Le témoin

An accountant, one of many who works for a big time department store is gunned down in Little Italy as he was enjoying a last meal. The hitman played by James Remar is as professional as they come. But there are always these little details like Remar not noticing Marcia Gay Harden who just went into the restaurant to use the pay phone. She slips away, but he knows there's a witness.

And on that hangs this Kojak made for TV film. It all connects with a family power struggle in the Hogarth family. Rip Torn is the patriarch and founder of the business and he's got a pretty second wife who is running things in Margaret Whitton and two spoiled brats of kids from his first marriage, Terry Kinney and Ashley Crow.

Torn also has a partner he prefers to be kept silent, mobster Jerry Orbach who is on the financing of a new store the company is building. A nice change of pace for Orbach to be the villain of the piece. And sure interesting to see Theo Kojak and Lennie Briscoe sharing scenes.

Acting honors go to Marcia Gay Harden a most reluctant witness and one tough cookie in her own right. This is definitely one of the better Kojak films.