Jesse Stone: Thin Ice

I love the feel of these (made for TV) movies. And as another person commented, I also like the music and how it adds to the atmosphere. This one had good attention to detail, I thought. At least, based on a couple of things I noticed. At the firing range Suitcase had a Bic four color pen in his breast pocket; when he was taking notes on his observation of the bad guy outside the bar, he used the same (sort of?) pen to write them. There were a few other little details like that - clearly, the people who put this together took good care with the film. And I continue to be impressed with how Tom Selleck portrays Jesse Stone. Tom might be older than Jesse, but he does a fantastic job. I'm sure that Robert B. Parker would have been happy.

Watching this latest Jesse Stone film Thin Ice put me in mind of Murder She Wrote and Jessica Fletcher's little hamlet by the sea Cabot Cove. The similarities between Cabot Cove and Paradise are striking, but the attitudes are certainly different among the residents.

As usual there are two cases for the small town police force to solve in this film. It opens with Tom Selleck and his friend Stephen McHattie from the State Police on a most unofficial stakeout when both are shot. Selleck manages to get off some shots and may have wounded one of the two shooters. The second is Camryn Manheim who came in from New Mexico. Her day old infant was snatched from the hospital several years ago. Mother's intuition and a strange letter tell her that her kid is in Paradise. On that very thin evidence and on her women's intuition Kathy Baker investigates with silent approval from Selleck. By the way Manheim's one scene with Selleck and Baker is unbelievably moving.

But it was the side issue that grabbed me. The town council is having a hissy fit over Selleck doing a little moonlighting with McHattie. His chief critic on the council Jeremy Akerman who after unsuccessfully trying to get Selleck to hire his nephew makes it clear that his chief function as police is to nail those speeders at the local trap and generate some revenue. Selleck who worked homicide in the LAPD really thinks it beneath him. Not to mention that those murders from previous Jesse Stone stories are giving Paradise a bad name which could affect the tourist trade.

Contrast that with Cabot Cove and how they treat Jessica Fletcher and think of all the murders she solved in Murder She Wrote's long run. The residents there certainly never thought of firing Tom Bosley or Ron Masak and certainly weren't about to tar and feather their most famous resident. Cabot Cove in fact had to be the murder capital of the United States. Paradise has a long way to go.

I think it's the provincial attitudes of some of the people you will take away when you watch Thin Ice.

All the Jesse Stone movies are very well written and acted. Only one inconsistency I found in the screen play for this one. When Rose Gamon (Kathy Baker) visits and questions the neighbor of the suspected child kidnapper, they talk in detail about the suspected woman. While the long-time neighbor seems to know all about the woman and the so-called birth of her child, she fails to mention that the child was killed in an unfortunate, accident. When Jesse and Rose finally confront the kidnapper, she shows them a newspaper article she has kept about the accident and the child's death. Obviously, this would have known to the neighbor, but she never mentions it to Rose. Am I wrong? Did I miss something? Only flaw in an otherwise excellent movie with a steller cast.

... on its own this one in the series is good; different of course, but good. some changes are blatant of course, molly and d'angelo. but still has that small town, big city cop feel. it moves the series along just enough, without being silly or indulgent. parallels and parables still tag teaming in the storyline. which works well. i enjoy this series very much, it will eventually standup well against the test of other cop shows that have come before it. Selleck is great, and so is the whole cast, including the antagonistic others(city council). i'll sum up this series like this... after a long day its good to be cozy in ur favorite chair and sweats, flipping on the electronic device of choice and finding some new twist or beat that seemed not there before, and relishing it anew, once again.

While I do agree with this being the least of the series, I enjoyed the episode. However, my wife (who would leave me for Tom if he asked, I'm not kidding) didn't like it.

As an example of our tastes, I loved Clint Eastwoods "Unforgiven" because the distinction between bad and good wasn't clear. My wife did not like "Unforgiven" because the distinction between bad and good wasn't clear.

I think the story line was needed or the series would have fallen way to far into a formula driven format. That's why I think it would destroy the series if it was a week to week show. This episode must set up at least one or two more stories.

I look forward to them.