Muggable Mary, Street Cop

A largely forgotten classic, Muggable Mary is shown regularly on Eastern European television. I saw it when I was staying in Warsaw some years ago and again in Budapest this past summer. Don't ask me why.

But it's not bad - made me go out and read the book. Makes you remember what NYC used to be all about, and speaks of the dangers of working undercover, and issues of police entrapment.

...made-for-tv movies were just as good as feature films. And in "Muggable Mary"'s case, better than most.

I caught this movie last Sunday while I was at a wedding in Antwerp. The caterers were watching it in the back of the hall. They kept asking me if New York City was really that dangerous. I said it was worse than the movie made it out to be, so I think they liked me after that (I showed no fear).

Anyway, it was a fun, kind of exciting movie. Lots of cool chases, and it was enjoyable to be able to see NYC of the early eighties again. The terrifying scene at the baseball field with the kid on the other team ominously saying (warning?) Mary's son with "Nice hit, kid" is one of the mostly oddly terrifying moments in tv-movie history.

Catch it, if you can. It's not Gone with the Wind, but then, what is?

Pretty well acted for a TV flick. Karen's best acting role from what I have seen. A far cry from her Love American Style and Love Boat stuff. Also, an interesting look at the woman cop role in the period just before they hit the streets as "regular" officers, rather than just as decoys.

The main thing that stood out to me about this movie was the way it handled everything kind of "flatly" by comparison with how super-dramatic things are in more recent movies. It felt like a 1970s movie, or even TV show. That isn't necessarily bad or good, just different.

The story seemed a bit random, so I'm guessing this is based on a true story. Life is never as smoothly-planned as fiction.

There's not all that much to be said here, really. It's a story, and you can guess what's going to happen and be mostly correct. The performances are good, though, and it's very watchable.