Cold War
Crime Story
October 01, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
david@davidkrell.com
In the 1980’s, an NBC show about cops had it all.
A new look.
Story arcs that existed over several episodes.
And the elevation of lesser known actors into household name status.
Hill Street Blues? No.
Miami Vice? No.
Crime Story.
Michael Mann’s production of a Chicago cop and his mobster prey only lasted two seasons from 1986-1988.
But it was a terrific two years.
Set in the early 1960’s, Crime Story followed the exploits of Chicago Police Department Lt. Mike Torello and his squad at MCU or Major Crimes Unit. Their mission is to take down mobster Ray Luca.
When Luca moves his base of operations to Las Vegas, Torello and team follows, only to trade in their Chicago police badges to work for the feds.
At the end of the first season, Ray Luca and his addlebrained sidekick, Paulie Taglia, escape to the desert where they find themselves in the middle of nuclear testing. Because they survive, the federal government gives them immunity from prosecution and increases the difficulty of Torello’s job.
The medical information learned from their survival is simply invaluable during the Cold War and immunity from prosecution is the government’s compensation.
Crime Story was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It starred Dennis Farina as Mike Torello. In a perfect example of art imitating life, Adamson and Farina worked for the Chicago Police Department before their show business careers. John Santucci played Paulie Taglia. Santucci was a thief in Chicago in his previous career. Adamson and Farina knew Santucci from their Chicago days. They arrested him!
Anthony Denison played Ray Luca. He went to the other side of law enforcement during a brief stint on Wiseguy when he replaced Ken Wahl. Denison played a former FBI agent drawn back into the fight against crime.
A reading of the list of guest stars on Crime Story is impressive.
Kevin Spacey. David Caruso. Julia Roberts. Ving Rhames. Gary Sinise. David Hyde-Pierce. Billy Zane. Laura San Giacomo. Dennis Haysbert.
Regular and recurring actors on Crime Story will also be familiar.
Before he was Corky’s dad on Life Goes On, Bill Smitrovich was Detective Danny Krycheck.
Before he was a single dad looking for a chance at true love on Once and Again, Billy Campbell was Detective Joey Indelli.
And before he sold out sports arenas, comedian Andrew Dice Clay was Max Goldman, a savvy partner of Ray Luca.
Del Shannon’s Runaway was the show’s theme song. It set the tone perfectly for the series. An upbeat tune balanced by somber words.
Crime Story paid great attention to style, setting, and detail. It captured the viewer. In Chicago, Torello and his squad often regrouped at a bar called the Orbit Room, a nod to the fascination inspired by the Space Age of the 1960’s.
In one episode, Torello and the guys talk about the Chicago Bears. He says that Ditka is the best player on the team. It was essentially a wink to the viewer. Mike Ditka played for the Bears in the 1960’s and coached the team during the mid-1980’s, the period of the show’s broadcast history.
Cars with fins. Suits with thin ties. Men with hats. All details of another era. But Crime Story recaptured them in an old-fashioned good guy vs. bad guy story line.
Crime Story ended with a cliffhanger. The principal characters airborne in a pilotless plane. Maybe one day, a tv-movie will tie up loose ends. And we will find out the ultimate destiny of Torello and Luca. Until then, you can create your own Crime Story ending.
Get Smart
June 04, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
For those who missed it by "that much," the 2008 film Get Smart comes to cable television this summer.
Perfect casting -- Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, and Alan Arkin as the Chief.
The roots of Get Smart date back four decades when it parodied the spy genre in 1960's television. The show countered more serious offerings -- The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Saint.
Created by comedy giants Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart gave America a humorous view of the espionage world.
Don Adams masters the role of Maxwell Smart, a well-meaning, sometimes befuddled, and gadget-dependent spy for C.O.N.T.R.O.L.
Sexy sidekick Barbara Feldon plays Agent 99, always ready to steer Max back on track after a mishap.
Feldon plays a send-up of her spy actress position in the Mad About You episode The Spy Who Loved Me. Feldon's Diane Caldwell is a somewhat airy actress whose high career point was Spy Girl, a 1960's television series.
Once the object of boyhood fantasies for cousins Ira and Paul, she becomes the reality for adult Ira. But one night of fantasy realized with a bubble-headed actress does not go further as Caldwell dispassionately dismisses any thought of a future with Ira.
Edward Platt plays the Chief on Get Smart. The boss of Max and 99 never loses faith in his espionage duo.
Dick Gautier plays Hymie the Robot.
David Ketchum plays Agent 13.
And Bernie Kopell plays Siegfried, a nemesis of Max and Agent 99 from rival agency K.A.O.S.
Get Smart begins each episode with an ominous sounding brass theme and Max pulling up to C.O.N.T.R.O.L. Headquarters in a sports car. Max must go through an elaborate set of doors to get to his ultimate destination, presumably a meeting with the Chief.
Probably the most recognizable props of Get Smart are Max's shoe phone and the constantly malfunctioning Cone of Silence.
Get Smart inspired the 1980 farce The Nude Bomb, a film that sums up the plot in its title. The bomb at the heart of the film has the capability to remove people's clothing.
In 1989, Adams and Feldon returned to their signature roles in Get Smart Again, a tv-movie. Just a few years later in 1995, Get Smart returned as a television series for a post-Cold War incarnation. Andy Dick plays the son of the now long-married spy couple. Max and 99 also have daughter. Like her mother, she does not have a name.
Get Smart holds a tremendous distinction in the annals of television. Its versions have appeared on four major networks.
The original 1960's series first aired on NBC and then switched to CBS. Get Smart Again aired on ABC and the 1995 version of Get Smart aired on FOX.
Echoes of The Brady Bunch.
The original Brady Bunch show aired on ABC as did The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
The Brady Brides, an early 1980's sitcom aired on NBC as did its progenitor the tv-movie The Brady Girls Get Married.
The 1988 tv-movie A Very Brady Christmas aired on CBS. And the more somber drama series The Bradys followed suit a couple of years later.
The 2002 tv-movie The Brady Bunch in the White House aired on FOX.
But these nostalgic icons are not the only shows to achieve the feat of four incarnations on four television networks.
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet aired in the 1950's on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Dumont.
david@davidkrell.com
For those who missed it by "that much," the 2008 film Get Smart comes to cable television this summer.
Perfect casting -- Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, and Alan Arkin as the Chief.
The roots of Get Smart date back four decades when it parodied the spy genre in 1960's television. The show countered more serious offerings -- The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Saint.
Created by comedy giants Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart gave America a humorous view of the espionage world.
Don Adams masters the role of Maxwell Smart, a well-meaning, sometimes befuddled, and gadget-dependent spy for C.O.N.T.R.O.L.
Sexy sidekick Barbara Feldon plays Agent 99, always ready to steer Max back on track after a mishap.
Feldon plays a send-up of her spy actress position in the Mad About You episode The Spy Who Loved Me. Feldon's Diane Caldwell is a somewhat airy actress whose high career point was Spy Girl, a 1960's television series.
Once the object of boyhood fantasies for cousins Ira and Paul, she becomes the reality for adult Ira. But one night of fantasy realized with a bubble-headed actress does not go further as Caldwell dispassionately dismisses any thought of a future with Ira.
Edward Platt plays the Chief on Get Smart. The boss of Max and 99 never loses faith in his espionage duo.
Dick Gautier plays Hymie the Robot.
David Ketchum plays Agent 13.
And Bernie Kopell plays Siegfried, a nemesis of Max and Agent 99 from rival agency K.A.O.S.
Get Smart begins each episode with an ominous sounding brass theme and Max pulling up to C.O.N.T.R.O.L. Headquarters in a sports car. Max must go through an elaborate set of doors to get to his ultimate destination, presumably a meeting with the Chief.
Probably the most recognizable props of Get Smart are Max's shoe phone and the constantly malfunctioning Cone of Silence.
Get Smart inspired the 1980 farce The Nude Bomb, a film that sums up the plot in its title. The bomb at the heart of the film has the capability to remove people's clothing.
In 1989, Adams and Feldon returned to their signature roles in Get Smart Again, a tv-movie. Just a few years later in 1995, Get Smart returned as a television series for a post-Cold War incarnation. Andy Dick plays the son of the now long-married spy couple. Max and 99 also have daughter. Like her mother, she does not have a name.
Get Smart holds a tremendous distinction in the annals of television. Its versions have appeared on four major networks.
The original 1960's series first aired on NBC and then switched to CBS. Get Smart Again aired on ABC and the 1995 version of Get Smart aired on FOX.
Echoes of The Brady Bunch.
The original Brady Bunch show aired on ABC as did The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
The Brady Brides, an early 1980's sitcom aired on NBC as did its progenitor the tv-movie The Brady Girls Get Married.
The 1988 tv-movie A Very Brady Christmas aired on CBS. And the more somber drama series The Bradys followed suit a couple of years later.
The 2002 tv-movie The Brady Bunch in the White House aired on FOX.
But these nostalgic icons are not the only shows to achieve the feat of four incarnations on four television networks.
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet aired in the 1950's on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Dumont.
Sixties Spy Cartoons
April 08, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
James Bond ventured onto the silver screen in Dr. No in 1962, during the height of the Cold War.
Sean Connery’s portrayal of the British agent gave audiences an escape from the era’s harsh realities.
The Bond franchise also inspired other entries in the spy genre.
James Coburn portrayed Derek Flint in two films, Our Man Flint and In Like Flint.
Dean Martin starred in the Matt Helm film series.
And television producers followed suit with espionage stories in the areas of:
Comedy with Get Smart.
Historical settings with The Wild, Wild West.
And international intrigue with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and I Spy.
Often overlooked, undervalued, and understudied, however, is animation’s contribution to the 60s spy trend.
Hanna Barbera’s The Flintstones borrowed elements from James Bond in the episode Dr. Sinister.
Fred and Barney encounter the evil Madame Yes and escape using the judo-chop-chop-chop move they learned from their tv spy hero, Jay Bondrock.
In 1966, a full-length feature entitled The Man Called Flintstone used a spy story as its focus.
Rock Slag, Super Secret Agent, recuperates in a hospital when Rock’s boss notices Fred is a lookalike and recruits him for a mission.
The Flintstones and Rubbles soon leave for Eurock, where Fred must stop the evil Green Goose from taking over the world with a secret weapon – the anti-missile missile, which is concealed in an amusement park ride.
The parallels to Bond films are evident.
First, the movie poster depicted a scene similar to the Thunderball movie poster from 1965 that featured Sean Connery in a personal jet pack.
Second, Agent Tanya, a sultry, sexy, and dangerous vixen, provides the sex appeal familiar to Bond fans.
Third, the title itself evokes Our Man Flint, itself a takeoff on the spy genre.
Other animation spies include the title character in Tom of T.H.U.M.B., produced by Rankin Bass.
Tom was a secret agent for T.H.U.M.B., the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau.
T.H.U.M.B., was created when Tom and his faithful assistant, Swingin Jack, inadvertenly shrunk because of a shrinking ray at US Intelligence.
Every hero needs a villain and every good spy organization needs a rival.
U.N.C.L.E. had T.H.R.U.S.H. on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
C.O.N.T.R.O.L. had K.A.O.S. on Get Smart
And T.H.U.M.B. had M.A.D. – Maladjusted, Anti-Social and Darn Mean. In the episode, For the last time fellers, I’m not bait, Tom described M.A.D. as an organization bent on destroying the world for their own gains.
Batman creator Bob Kane and partner Al Brodax contributed Cool McCool to the 60s spy cartoon genre.
The show’s opening directly referenced James Bond’s Double-Oh-Seven label by spelling out Cool’s name - C double-oh L.
Cool McCool sounded a bit like Jack Benny and reported to an unseen supervisor, Number One.
Also noteworthy for their contribution are two squirrels.
Hanna Barbera gave us Secret Squirrel.
He enjoyed state-of-the-art gadgetry and the wisdom of his sidekick, Morocco Mole.
Rocky the Squirrel and his Moose pal Bullwinkle actually debuted in 1959, but the 1960s Cold War atmosphere, spy craze, and humor really boosted the characters’ popularity.
Rocky and Bullwinkle faced off against the despicable duo of Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, also known as Natasha Nogoodnik.
In the Cold War, even the Russians weren’t safe from parody!
david@davidkrell.com
James Bond ventured onto the silver screen in Dr. No in 1962, during the height of the Cold War.
Sean Connery’s portrayal of the British agent gave audiences an escape from the era’s harsh realities.
The Bond franchise also inspired other entries in the spy genre.
James Coburn portrayed Derek Flint in two films, Our Man Flint and In Like Flint.
Dean Martin starred in the Matt Helm film series.
And television producers followed suit with espionage stories in the areas of:
Comedy with Get Smart.
Historical settings with The Wild, Wild West.
And international intrigue with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and I Spy.
Often overlooked, undervalued, and understudied, however, is animation’s contribution to the 60s spy trend.
Hanna Barbera’s The Flintstones borrowed elements from James Bond in the episode Dr. Sinister.
Fred and Barney encounter the evil Madame Yes and escape using the judo-chop-chop-chop move they learned from their tv spy hero, Jay Bondrock.
In 1966, a full-length feature entitled The Man Called Flintstone used a spy story as its focus.
Rock Slag, Super Secret Agent, recuperates in a hospital when Rock’s boss notices Fred is a lookalike and recruits him for a mission.
The Flintstones and Rubbles soon leave for Eurock, where Fred must stop the evil Green Goose from taking over the world with a secret weapon – the anti-missile missile, which is concealed in an amusement park ride.
The parallels to Bond films are evident.
First, the movie poster depicted a scene similar to the Thunderball movie poster from 1965 that featured Sean Connery in a personal jet pack.
Second, Agent Tanya, a sultry, sexy, and dangerous vixen, provides the sex appeal familiar to Bond fans.
Third, the title itself evokes Our Man Flint, itself a takeoff on the spy genre.
Other animation spies include the title character in Tom of T.H.U.M.B., produced by Rankin Bass.
Tom was a secret agent for T.H.U.M.B., the Tiny Human Underground Military Bureau.
T.H.U.M.B., was created when Tom and his faithful assistant, Swingin Jack, inadvertenly shrunk because of a shrinking ray at US Intelligence.
Every hero needs a villain and every good spy organization needs a rival.
U.N.C.L.E. had T.H.R.U.S.H. on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
C.O.N.T.R.O.L. had K.A.O.S. on Get Smart
And T.H.U.M.B. had M.A.D. – Maladjusted, Anti-Social and Darn Mean. In the episode, For the last time fellers, I’m not bait, Tom described M.A.D. as an organization bent on destroying the world for their own gains.
Batman creator Bob Kane and partner Al Brodax contributed Cool McCool to the 60s spy cartoon genre.
The show’s opening directly referenced James Bond’s Double-Oh-Seven label by spelling out Cool’s name - C double-oh L.
Cool McCool sounded a bit like Jack Benny and reported to an unseen supervisor, Number One.
Also noteworthy for their contribution are two squirrels.
Hanna Barbera gave us Secret Squirrel.
He enjoyed state-of-the-art gadgetry and the wisdom of his sidekick, Morocco Mole.
Rocky the Squirrel and his Moose pal Bullwinkle actually debuted in 1959, but the 1960s Cold War atmosphere, spy craze, and humor really boosted the characters’ popularity.
Rocky and Bullwinkle faced off against the despicable duo of Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, also known as Natasha Nogoodnik.
In the Cold War, even the Russians weren’t safe from parody!