Concrete Canyons

For starters, the acting in this seems pretty good. I rarely blame the actors in these movies as it's not their fault -- they're just doing a gig. Anyhow, Showcase has been playing these terrible movies shot in Vancouver at least twice a week lately (gaaaahhd!) You would think these made-for-TV movies were written by 12 year old boys. There's so many clichés like when this guy Sloan (what an original macho name, isn't it, and he wears a cowboy hat and jean jacket) arrives in Chicago (yes, he even wears the hat and jacket in the city), which judging by the drizzle is actually Vancouver no doubt, he goes to the police station and this sort of pretty detective woman (when are police detectives female and pretty -- btw, her name is Kincaid, as in Ruben Kinkaid, manager of the Partridge Family, another original name) says to him right off the top, some cliché like "This is Chicago, Sloan, go back ^&%ing sheep in the Andes". Obviously she doesn't say exactly that but you get the idea, it's like one of these 'This is the big city Sloan, you're not back in rural Vancouver'. I'm not going to waste my time watching the rest of it because I'm pretty sure I know what happens -- she'll start getting impressed by his tracker skills and they'll do the nasty etc. etc. Waste your time watching it but don't say you weren't warned.

When ex-sheriff and expert tracker Ben Sloan learns his estranged son is wanted for murder he travels to the concrete canyons of Chicago to help. He wins the grudging support of detective Susan Kincaid, meets his son's wife and child and pursues the evidence to find the true killers.

It's the kind of low budget production where no cliché is left unturned but everyone delivers a decent performance. It seems a little underwritten towards the end and never delivers the physical edge that is hinted at but maybe they had to tone it down for midweek afternoon consumption and lost their way a little bit.

Overall, a watch-able little TV movie. Indeed, if they wanted to run a few more stories with Scott Patterson and Polly Shannon as the ex-sheriff and detective respectively I'd probably watch them.

This writer made the lead detective look stupid in his quest to cause conflict between her and nick. She overlooked obvious clues so that the conflict could continue. Horrible, horrible writing. I will never watch anything written by Breyer Freed again. I'm not a writer but I promise you I could have written a better script. Starting with having the Kincade work with Nick once she discovered that he had substance. This movie made kincade look as bad as the criminals nick was chasing down in that she didn't care if she caught the right guy or not. And don't get me started on the music. I suppose that's a Canadian thing.

Major complaint, every time you see his poor horse it is crosstied in the barn. No one leaves a horse for hours tied like that. They cannot turn, move, lie down or reach food or water. So, I couldn't watch much more of it. Poor script and acting on top of it.

Today I enjoyed watching Concrete Canyons again and was pleased by the slower place and gentle feeling the whole thing has. I've seen this a few times and though it is not a nail biter it's a pretty good way to spend a few relaxing hours.

The score by Stu Goldberg added to that atmosphere with music that is understated with good melodies and pulls all the right strings. He creates pleasant musical support that stays in the background where it belongs and adds just enough tension when in the right places without overshadowing the on-screen action.

Like another review above stated, the similarities between Ben Sloane and Jesse Stone were there, the last names even rhyme, and there are other similarities. They are both good looking large men, with gentle understated strength who show a conscience and quietly and unassumingly do what they need to do, and they both have considerable appeal.

Polly Shannon is attractive in a Irish elf-like way and is a good foil for Scott Patterson; her character is sceptical and questioning, but not unwilling to learn and change her views once she researches his background and learns of his many successes. All in all, not bad character development for a low budget movie.

Another reviewer was more harsh about the clichés but it was easy for me to overlook them and just enjoy the film for what if offered, hopefully more people will feel the same way. It was good that they resisted the obligatory fall/spring romance cliché' between Sloane and Kincaid that most would have added just for sex appeal. They instead, concentrated on the theme of a family in a crisis trying to find help, hope and redemption and I felt it was the right thing to do.

I would gladly watch any sequels that they might make and be happy to see what happens with the characters.