Historia del Crimen

Crime Story was very probably the best show of its kind ever. Although it ran only two seasons, it boasted a superbly worked story and, without question, the best cast ever assembled for television. Not a big star in the mix, but the finest selection of character actors around. Probably the best conflict ever between two men on screen, Denis Farina as cop Mike Torello, and Anthony Denison as hot-headed mob figure Ray Luca. Luca's rise to power in Chicago and later in Las Vegas is the central plot, with Torello and his task force on target to bring him down. With Torello's every failure to bring Luca to justice, he becomes more frustrated and empassioned, and turns up the heat a notch each time, while Luca dances just beyond his reach, increasingly arrogant in his new-found invincibility.

Along with the well-laid foundation of drama and conflict, there was quite a lot of dark humor, one of the things I liked best about the series. Much of this was provided by John Santucci as Paulie, and Ted Levine as Holman, as Luca's sleazy low-life helpers. One show in particular stands out, in which Luca dispatches Paulie and Holman to go to work at a competitor's casino, to do everything possible to make it lose money. Another great role was Luca's long-suffering wife, Cori, played with shrewish gusto by Johann Carlo.

The first season was superior to the second, mostly because the first was so close to perfect. The second half of the first season, in which Torello follows Luca to Las Vegas, is no less than outstanding. Having seen "Casino",the Martin Scorcese movie from 1995, I was struck by how many similarities there were between that movie and "Crime Story" in Las Vegas.

This show was in reruns on USA ten years ago, for a short time, it seems they only ran the whole series through twice. I did tape it at the time, but have since been able to order the entire series on tape, a ten-cassette set. Although the picture quality is not great (EP mode), I am grateful to have these episodes to watch at all. If anybody ever properly puts this series on video (two episodes per tape, stereo sound), I would be even more grateful. The best television show of the 1980's deserves better!

Whether you like action, drama or anything else in between, Crime Story is a one-of-a-kind show. If you've never seen it before and just read about it, you'll think "it's all been done before" but that's entirely untrue. Debuting in 1986, Crime Story centres on Lieutenant Mike Torello (Dennis Farina), a 1960's Chicago cop who is determined to catch the notorious and ruthless gangster Ray Luca (Anthony Denison). As Luca rises to power with each new kill, Torello is even more willing to do whatever it takes to take him down. And that includes going against protocol. Not only does Luca affect his working life but he also affects his personal life, with people he cares about getting in the cross-fire.

Often touted as a "precursor to "The Sopranos", Crime Story is a show that's seems too good to be true. Every episode is powerful and riveting and features some top-notch acting performances. Dennis Farina shines in the lead role as Mike Torello in his first-ever regular TV series. Being an ex-Chicago cop in real life, the role comes easy to him and makes it so believable that you'll sometimes forget it's just a TV show. You'll laugh with him, you'll cry with him, you'll feel his pain, you'll feel his joy. Dennis Farina has a very wide range and carries this show like he's not even trying. He's THAT good. Not only is Farina excellent but Anthony Denison (now known as Tony Denison who appears on TNT's The Closer) is just as good as Ray Luca. Crime Story was one of the first things Denison had appeared in but made it look like he had been acting all of his life. His performance as Ray Luca has to be one of the most gripping I've ever seen. He starts off as a street thug working for other people but gradually rises up in the ranks, taking people down around him. For the most part, Tony seems expressionless yet still manages to convey an evilness that is simply chilling. Torello and Luca cannot exist without each other. If you take one away, the show would lose something. Every time they come eye-to-eye, you'll feel the tension between them. As Luca becomes ever more powerful, he begins to think he is unstoppable and pushes the boundaries to the limit. No matter how frightening Luca seems, the only person who could send a shiver down his spine is Torello and although Luca would never admit it, you can see the fear in his eyes.

Not only are Farina and Denison's character two of the most powerful in television history but the supporting cast is also great too. Bill Smitrovich plays Danny Krychek, who works with Torello closer than anyone else on the team, Steve Ryan plays Nate Grossman, the smart-alec of the team, Bill Campbell is the young Joey Indelli and Paul Butler plays Walter Clemmons (who constantly has a smoke in his mouth). There is also Stephen Lang as David Abrams, an attorney who is at ends with Torello but eventually becomes one of his closest allies.

Support from the other side of the law include memorable performances from Jon Polito as Phil Bartoli (many of whom would recognize from a string of TV shows and movies), John Santucci as Ray Luca's clown-faced side-kick Pauli Taglia, Ted Levine as the slow-witted Frank Holman and Joseph Wiseman as the boss-of-bosses, Manny Weisbord. Also backing up the cast are guest stars such as David Caruso, Michael Madsen, Pam Grier, Julia Roberts, Gary Sinise (both in two of their earliest roles) and many more.

Music also plays a big part in the series. As we watch modern-day shows, lines and lines of dialogue are often drowned out by whiny and screaming music. This isn't the case with Crime Story. The show is filled with rock n' roll tunes that'll make you feel like you're really back in the 60's. But the most important thing about the music is that there's always a reason for it to be played (once again, unlike modern shows). Every episode of the show is introduced with a redone version of Del Shannon's "Runaway". Shannon was asked to rewrite the lyrics to reflect on the tragic circumstances that are often encountered by the characters featured in the show, hence the "some live and others die" line.

If all of this doesn't convince you to see the show then I don't know what would. It has so much to offer. Even after it's over, you'll still be thinking about it. It'll have a great impact on you and although it only went for two seasons, they were two incredibly powerful seasons. Even though the show was cancelled twenty odd years ago, you'll rack your brain over how it could've happened. The ratings may not have been too good but the show was highly praised at it's time and is now considered a cult classic. Once you see it, you'll want to watch it again and again and again.

This tv show had it all, great characters played by a fantastic cast, some of the coolest cops and villians you could ever ask for, great music, the cars, the atmosphere and dialogue, and a plot that went way beyond any single episode! It's the story of one cop named Michael Torello (Dennis Farina) who makes it his life's mission to bring down a "ruthless hood" named Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) who is quickly working his way to the top of the Chicago organized crime syndicate. Along the way, you're introduced to other key figures, like Andrew Dice Clay's character Max Goldman and a performance by Joseph Wiseman as Manny Weisbord that stands just as strong as anything The Godfather produced (in my absolutely biased opinion, of course). Don't forget Pauli Taglia, Ray's henchman, and rockin' Frank Holman (the same guy who plays Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs), who bears an intriguing resemblance to the Rev. Horton Heat! The series started in Chicago, migrated to Las Vegas about a third of the way through, and ends in Latin America of all places. I won't give anything away here, but I will warn you that if you see the pilot, you'll want to get your hands on the rest of the series. Unfortunately, that's not as easy. The tapes show up on ebay regularly but aren't cheap. Good news is that Anchor Bay is releasing all the episodes on dvd really soon, so it's probably just better to wait for that. Alot of the tapes were copied in SLP mode anyway, and don't have the best quality. This series has a severe cult following now, even though it only aired for two seasons in the '80s. I introduced my girlfriend at the time to this show, and while she was skeptical at first, by the end she insisted we had to get the rest of the series. You'll watch it over and over again and pick up on stuff you miss everytime, not to mention the stories are just classic and filled to overflowing with one-liners and scenes! Michael Mann is a genius for making this show happen. I hated Miami Vice, but this was just "the greatest thing, since bullets"---Yikes!!!!, I could write on and on about the merits of this series!! It's hard to believe how few people know about Crime Story! Don't be one of those people, check it out!

Crime Story was a strange, hard and often inspired tv series from the mid-eighties. It was made by the producer of Miami Vice, Michael Mann, and the cast is stocked with Michael Mann regulars - Stephen Lang, Bill Smitrovitch, Ted Levine and Dennis Farina (all except Ted Levine are in Manhunter).

Although Farina and his crew throughout the series chase after their arch nemesis, Ray Luca and his gang (Pauli Taglia, Frank Holman), the story comes in two parts. The first part, allegedly set in Chicago, the second set in Las Vegas.

Throughout the series, the director tries for a fifties, early sixties feel, even though that's tough to maintain. Great music, every episode is introduced by Del Shannon's "Runaway".

However, very often the focus is the psychological dynamic between Mike Torello (real-life Chicago cop Farina) and Ray Luca (played with a psychopathic coldness by Anthony John Denison). Torello may be on the right side of the law, but there is an equally uneasy quality about the doggedness with which he keeps going after Luca. What would his life be without him? Torello is also frequently tempted to cross the line and behave in a more effective, but illegal way himself.

If you haven't seen it, and you like Wise Guy, or the feel and look Michael Mann gives to his productions, don't miss this series. As this is a classic 80s series, there are also lots of cameos from familiar actors and actresses.

I watched this show faithfully practically from the first show and throughout its run. When this show premiered in 1986,I was a freshman in high school and hadn't yet gotten access to my own car,so my social life was kinda limited. Knowing that,many of my Friday nights(when they,NBC,first plugged this show into their line-up)were "freed up" to watch television and I was usually between this show and the even shorter-lived ABC series "Starman". Ordinarily,I wouldn't ever suggest that one should eschew a social life in order to watch television,but I have to say that,where this show is concerned,I'm kinda glad I didn't have much of a social calendar.

Producer Michael Mann,flush with success in the mid-eighties from his white hot popular,MTV-fueled crime show "Miami Vice",created this show,a change of pace from the slick,'80s "Vice": cold,rough Chicago of 1963,where pre-Miranda warning cops battled tough,old school mobsters and rising,ambitious hoods. In this setting we watch as a war is brewing between two particulars:tough,no-nonsense Major Case squad Lt.Michael Torello(Dennis Farina,actual Chicago cop turned actor,excellent) and rising young-ish hood Ray Luca(Anthony Denison,so good here he's become somewhat prone to typecasting). As Luca's climb in the outfit continues to rise,the body count of people he uses(including some friends of Torello's)rises,and this fuels the drama further still.

Famously,the show's producers,by the end of 1986-87 had reasoned that the relatively low ratings had doomed the show to cancellation,this prompting the last episode to feature two of the main characters(I won't say which ones,since I'm certain that not EVERYONE knows about this show)were offed by a nuclear bomb detonation. So when the show's loyal fan base demanded the show to be brought back by a semi-reluctant NBC,the show,already changed of scenery to glitzy Las Vegas and the Chicago cops now Marshalls of the Department of Justice,had to undergo a fair amount of writer change and the storyline began to become stranger and more stilted,yet I still found the show very compelling. Many of the actors on the show have gone on to many other--and much more famous and successful--projects,but I still remember them from their stint on this show. This show was also a launching pad for then-unknown actors such as Lorraine Bracco,Gary Sinise,Stanley Tucci,David Caruso and Julia Roberts.I think it's a testimony to a show's potency when it can be off the air almost twenty years and STILL inspire plenty of interest on its IMDb site and on various TV and video websites.Heck,even the THEME SONG(Del Shannon re-doing his hit "Runaway")I thought set the mood and tone for the show,further adding to the enjoyment. Having seen all of the episodes at least twice,I feel like I may be inclined to buy the eps on DVD yet.

While it may seem a little dated,restrained and hokey by today's TV crime drama standards,I'd still recommend one--if one can run across this show--to give "Crime Story" a look.