CRIME STORY - SEASON ONE

I spent a fair amount of time doing the math on Farina's hotness as I revisited Crime Story, and I finally realized that it comes down to intensity.

I have had a big old crush on Dennis Farina since I was nine years old. Each week I'd settle in to watch Crime Story with my dad, utterly spellbound by the opening credits, which featured Del Shannon's fabulous song "Runaway" and captured all the grit and glamor of cops, mobsters, and Vegas in the 1960s. It was a bit difficult to follow the more complicated plot lines, seeing as how I was in the fourth grade, but one thing was always clear: Dennis Farina is a damn genius.

Over twenty years later, Crime Story is even more brilliant than I remembered. This Michael Mann production serves as an obvious precursor to the equally brilliant film Heat, and in many ways seems too smart for television. Even now it seems ahead of its time, and that may explain why this excellent show was canceled after just two seasons.

The movie-length pilot sets the stage for the rest of the series as Lieutenant Mike Torello (Farina) and the boys from the Major Crimes Unit of the Chicago Police Department tangle with budding mob boss Ray Luca (Anthony Denison). It all begins with a splashy shooting/abduction/car chase and becomes increasingly personal as Luca rises to power. After Luca's men murder a member of the MCU and the son of old family friends (David Caruso), Torello becomes obsessed with taking them down. Though he has the opportunity to shoot Luca in the head and be done with it, he intends to do the job right. After all, if he sinks to Luca's level, he'll be no better than the bad guys, and as one thug observes, "Torello's so clean he squeaks."

Indeed, Torello is so straightforward, so fundamentally good, that it's hard to figure out whether you want him to take care of you or you want to take care of him. He has inspired the absolute loyalty of his men (including Bill Smitrovitch and Bill Campbell), but things aren't going quite so well at home. Though Torello explains that his work leaves him mentally and emotionally drained, his wife (Darlanne Fluegel) is unwilling to tolerate the pitfalls of being married to a cop. She's sweet and supportive one minute, needy and demanding the next, and no matter how hard Torello tries, he just can't get it right.

Watching their interaction, it's hard not to get upset on Torello's behalf. In fact, I was nearly as frustrated for Torello as I was for Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) in Heat. Their marital spats have many of the same themes, and in both cases these passionate, upstanding men have the misfortune of going home to silly, selfish wives. It just about breaks your heart knowing that they have no safe haven at the end of an insanely stressful and dangerous day. Why in the world wouldn't they have sympathetic wives who equaled their strength and intelligence?

Well, apparently that's the way Michael Mann likes it, and apparently he's not opposed to recycling scenes. Remember in Heat when Hanna caught his wife with a guy and he grabbed his TV, stuffed it in the car, drove a few blocks, then shoved it out the passenger door? Well, nine years earlier, Torello did exactly the same thing in Crime Story. It's effective in both situations, but it's a bit disappointing to think that Michael Mann didn't get the memo about repetition being the death of art. At the same time, it seems oddly appropriate for Farina and Pacino to act in what is essentially the same role. I spent a fair amount of time doing the math on Farina's hotness as I revisited Crime Story, and I finally realized that it comes down to intensity. He's always the sharpest, most present person in any given scene, and, like Pacino, can leave you smiling stupidly at the screen with his sheer bad-assness.

As the series progresses Torello faces the dissolution of his marriage, winds up on trial after being fingered as a dirty cop by one of Luca's men (played hilariously by the endlessly versatile Ted Levine of Silence of the Lambs, Heat, and Monk), and ultimately follows Luca (with the entire MCU) to Vegas. Along the way, the show touches on various social issues, including interracial relationships (with guest star Pam Grier) and sexual abuse (with guest star Julia Roberts). With each passing episode, the vendetta against Luca becomes more personal and more pronounced, and as a viewer, it's hard not to invest yourself to the degree that Torello has.

The first half of Season One comes with handy recaps before each episode, making it easy to keep pace with this ongoing saga. There are a few episodes at the midpoint that struggle to find their feet, but following a flashback episode that must have aired in the middle of Season One, Crime Story is officially off and running. The characters all seem to come into their own, and the plot progresses at full steam. The show is peppered with before-they-were-famous guest stars including Gary Sinise, Michael Madsen, Debbie Harry, Lorraine Bracco, Vincent Gallo, and James Russo, so there are plenty of fun celebrity sightings to be had. More importantly, the show itself is a perfect blend of intelligence, subtle humor, sexiness, city lights, 60's style, and action. The fantastic cliffhanger (involving nothing short of an atomic blast) will leave you chomping at the bit for Season Two.