose department corruption. There's a lot going on, and a lot of characters, but the film even with this flashback structuring is easy to follow. The script is really good, and issues of varying forms of corruption and unfairness in enforcing the law are several of the issues dealt with in detail. Robert Reed, Teri Garr, James Olson, Jeanette Nolan and Lureen Tuttle have other important roles, with Nolan as the mother of Brady and Tuttle as his widow. It's too bad that the film has a basic generic title that doesn't really express the powerful elements of this forgotten TV movie.