A forerunner to NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues – a more realistic than usual look at life in a New York precinct, a day in the life story, with officers having to deal with various nutcases, druggies and more serious cases: there’s an eccentric shoplifter (Lee Grant), a drugged pair of crims (one played by later Dr No Joseph Wiseman), an embezzler, and most of all an abortionist, who particularly raises the ire of tough cop Kirk Douglas.
One of the big pluses of the film is many of the actors are unfamiliar – they seem like real people, not Hollywood types, even the cops (apart from the two leads the big exception is William Bendix but he fits right in). Watching Douglas at times I couldn’t help wish that a Dennis Franz type was cast instead, maybe someone a bit more obviously battered about – but presumably they needed a star, and Douglas’ intensity works very well. (Who else could they have cast? Jimmy Cagney and Edward G Robinson would be good – maybe an older star, Bogie, Tracey, even Clark Gable, someone who’s been around the block. Charlton Heston was apparently up for it – I can imagine exactly what his performance would have been like, all tormented suffering, I don’t think we missed much. Apparently Alan Ladd was hurt he missed out but I think the nuances were beyond him, and I like Alan Ladd.)
Eleanor Parker is pretty and accomplished – she was a good actor, Parker, maybe more of an actor than a star – as his wife; note the scene they have in the cab together, look at her eyes responding – that’s good acting. The abortion subplot gives it power, but to be honest is a bit yucky. The sweet couple subplot get progressively more irritating as the film goes on – I was on their side at first, too, but by the end they get on nerves (it’s also a bit too obvious the embezzler is only pretending to fall in love with the sweet girl because she’s going to get him out of a jam).
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