Spenser: Small Vices

Good show featuring tough guy Spenser and his pal Hawk as they try to figure out if a convicted man is innocent or not. Spenser suspects the man is not guilty and gets into hot water when he gets too close to the truth. The story was a little corny and the character Spenser is somewhat unbelievable, but the film was enjoyable none the less.

I agree, casting the Role of Spenser is a tough one, but if you have seen the poster/soverbox for the movie, "The Substitute", or if you saw "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead", you can't argue with the fact that Treat Williams would have to make the all-time best Spenser. He's a boxer, He's Irish, He has the smirk, and he's a very good actor, he IS Spenser. And don't just get the first black guy that looks like Avery Brooks to play Hawk, put some thought into that as well. Ving Rhames would do well, since he can slide in and out of the educated accent and the street jive, and he's also one of the better actors out there. If not Ving, another good choice would be Dennis Haysbert, Pedro Serrano from "Major League". Susan Silverman is a tough one. Mr. Parker has almost made her shoes impossible to fill, but if I had to pick an actress who has her charm, looks, smarts, and is also Jewish (why not, Susan is?), I'd have to go with Rena Sofer. The other characters could be played by most any other character actors, Luis Guzman was spot-on as Cholo, the guy who played Little John In "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" is a great Teddy Blue, and Dan Hedaya is who I always see as Vinnie.

Those are just my opinions, everyone sees these characters in a different way. But Joe Mantegna is NOT spenser, sorry.....

My dad and I are both huge fans of the Spenser novels, TV show, telepics, et al. Because we both agree, Robert Urich's cast a long shadow over the role of everyone's favorite Boston P.I., he (dad) didn't buy Joe Mantegna as Spenser at all - too ethnic, he said. "Small Vices" was the first of three TV movies with Mantegna. My dad couldn't get past it. I, though, think Mantegna nailed Spenser's dry wit and sense of humor. "Small Vices" certainly was the best of the A&E trilogy - just try watching Eric Roberts as Police Chief DeSpain in one of the others without cringing. But in a world where Warner Bros. has left "Spenser: For Hire" to languish on its AOL site, and all we have on DVD are the Lifetime TV movies, my investment in a region-free player has paid off again - "Small Vices" was released in Australia on home video and I picked up a copy from Amazon.

Y'know, my wife and I have EVERY Robert Parker book ever published. We've even read a few of them several times. We've seen EVERY "Spenser for Hire" TV episode at least a few times I think. So....it's awfully hard to sit through this decent outing thinking "Geez, Joe Mantegna isn't bad, but he isn't Robert Uhrich!" And Hawk: we REALLY miss Dr. Brooks! Couldn't Rutgers free him up from his teaching long enough for ONE more project?!

On the flip side, Vinnie and Gino were lots of fun, and it was cool seeing Mr. Parker himself (and possibly his very own canine, playing Pearl, the Wonder Dog?) in cameo roles.

The movie was pretty faithful to the book (after all the author also penned the screenplay). By the way, we're glad we videotaped it: A&E is AWFUL with commercial breaks (but aren't ALL broadcasters these days?!)

So 7 of 10 is all it gets from us. 9, if it's Uhrich/Brooks in the remake!

Mantegna and Harden are very good as Spenser and Susan, the by-play is good. Mahmud-Bey makes a good Hawk, though he does not seem to have the sharp edge that Hawk in the books does. The story is followed as closely as time permits for a 90 minute production. An enjoyable two hours.