A Running of Bulls

This episode of "Naked City" is a disaster. It has no redeeming features and is an embarrassment as the first show minus leading man McIntire.

First off, despite producer Bert Leonard's standard voice-over narration intoning that "Naked City" is not shot in a studio but on location, that's not true. Both scenes of the stars Farantino and McMahon and the supporting cast are shot in the studio against crummy process screens, clearly fake matching to the backgrounds. The show has no action scenes, no violence, no nothing. Instead there's plenty of lousy Silliphant dialogue about bullfighting and other supposed Latin traditions.

The assassination attempt of a dictator and his son goes awry and guest star Michael Ansara as an ex-bullfighter turned bodyguard and would-be hitman is strictly fake-honorable stick figure. The anticlimax is very poor, resulting in 30 minutes amounting to nothing.

Here, I will say that Michael Ansara steals the whole show, despite the fact that his character is nearly a cliché, providing expected, predictable results. But it remains a good and rather solid suspense. Worth the watch, though not being the best so far in the show. Some good moments, gripping sequences to please the home audiences whom it is destined to. The good thing in that series NAKED CITY, is that it proposes all kinds of opportunities to describe all kinds of situations, all kinds of people: rich, poor, workers, businessmen, cops, gangsters, doctors, cab drivers, children, only aliens from outer space have never been evoked.

***SPOILERS**** With the planned assassination of a brutal dictator of an unnamed South American country in the works it's also planned to have his 14 year old son and heir apparent to get knocked off at the very same time as some kind of symbolic jester on the assassins part.The plan to knock off junior Felipe Piedra, Michel Ray, is to take place in a midtown Manhattan Hotel where he's staying in protective custody.It's non other then the most popular bullfighter or matador of the dictator's country Raphael Valebte, Michael Ansara, who's the man chosen to do the dirty and unpleasant job of killing young Felipe at the exact moment when his dad is to be killed, in being thrown to the bulls, some 3,000 miles away.

We see right away that Raphael is a bit unnerved in killing the boy who has nothing to do with his father's crimes against humanity and his own people. And were not at all surprised in how he will act when the time comes for him to do it. In him being worshiped by young Felipe it's no surprised that Raphael has access to him in his hotel room that's surrounded by a squad of NYC policemen. But when push comes to shove in Raphael mission to run the boy through with his sword he in fact chickens out. That's right after the news that Felipe's father had been killed in the bull ring by both being gored by a bull and stabbed by his people at the same time.

***SPOILERS*** Shocking climax with the once fearless bullfighter Raphael Valente suffering a total meltdown and running himself through with his matador sword as his fellow assassins burst into young Felip's hotel room. As we all saw Raphael had no problem facing death in the bull ring but when it came to kill in cold blood an innocent young boy he took to hard not easy way out. That's by him bravely falling on that very sword that he was to run young Felipe through with!