Incident on a Dark Street

Well I watched "Incident on a Dark Street" and I see why it was a failed TV pilot...

The Good,, The Bad,, and The Ugly,,,,

The BAD The three leads James Olson (Never have liked him much although he was quite good in "The Andromeda Strain" due more to Robert's Wise's wonderful direction and a great script), David Canary ( He was quickly back in soap operas again after this) and Robert Pine ( He was in the TV show "Chips" after this gig) ,anyways the three leads are all milquetoast in this made for TV movie...

The Good But this guilty pleasure does have a few things going for it...1st of all its Shatner playing the a total slime ball ( I can not recall him playing such a lowlife in any other role, but your the expert in that dept)... No one emotes despair quite like Bill in his ridiculous mustache, lamb chop sideburns and bad oily hairpiece. Be sure to check out the sexy 70s outfit Bill's goodtime girl is sporting...

The Ugly,,,, And there's Richard Castellano, you know him from the "Godfather"...there has never been a more miserable character who exudes uncomfort and misery as Richard here, the Mob lowlife turned snitch...Smoking cigs down to the filter,,, sweating and panting after taking 3 steps,,,He almost busts his ass a few times when he has to do some physical things on film... I think this is more of a Richard really being this character than acting... He garners so much screen time in this , so you might as well enjoy his performance,,, kinda like watching Curly Howard in a wool suit two sizes too small.. Be sure to check out his life and death chase scene from a Street Sweeper!!!

and lots of familiar faces in lesser roles adding to the 70s feel of this flick..John Kerr,Gilbert Rowland,Wesley Lau...There's pre "Charlies Angels" David Doyle ( who once again proves he couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag)..Murray Hamilton (playing a lowlife so well as he had to all of his acting life,,,Did Murray do a guest shot on every TV show in the 60s???, it sure seemed like it)....Kathy Lloyd (who fares OK in a small role),,, and last but not least there is Jennifer Kulik as Ann , which proves Director Buzz Kulik was not above casting his own daughter in the film...

For Shatner's and Castellano's performances,,, this is worth a look...

This is a typical Sunday night movie that would have been shown back in the early 70's to top off your weekend before you went back to work on Monday. Basically a routine crime drama featuring then-current character actors, and a look at what Robert Pine was doing before he landed his big role on Chips, and a look at what William Shatner was doing after Star Trek and before the Emmy award winning TJ Hooker series.

Plot involves two law school grads (David Canary of 'All My Children' and Robert Pine) who take on their first big cases as prosecutors for the federal government. David Canary's case involves convincing a marked mobster to blow the whistle on local politicians on the take from organized crime. Robert Pine's case is about whether or not to prosecute a seemingly clean cut family man of being the bag man in a drug deal.

Nothing extraordinary about this piece, but decent TV quality fare, especially if you're a collector of all things William Shatner, Robert Pine or David Canary. Good period piece of 1973 depicting life in the big city at the time complete with rotary telephones, phone booths where you you could call for a dime (remember those?) 16mm news cameras before the age of mobile color video recorders and giant cars back in the days when everything on the road was made by GM, Ford and Chrysler.

I was particularly interested in the limousine owned by the bad guy, appeared to be a rare 1970 Imperial Lebaron sedan limousine.

Lots and lots of hair. The only enjoyment in watching this film is the nostalgic kind. That early 70's TV look, that cast, and those hairdos. Shatner is startling to look upon at first, with his oily hair and lamb-chop sideburns (not to mention his outfits). Then there is Richard Castellano, who is never less than repugnant to view, with a terrorist-torn-out-of-bed hairstyle that is a work of grunge art. His character is not much better.

As for the content of this TV movie, there's little to say. It was a pilot for a proposed 1973 NBC series called 'The Prosecutors.' It never got past this film. Familiar cast, familiar story, plodding execution. With almost iconic types like David Doyle and Murray Hamilton popping up, along with the camp master himself Shatner, it's hard to pay much attention to the story: you spend more time thinking "I remember that actor!" Unfortunately, the star of the film is the colorless James Olson. Now, if Shatner had been put in place of Olson this might have been far more entertaining. Oh, and Susan Stafford has a small role. Very pretty, but showed far more brains and talent when she got OUT of showbiz later.

"When a small town (sic) hood is murdered, two fresh-out-of-law-school-grads set out to find out the culprit and link the incident to organized crime. David Canary and Robert Pine star as the law grads, whose task gets more complicated (and more dangerous) when their efforts connect a narcotics operation to City Hall and corrupt city politicians. James Olsen stars as their attorney boss, and Elmer Bernstein contributes a moody, suspenseful score. William Shatner appears as 'Deaver Wallace'."

This "NBC Saturday Night Movie" was the pilot for E. Jack Neuman's lawyer series "The Prosecutors".

The DVD sleeve description probably meant "small time hood" as "Incident on a Dark Street" is clearly shot in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Also, the synopsis (quoted above) is slightly inaccurate. Mr. Pine (as Paul Hamilton Jr.) is the lone rookie, handling a subplot instead of the film's major story. The main plot is handled by Mr. Canary (as Peter "Pete" Gallagher). Canary, who made strong impressions with stints on "Peyton Place" and "Bonanza", must have been a leading candidate for his own nighttime series. His twin characterizations on the daytime series "All My Children" are uncommonly strong.

The likewise hard-working Pine and an accomplished Mr. Olson ("Don't call me sir!") round out the cast. The three are fine individual actors, but don't "click" as a team. Wearing thick hair and moustache, Mr. Shatner obviously takes charge of the guest cast list. Silent film veteran Gilbert Roland (as Dominic Leopold), Richard S. Castellano (as Frank Romeo), and Murray Hamilton (Edmund "Ed" Schilling) lend their support. Director Buzz Kulik was best known for "Brian's Song".

**** Incident on a Dark Street (1/13/73) Buzz Kulik ~ David Canary, Robert Pine, James Olson, William Shatner

This is why made for TV movies suck.

This YAWN law drama centers on some dude trying to beat a heroin rap and a mob hit which leads to....more boring stuff. You know this is bad when you can't even tell the characters' names and the acting is stressed to make the law terms seem more dramatic when it really bored me like lectures up at Binghamton. I only recall Leopold since it was said about 100 times and Wallace played by Ham Shatner. I gave an extra point just for the funny mustache Shat was sporting. There's also some lady dying of some disease but that's quickly forgotten and a cool mob hit featuring a giant street sweeper.

Dog turd is more exciting than this crappy Dark Street borer.