Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.15 “Torello on Trial”

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Crime Story, which ran on NBC from 1986 to 1988. The entire show can be found on Tubi!

This week, Luca prepares for Vegas.

Episode 1.15 “Torello On Trial”

(Dir by Gary Sinise, originally aired on January 16th, 1987)

Buh-bye, Chicago!

Seriously, this is a huge episode.

It doesn’t start out as a huge episode. It starts out as just another courtroom drama. Mike Torello has been called by Ray Luca’s defense attorney to testify about the accusations that Frank Homan made against him. By defending himself against Homan’s false claim that Torello was on the take, Torello will also be destroying the credibility of the state’s case against Luca, Phil Bartoli, and Paulie. Torello’s not happy about it. He’s even less happy when U.S. Attorney Brietel’s aggressive cross-examination reveals that Torello actually does have several acquaintances who are connected to the mob. Of course, most of those acquaintances have been killed over the past few episodes. As Brietel puts it, violence tends to follow Torello around.

Fortunately, the next day, David Abrams requests to be allowed to cross-examine Torello. David reveals that Torello was a decorated soldier in Korea. He reveals the Torello has been given regular commendations by the Chicago Police Department. David makes Torello look like a saint.

As a result, the jury decides that Homan is not a credible witness. Luca, Paulie, and Bartoli are all acquitted. Brietel is told that the Justice Department has decided to drop the indictment against Torello. Torello tells Brietel that the blood of anyone killed by Luca will be on his hands. Brietel is not having a good day.

The first 35 minutes or so of this episode were solid but still felt like a standard and slightly predictable episode of Crime Story. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes or so that this episode really took off.

At a conference held immediately after Luca and company are acquitted, Manny Weisbrod convinces Chicago gangster Dom Tranchita (Joseph Ragno) to agree to invest ten million dollars in Luca’s plan to take over Las Vegas. In return for the money, Manny agrees to allow Dom to continue to deal drugs in Chicago. Luca and Paulie make plans to immediately head to Las Vegas to start their new lives.

The night, before leaving town, Luca drops in on Tranchita and shoots him dead. Then, Luca goes over to Bartoli’s house and kills him as well. We’re reminded that Luca is someone who can kill without hesitation. It doesn’t matter that he and Bartoli worked together. Luca is cleaning up all of the loose ends before he leaves Chicago.

Meanwhile, Torello is invited to a meeting in a hotel. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Patrick Hallahan (Jann Wenner) tells him that the Justice Department is setting up a national task force to take down Luca and that it’s going to be headquartered in Chicago and Las Vegas. He asks Torello to be in charge of it. Torello says that he has no interest in working with the same Justice Department that tried to throw him in prison. Hallahan reveals that Brietel has been “reassigned to Anchorage” and that David Abrams will be working with Torello. The members of the Major Crimes Unit will be reassigned to the strike force.

There’s only one condition. As much as Torello wants to take Luca down, he’s going to have to wait until he has enough evidence to take down the entire organization with him.

Torello nods. He’s going to Vegas!

It makes sense really. Torello has nothing left in Chicago. He’s divorced, he has no real friends outside of the other members of the Major Crimes Unit. Torello’s only purpose in life is to stop Ray Luca. What choice does Torello have but to follow him to Vegas? Torello is obsessed and, if he had to stay in Chicago while Luca went to Vegas, he would have been miserable. It’s good for the government and good for the show that Torello agreed to take charge of the task force. But, as the episode ends, it’s hard not to feel that it won’t be good for Torello’s mental health.

This turned out to be a great episode, To be honest, I was starting to get a little bit bored with Crime Story. But now, with the story heading in a new direction, I can’t wait to see what happens!

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.14 “Fatal Crossroads”

Posted on August 10, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, guess who screws up?

Episode 1.14 “Fatal Crossroads”

(Dir by Gary Sinise, originally aired on January 9th, 1987)

As much as I want to like David Abrams — and I did like him for the first few episodes — he’s just dumb. Offended by the fact that Luca is using his legal advice to try to beat his indictment, David starts this episode out by approaching Luca in public and announcing that he’s not only quit the public defenders office but that he’s also decided to join the D.A.’s office, specifically so he can take guys like Luca down. Then, later on in the episode, David approaches Luca again and, this time, he brings along his father (Nathan Davis). David’s father, a former low-level gangster, brags about how smart David is and how he’s going to take Luca down.

So, of course, Luca has someone put a bomb underneath David’s car.

And, of course, it’s David’s father who decides to borrow the car to go to the store and who ends up getting blown up.

And yes, it’s a terrible thing that David’s father got blown up. BUT WHAT DID DAVID THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!? He knows who Luca is! He knows that Luca will kill people without a second thought. So why the Hell is David walking up to Luca and basically daring him to try to kill him? I mean, David’s father was in the rackets! David should have known better and, for that matter, David’s father should have known better.

I’m sorry but David Abrams is a moron.

For some reason, Luca also tries to take a hit out on Torello, despite the fact that Luca’s entire legal strategy depends on Torello denying Homan’s claims that Torello is crooked. Fortunately, Torello is somehow brilliant enough to realize that Luca is going to take a hit out on him and the members of the Crime Squad are smart enough to take a look at a building and somehow figure out exactly which room a sniper would be hiding in. If only David Abrams was as smart!

This episode featured a few too many coincidences and a bit too much of David Abrams suddenly acting like an idiot. It was directed by Gary Sinise, who is one of my favorite people. Sinise does a good job of capturing the drizzly gangster movie atmosphere but the script could have used a bit more work.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.13 “Strange Bedfellows”

Posted on August 3, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Homan sings.

Episode 1.13 “Strange Bedfellows”

(Dir by Francis Delia, originally aired on December 26th, 1986)

Homan is in federal custody and he’s telling Breitel all that he knows about Luca and Bartoli. He’s also making up a story about Torello taking a bribe. Even though Homan’s Torello story is pretty shaky, Breitel is looking forward to taking down a crooked cop and launching his political career off of of the publicity.

Bartoli is not amused when he learns that he’s being indicted. However, Luca is able to convince Manny Weisbord to provide him with a top-level defense attorney. Manny also makes it clear that Luca no longer works for Phil. Instead, Luca works with Phil. Lucas has another reason to be happy. When he runs into David Abrams at a bar, he gets some free legal advice. Luca explains that Homan is lying about Torello. Abrams tells Luca that, if they can prove that Homan is lying about Torello, it will be easier to convince a jury that Homan is lying about Luca and Bartoli as well.

Torello, meanwhile, responds to his upcoming indictment by going to Las Vegas and playing some golf. He’s in a great mood until he sees that his indictment is one the front page of the newspaper.

Not much really happened in this episode of Crime Story. That’s not really a complaint. If anything, it was a bit of a nice change-of-pace. We got to watch the characters just be themselves. Luca, who rarely shows emotion, actually smiles when he hears that Torello is about to be indicted along with “his favorite people.” Luca actually has a sense of humor and an appreciation for irony. Who would have guessed? Meanwhile, Torello continues to be just a bit too intense for his own good. Even on vacation, he seems like he’s just one frustration away from snapping.

Will Torello snap next week? We’ll find out!

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.12 “Hide and Go Thief”

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Torello finally tracks down Homan.

Episode 1.12 “Hide and Go Thief”

(Dir by Francis Delia, originally aired on December 12th, 1986)

In Chicago, an unnamed gunman (Paul Guilfoyle) has taken a woman (Lorraine Bracco) hostage and has barricaded himself in a hotel room. He wants to get on television and he figures that holding a hostage and firing a machine gun out the window is the best way to do it. The members of the Major Crimes Unit are in the street, ducking behind squad cars whenever the gunman starts firing on them.

It’s definitely a major situation but Torello is more interested in going to Gary, Indiana than exchanging gunfire in Chicago. Frank Homan (Ted Levine), a former member of Luca’s crew, has been discovered working as a cook in a Gary diner. Everyone in Gary knows Frank as “Mike Torello.” The real Torello is determined to arrest Frank and hopefully use him to take down Luca. Torello abandons the hostage situation, drives down to Gary, and captures Homan at work.

Finally, some good news for the real Mike Torello, right? Well, not quite. After Homan is arrested, U.S. Attorney Harry Brietel (Ray Sharkey) takes custody of him. Brietel has political ambitions and taking down gangster Manny Weisbord would be a good way for him to make a name for himself. When Homan is interrogated by Brietel, Homan lies. He says that he’s never heard of Manny Weisbord. But, Homan says, he has information that will take down Luca, Phil Bartoli, and a crooked cop. In exchange for a light sentence and entry into the witness protection program, Homan is willing to testify that Mike Torello is on the take. Brietel is intrigued. Fighting police corruption is guaranteed to generate even better press than taking down an actual mobster.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Torello rejoins the MCU at the hostage situation. (Apparently, the gunman has been awake and firing out of his hotel window for two and a half days straight. One gets the feeling that perhaps it’s wise not to give too much thought to the logistics of this episode’s timeline.) In a well-shot, slow-motion scene, Torello and his men storm the hotel room and shoot the gunman dead. The hostage survives.

Significantly, neither the gunman nor the hostage are given names in this episode. Indeed, Paul Guilfoyle is credited as playing “Deranged Gunman.” That’s because the gunman and the hostage are really only there to show just how obsessed Torello has become with Luca. When it comes to destroying Luca and his fledgling criminal empire, all else can wait, even saving an innocent woman from an armed lunatic.

I usually don’t enjoy watching anything that involves a hostage situation because it always seems to lead to the same predictable narrative beats. Fortunately, this episode avoided most of the usual cliches by making the gunman a total nutcase who never stopped firing his weapon. The scene where Torello and his men storm the hotel room was stylish enough to verge on being surreal. As for the Homan plotline, both Ted Levine and Ray Sharkey provided strong performances and I’m looking forward to seeing how Luca and Torello react to being betrayed by the same guy.

All in all, this was a good episode.

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.9 “Justice Hits The Skids”

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Torello is going to snap….

Episode 1.9 “Justice Hits The Skids”

(Dir by Mario DiLeo, originally aired on November 11th, 1986)

Torello is losing it.

Well, that’s not really a surprise. Torello has been losing it since the pilot. However, this episode finds him acting even more intense than usual. He’s getting divorced. His best friend Ted Kehoe has been murdered and the federal prosecutor seems to be more interested in trying to prove that Torello is corrupt than in going after Bartoli and Luca. Torello doesn’t even go to Ted Kehoe’s funeral, leading to everyone thinking that Torello is losing what little grip on sanity he has left. Even his soon-to-be ex-wife checks in on him.

While Torello stews over Luca, Suzanne Terry attempts to investigate the growing use of drugs in some of Chicago’s poorest neighbors and she gets attacked and put into the hospital as a result. David Abrams tries to investigate on his own, leading to Suzanne telling him that she needs some time apart from him. (Before she’s attacked, David takes her out to dinner. When a racist diner complains and the head waiter asks them to move to a different table, Suzanne wants to leave the restaurant. David insists that they stay and finish their meal. David may see himself as being a righteous crusader but, at the same time, he also comes across as being rather controlling. It doesn’t seem to occur to him that Suzanne might not want to give any business to a racist restaurant.) Torello and the Major Crimes Unit then take up the case, even though his superiors tell him not to waste any time on it.

Sweet Haywood (John Canada Tyrell), the drug dealer who attacked Suzanne, is eventually captured. Sitting in jail, he meets his public defender, who just happens to be David Abrams. Abrams pulls out a gun and shoots Haywood in the chest. However, this turns out to just be a fantasy on David’s part. When the real Haywood demands to know if Abrams is going to keep him out of the jail, Abrams says, “Of course. That’s my job. Abrams for the defense.”

The gun-shooting fantasy scene was effective but otherwise, the ending doesn’t make much sense. Assigning Abrams to serve as the public defender for a guy who was arrested for beating up Abrams’s girlfriend is a massive conflict-of-interest. If Abrams intentionally offers up a poor defense, Haywood will automatically have grounds for an appeal. I mean, this is 1963. This the era of the Warren Court!

Even with that in mind, this wasn’t a bad episode. David Abrams and Mike Torello are both flawed heroes, which is what makes the show so watchable. Torello may be fighting on the side of the law but he really does seem like he’s one bad day away from blowing up the entire city of Chicago. Meanwhile, Abrams clearly sees himself as being the last righteous crusader but he often seems oblivious to how his actions effect other people. Neither is perfect. Indeed, each one seems to be just one step away from self-destructing.

We’ll see what happens!

Retro Television Review: Crime Story 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Torello discovers some disturbing facts about an old friend.

Episode 1.8 “Old Friends, Dead Ends”

(Dir by Bobby Roth, originally aired on November 4h, 1986)

Luca has bought a controlling interest in a bottling company so that he can borrow from the pension fund and use that money to purchase casinos in Las Vegas. He’s brought a reluctant Bartoli in as his partner. The owner of the company is Ted Kehoe (Mark Hutter), who just happens to be an old friend of Mike Torello’s. When Kehoe’s business partner, Marilyn Stewart (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), becomes suspicious of Kehoe’s arrangement with Luca, Bartoli starts to wonder if it’s really worth it to keep Marilyn and Ted around.

This is especially the case after Bartoli’s attorney, Dee (a youngish Eric Bogosian), informs Bartoli that U.S. Attorney Harry Brietel (Ray Sharkey) is planning on indicting both him and Luca for money laundering. Looking to end Brietel’s case before it can even get started, Luca murders Marilyn Stewart. Marilyn’s body is later found by two teenagers and–

HEY, IT’S CHRISTIAN SLATER!

This episode does indeed feature an early performance from Christian Slater. He pays a teenager who is trying to convince his girlfriend to “do it” when they happen to spot Marilyn’s body floating in the river. Slater’s girlfriend is played by Kim Walker, who was later co-star with Slater in Heathers.

Torello is not happy. Well, that’s not a surprise. Torello is never happy. But this episode gives him even more reasons than usual to be in a foul mood. Because of his childhood friendship with Ted Kehoe, Brietel suspects that Torello might be corrupt. After Marilyn is murdered, Brietel seems more interested in trying to pin the murder on Torello than going after Luca.

As for Ted Kehoe, he tells Luca that he’s done working for him. Kehoe is going to tell the cops everything! And what is Luca going to do about it? This episode ends with Kehoe getting thrown out the window of his penthouse and falling several stories down to his death….

Piece of advice: If you’re going to turn on the mob, don’t tell them ahead of time.

This was a good episode! Torello’s friendship with Kehoe brought some real stakes the story and, once again, we got to see just how ruthless an adversary Ray Luca truly is. Luca, Bartoli, and the other mobsters can occasionally seem a bit buffoonish. This episode reminded us that, in Luca’s case, it’s always a mistake to underestimate him.

As for now, Kehoe is dead and Torello is under suspicion. I look forward to seeing what happens next week!

Brad recommends THE COPS ARE ROBBERS (1990)!

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Bradley Crain

If you’re looking for a good “dirty cops” movie to pass the time, I ran across an entertaining one today called THE COPS ARE ROBBERS (AKA – GOOD COPS, BAD COPS). It’s currently playing on Amazon Prime and Tubi. The film is a 1990 TV movie based on the real life robbery of the Boston Depositors Trust bank over Memorial Day weekend in 1980 by a group of corrupt cops. I first became aware of the film when I took part in an interview with Robert F. Lyons about his career on the This Week in Charles Bronson podcast. Lyons specifically mentioned this film as containing a role that he really enjoyed.

THE COPS ARE ROBBERS features an incredible cast, and this is what ultimately sets the movie apart for me. The movie opens as top cop Kirkland, played by George Kennedy, assigns Jake Quinn (Ed Asner), to lead a notoriously corrupt law enforcement agency in Massachusetts. No sooner does Quinn take over, when the Boston Depositors Trust is hit over Memorial Day weekend with over $25 million in cash and jewels taken. The crew of criminals includes current cops Jerry Clemente (Ray Sharkey) and Jimmy Donnelly (Steve Railsback), ex-cop Frank Moran (James Keach), and safe expert Benny Brown (Lyons). Over the next 5 years, with the assistance of officers Brill (James Morrison) and Kellogg (Franc Luz), Jake Quinn does every thing he can to bring Clemente and his crew down!

Ed Asner, Ray Sharkey and Robert F. Lyons are the real standouts of the film. Asner brings a toughness and honesty to his role honed by decades of playing such roles. In other words, the part fits him like a glove. Sharkey plays his part as a man who’s so arrogant and corrupt that he doesn’t seem to realize that using his position of trust in the community for his own selfish gain is a problem. He seems to think he deserves whatever he can steal, and it’s fun to see the pressure squeeze in on him as the film moves along. After watching the film, I can see why Lyons enjoyed playing this part, as he is excellent in his role as the safe expert. He is one of the most important parts of the robbery, he doesn’t trust cops, and he eventually gets the opportunity to give them a reason not to trust him. It’s a nice showcase for his talents.

At the end of the day, if you like the cast, enjoy movies based on true stories, or appreciate TV movies from the late 80’s and early 90’s, I definitely think you’ll enjoy THE COPS ARE ROBBERS. Veteran Director Paul Wendkos (CANNON FOR CORDOBA, THE BAD SEED) brings a professional touch to the proceedings, and for me, watching his film was a fun way to spend an evening.

The Lords of Flatbush (1974, directed by Stephen F. Verona and Martin Davidson)

Posted on June 14, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

The year is 1958 and four Brooklyn teenagers, all members of a largely non-violent street gang called The Lords of Flatbush, have enough grease in their hair to start a city-wide kitchen fire. It’s their senior year of high school. Chico (Perry King) tries to hook up with a new, blonde transfer student (Susan Blakely). Butchey (Henry Winkler) makes everyone laugh and hides the fact that he’s secretly really smart. Stanley (Sylvester Stallone) deals with his impending marriage to Frannie (Maria Smith). Everyone has to grow up eventually but at least the Lords of Flatbush will always have their memories and probably their leather jackets.

Nostalgia films that were extremely popular in the 70s, as the baby boomers were already starting to mythologize their youth. Lords of Flatbush is very much about that nostalgia, leading to a film that feels sincere but which is also pretty predictable. With its coming-of-age storylines and its mix of drama and comedy, Lords of Flatbush owes an obvious debt to American Graffiti. The movie, like its characters, is likable but not exactly memorable. Today, it’s really only known because it featured early performances from Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler. Winkler got his signature role as the Fonz on Happy Days largely based on his performance as Butchey, though Butchey is nowhere near as cool as the Fonz. Pre-Rocky, this movie was Stallone’s calling card in Hollywood and he rewrote enough of his own lines that he got an additional dialogue credit. Stallone actually gives a pretty good performance, even if he is obviously closer to 30 than 18.

Stallone’s best scene is when Stanley is trying to buy an engagement ring and Frannie insists that he buy one that costs $1,600. For the first time, Stanley realizes that getting married means committing to something other than hanging out with his friends and working on his car. Stanley buys the ring but threatens the jewelry store owner afterwards, telling him to never show Frannie a $1,600 ring again.

The Lords of Flatbush is a film about the past but it’s mostly interesting due to the future of its stars.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 2.8 “Tale of the Goat”

Posted on April 1, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week, things get weird.

Episode 2.8 “Tale of the Goat”

(Dir by Michael O’Herlihy, originally aired on November 15th, 1985)

It’s hard to know where to begin with this one.

Legba (Clarence Williams III) is a drug lord that Sonny has been trying to take down for three years. While hiding out in Haiti, Legba reportedly dies. When his body is flown back to Miami, Crockett and Tubbs are waiting in the airport so that Crockett can snap a picture of Legba in his casket. Legba does indeed appear to be dead. But, at his voodoo-themed funeral, a man on a motorcycle riddles the casket with bullets. When Crockett and Tubbs (who were staking out the ceremony) open up the casket, they discover only a dead goat.

“Zombie!” a priest exclaims.

Legba has come back, though not as a member of the undead. Instead, while in Haiti, he ingested a toxin that put him in a 48-hour coma. Unlike a lot of people who take the toxin, Legba survives. However, when he is revived, he has suffered brain damage and is now walking and talking slowly. That doesn’t stop Legba from getting his old gang back together (including a dwarf who carries a pickaxe) and going after everyone who he feels has betrayed him. This includes his former lieutenant (Mykelti Williamson) and an obnoxious money launderer (Ray Sharkey) who owns a used car lot.

Tubbs doesn’t believe in voodoo, despite Crockett warning him of the dangers. Tubbs is more interested in Marie (Denise Thompson), Legba’s ex-girlfriend. Looking to keep Marie safe from Legba, Tubbs attempts to infiltrate a voodoo ceremony. You might think this would give Tubbs the perfect excuse to trot out the fake Caribbean accent that he occasionally used during the first season but instead, Tubbs is captured before he can even utter a word. He’s injected with the toxin and spends 48 hours in a coma, haunted by visions of Legba staring at him!

Eventually, Tubbs does come out of his coma and, amazingly, it takes him about five minutes to fully recover. The episode ends with another raid on a yacht. This time, Tubbs manages to kill the villain, shooting him in the back! In Tubbs’s defense, he was still having visions and he thought Legba was facing him. Legba dies and Marie is found in a coma but alive.

This was a weird episode, one that had enough plot for a two-parter. As it is, the story felt rather rushed. No sooner had Mykleti Williamson and Ray Sharkey made their appearances as criminals then Legba was doing away with them. No sooner had Marie stepped onto Crockett’s boat then she was being kidnapped by Legba’s men. No sooner had Tubbs decided to infiltrate Legba’s cult then he was getting injected with the voodoo toxin. And no sooner had Tubbs woken up from his coma then he was preparing to raid the yacht. Add to that, Clarence Williams III gave a performance that was without a hint of subtlety, speaking in accent that was impossible to describe. This wasn’t really a good episode but it was so weird that it was undeniably entertaining.

Next week, Dean Stockwell appears as an old friend of Castillo’s! Hopefully, he won’t be a voodoo priest.

Horror on TV: The Hitchhiker 5.2 “In Living Color” (dir by John Laing)

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of The Hitchhiker, the title character (Page Fletcher) continues to come across the worst people on the planet.

This time, that person is Eric Coleman (Ray Sharkey), a once great photographer who now makes a disreputable living taking pictures of celebrities and tragedies. When Eric has a chance to stop a woman’s suicide, he instead decides to take pictures. His new assistant goes out of her way to make Eric feel the error of his ways.

This episode features a convincingly sleazy performance from Ray Sharkey. Eric Coleman is a character who you will definitely want to see receive his comeuppance.

This episode originally aired on April 29th, 1989.