Turk 182

...the directors of this film hired the Columbia University marching band (or several members of it, anyway, including myself) to be the band for the scene at the Queensborough Bridge. Despite having been in the movie, I only watched it for the first time last night, and did it ever stink! We were definitely the highlight of the movie, despite being made to wear those stupid polyester red bandanas to make our official blue and white uniforms more colorful. It was torture to have to wait for our scene, near the end of the movie. What were they thinking when they wrote this dog?? I'm almost glad they didn't bother to credit us...

I saw this one a couple years ago on Cinemax, and didn't think it was half bad.

Sure, the plot dragged at times, but how can you hate Turk 182? The film makers had good intentions.

Basically, the plot revolves around a guy (Timothy Hutton) and his brother (Robert Urich) who is injured trying to save children from a fire. Because the guy was intoxicated at the time, the city refuses to foot his medical bills, regardless of the fact that he saved these poor kids from certain death. So, the Timothy Hutton character heckles the mayor by covering the city of New York in graffiti (long story).

Overall, I thought it was a cool idea that was, for the most part, well executed by the cast and crew. So, if you can't find anything good on TV, check out Turk 182.

Zimmerman flew and Tyler knew! :-)

When a unfeeling mayor refuses to render aid to an injured city employee he opens a can of worms which he goes nuts trying to close. Reminded me a bit of Jack Finney's novel "The Night People" because the hero's stunts got more and more outlandish until his outings culminated in the mother of political harassments. Thumbs up.

Turk 182! is one of those films that doesn't explain itself. The plot is explained, but the culture and backdrop are not: New York City is presented in all its glory, as the bureaucracy and the politicians who run it are pitted against an injured firefighter (Robert Urich) and his graffiti-artist-turned-political-activist brother (Timothy Hutton), who ensures that neither the Mayor nor the city forget the name "Turk 182!" Kim Cattral appears as Hutton's sidekick/love-interest, and sidecar passenger in his motorcycle, in a role far more "sexier in the city" than anything she turned out in her HBO series. Notables in the remainder of the cast include Robert Culp as the over-the-top mayor who wants to regain control over the "vandalism," and Paul Sorvino in a highly amusing cameo involving the abuse of the Giants' Stadium scoreboard.

In this movie, Turk's brother was injured off-duty while saving the lives of some children during a fire. Since he was drunk at the time, the city refuses to pay his medical expenses, and Turk's activism is born. Like any good graffiti artist, Turk leaves his mark anywhere and everywhere, while eluding law enforcement. As one who was a teenager living in New York City in the 1980s, and who knew several serious graffiti artists, I can say that while the movie was a sanitized version of what they do, they got enough of the flavor of that culture to show its power when confronted with an injustice.

If you've never been to New York, or if you are there now but weren't in the 1980s, the movie is an excellent period piece that will reveal a great deal about the city through its backdrop and subplots, many of which were as or far more interesting than the main plot. New Yorkers generally don't care about anything that doesn't affect them, but when they do, the city literally grinds to a halt, as do the New York politicians who follow their lead.

With so few movies reflecting New York City so accurately, this one is definitely worth watching, and the story it tells, however simplistic and over-the-top in its execution, is still worth telling occasionally in yet another form. This is a very intriguing film.

The Paul Sorvino sequence itself is classic. Timothy Hutton makes a fine hero for this ultimate feel-good movie. I've seen this 3 times, and enjoyed it more each time. Robert Culp is perfect as the mayor. Darren McGavin and Peter Boyle are both wonderful in their supporting roles, as are Robert Urich and David Wohl -- even though they are given less to do. I see a couple people referring to this as a turkey, and I'd like to know why. I thought the characters are very true to themselves, and the relationships were well-thought out, well-paced and well-executed. Forget the critics, just watch and enjoy.