Michael-Lehmann Movie Reviews

1) The Pilot: "Gone for Goode" - It's Tim Bayliss' (Kyle Secor) first day on the Homicide Unit commanded by Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) and the introduction to the cast of characters begins: John Munch (Richard Belzer), the cynical jaded but dedicated cop partnered with the "close to retirement" Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty), Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) is partnered with Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito) and Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) is partnered with Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin). The wildcard in the unit is Frank Pembleton, the unit's best detective who likes to work alone. Lewis and Crosetti investigate a shooting that might lead to solving 5 more murders (and making them look like heros), Munch is coerced into opening up an accidental death that Bolander thinks was a murder. And Bayliss gets paired up with Pembleton during a murder of an older guy in a hotel and learns firsthand that what he's taught in the classroom doesn't hold up in the real world.

Some famous lines:
Bolander: "She was murdered John, you have to speak for her"
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Howard: "Homicide? We work for God"
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Munch: "I've been murder police for ten years. If you're going to lie to me, you lie to me with respect."
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Crosetti: "That's the problem with this job. It's got nothin' to do with life."

2) "Every Mother's Son" - Bayliss and Pembleton investigate the murder of a 14 year old boy at a bowling alley to find out another 14 year old boy shot him. The shooter thinks he should go because he killed the wrong guy. The mother's killer and the mother of the victim unknowingly meet up and talk for a long period of time in the squad room. Pembleton gets disillusioned about ever having children if they grow up in a world like this.

3) "A Doll's Eye" - Bayliss and Pembleton get involved in a shooting of a boy at a mall. The boy ends up brain dead and the parents struggle with taking the boy off of life support and placing his organs in the organ donor registry to save other children's lives. Marcia Gay Hayden's portrayal of the little boy's mom will have you in tears. It's a quiet episode that focuses on the victims and the struggles that they have to face.

This show, in reruns, is as powerful, moving, thought provoking, and at times humorous, as it was during its first run on NBC during the 90's.

EVERY...and I do mean EVERY character leaps off the page with realism and charisma, thanks in part to those who put pen to paper and wrote the lines, and also to the amazing actor who breathed life into the well written scripts.

The early shows are by far the best! And that you will see on this video. Pembelton and Balis, Andre Braugher and Kyle Secor, were televisions definitive dynamic duo. I believe that they, and the other cast members, set a standard for ensemble casts that will never be beat. (A few of the cast members that joined the show towards the end of its run were not as powerful as the original actors, but that didn't stop the show from delivering quality episodes.)

Others have suggested NBC release all of the episodes on DVD and I agree! This was truly MUST SEE TV and for what ever reason the network couldn't see it. (This show is timeless and I would love to see it resurrected, perhaps on cable TV! Are you listening HBO?)

HOMICIDE - Life On The Street is without a doubt is the best television show to date! Kudos to all responsible for bridging it to life, to Court TV for airing it in reruns, and to Amazon.com for bring the series to its fan via VHS and DVD!

Before going to prison Leamas meets an attractive girl who is a British communist. She becomes the only person he really cares for while his work as a spy forces him to become increasingly cynical.

As often pointed out the film lacks the gadgetry and magic of other spy movies from its era. Instead the emphasis is on reality and negative human emotions such as despair, self-loathing, greed and fear. The plot becomes quite intricate especially after Leamas returns to the field posing as a paid defector.

The cast is superb. Richard Burton stars as Alec Leamas. Clair Bloom is his girl friend Nan Perry and Oskar Werner excells as a crafty communist agent.

The film received Oscar nominations in 1965 for Best Actor (Richard Burton) and B&W Art Direction. Martin Ritt directed many other good movies in his career including THE MOLLY MAGUIRES.

If one episode clearly exemplifies the intensity and the quality of the series' writing, as well as the skills of the actors, it is "Subway". Braugher gets to run the gamut of his emotions as he deals with the hopeless situation of guest star Vincent D'onofrio, also giving an award winning turn as the trapped commuter.

The episode is a nail-biter and a prime example of what television should be.

A case in point is season six's "The Accident" or as it's commonly known "the subway episode." When a commuter becomes pinned between a subway train and the platform, detectives Tim Bayliss and Frank Pembleton are called in, because the accident victim is alsmost certainly going to die. As Bayliss tries to determine what caused the accident, Pembleton (as played by Emmy-winner Andre Braugher) forms an uneasy bond with the victim (played by Vincent D'Onofrio). With Homicide, the focus was always less on what the detectives revealed about their cases and more on what the detectives revealed about themselves as human beings.

Of all Homicide's detectives none showed us more of what was good and bad about human beings than Frank Pembleton. In the context of the show, Pembleton was not only the best investigator in the squad, he was also the moral center, a good man whose sense of right and wrong never fails, soemone who will always remain on the right side of that line even if it means offending those who care about him. As he tries to comfort the victim whom he knows is about to die, Pembleton confronts his own beliefs and notions of faith and goodness. The interplay between the two characters is as insightful, gripping and well-written as anything committed to film in years, and more than anything this is probably the episode which earned Andre Braugher his Emmy award.

This episode also went on to win the Peabody award and was the subject of a fascinating documentary called "Anatomy of a Homicide." In addition to focusing on the specifics of writing and producing "the subway episode," it is also an intriguing window into the politics of television network programming. That documentary is available on this tape along with the full episode. Homicide never quite got its due during its network run, but the availability of these two productions may help redress that balance.

I'd long been a Homicide fan, so I was well aware of Andre Braugher's skill, but Vincent D'Onofrio's performance was a revelation. His character is Everyschmuck, the Bud Lite-swilling blowhard found in any bar on any Saturday night, under-tipping the bartender and copping a feel from the cocktail waitress.

But as he slowly discovers his fate, he strips away his schmuckness in layers, like an onion, with Braugher's Pembleton as Father Confessor and keeper of the knowledge that he is doomed. Together they reveal the character's essential humanity and vulnerability.

Pembleton is our surrogate, I think, because he doesn't like this guy much either, but goes in to do his job, and is eventually touched by him, as we are.

My words are feeble. Just see it.

Well, this movie gives hope to those of us who are like that. Of course, it's still a romantic comedy, but somehow it's more than that.

Smart, funny, talented Abby 'meets' Brian, the man of her dreams, during a radio-show. He's a photographer making a commercial who during shooting has put roller blades on a very large and agressive-looking dog (who afterwards becomes just as affectionate as any puppy) and now cannot approach him to take them off. Abby is a vet and she helps him do this. And now he wants to meet her... she almost accepts but then he asks what she looks like and she, being rather short and chubby, gives in to her insecurities and describes herself as tall, blond and slim... the exact picture of her nextdoor neighbour.

It's kind of like Cyrano de Bergerac on the reverse. Brian loves Abby's spirit but Noelle's looks... and he is confused all the time as to why the woman he speaks on the phone with is never the same as the one he sees.

The quasi love-scenes are great... Brian has one with Noelle when he convinces her to eat some sweets (she is always on a diet to keep her figure) and for her it is almost an erotic experience. The music during this scene is beautiful. Then there is one when he talks with Abby on the phone for over 7 hours and they... well, kind of make love.

But what is great is that in the end Brian chooses the right answer to Abby's question: "If you were stranded on an island, whom would you choose to spend the time with: Playboy's playmate of the year or Time's magazine woman of the year?"

If you feel like an ugly duckling down and out of luck, go watch this movie. Then you will trust yourself and what you have to offer to others.

"Heathers" is by far, a very dark teen comedy flick. It came to change the whole genre with its pioneering dialogue. There are a wealth of razor blade-sharp speeches as "What's your damage, Heather?",...or "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?". It's nothing new today, but "Heathers" was first and is still the best. There are so many persons who makes their best performances here, among others Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. But my personal favorite is Kim Walker, as the megabrat Heather Chandler.

If you've never seen HEATHERS, you are missing one of the best films of the era. It is amazingly still as powerful as it was in 1988 and the performances rank as some of the best of the stars careers.

"Heathers" is by far, a very dark teen comedy flick. It came to change the whole genre with its pioneering dialogue. There are a wealth of razor blade-sharp speeches as "What's your damage, Heather?",...or "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?". It's nothing new today, but "Heathers" was first and is still the best. There are so many persons who makes their best performances here, among others Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. But my personal favorite is Kim Walker, as the megabrat Heather Chandler.

If you've never seen HEATHERS, you are missing one of the best films of the era. It is amazingly still as powerful as it was in 1988 and the performances rank as some of the best of the stars careers.

"Heathers" is by far, a very dark teen comedy flick. It came to change the whole genre with its pioneering dialogue. There are a wealth of razor blade-sharp speeches as "What's your damage, Heather?",...or "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?". It's nothing new today, but "Heathers" was first and is still the best. There are so many persons who makes their best performances here, among others Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. But my personal favorite is Kim Walker, as the megabrat Heather Chandler.

If you've never seen HEATHERS, you are missing one of the best films of the era. It is amazingly still as powerful as it was in 1988 and the performances rank as some of the best of the stars careers.

"Heathers" is by far, a very dark teen comedy flick. It came to change the whole genre with its pioneering dialogue. There are a wealth of razor blade-sharp speeches as "What's your damage, Heather?",...or "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?". It's nothing new today, but "Heathers" was first and is still the best. There are so many persons who makes their best performances here, among others Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. But my personal favorite is Kim Walker, as the megabrat Heather Chandler.

If you've never seen HEATHERS, you are missing one of the best films of the era. It is amazingly still as powerful as it was in 1988 and the performances rank as some of the best of the stars careers.

When it was made into this movie version, many of Sondheim's songs were dropped. In fact, at some points it doesn't even seem like a musical. However, the movie is still extremely hilarious. Mostel played the role of Pseudolous, which he originated on Broadway. When filming began, he was just done wih a little musical called "Fiddler on the Roof". Mostel is great in this , as is the great Phil Silvers.

This movie is highly comical, seeming almost like a Monty Python movie. If your a fan of wild antics and very funny songs including "Comedy Tonight" and "Everybody Ought To Have a Maid", than you'll love this movie. By the way, it also features a very young Michael Crawford, who many years later would win a Best Actor Tony as The Phantom of the Opera.

When it was made into this movie version, many of Sondheim's songs were dropped. In fact, at some points it doesn't even seem like a musical. However, the movie is still extremely hilarious. Mostel played the role of Pseudolous, which he originated on Broadway. When filming began, he was just done wih a little musical called "Fiddler on the Roof". Mostel is great in this , as is the great Phil Silvers.

This movie is highly comical, seeming almost like a Monty Python movie. If your a fan of wild antics and very funny songs including "Comedy Tonight" and "Everybody Ought To Have a Maid", than you'll love this movie. By the way, it also features a very young Michael Crawford, who many years later would win a Best Actor Tony as The Phantom of the Opera.