Roger Serbagi Movies
- 1999
The murder of an audio installation salesman has links to Jeff Stahl (Joe Piscopo) and Tom Wilder (Mark-Linn Baker), the co-owners of a Manhattan strip club. It turns out that both men are paying protection to the arrogant son (Jeremy Davidson) of Mafia boss Joseph Russo (Ralph Lucarelli). A deal to offer testimony in exchange for police protection is struck by A.D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) -- but as it turns out, not all promises are cast in stone, especially when the Government is involved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
A series of threatening e-mails suggests that a young nurse found unconscious after falling down a flight of stairs was the victim of a voyeuristic cyber-stalker. Further investigation reveals that the woman may have faked her own attack as means of drawing police attention to her plight. As a result, the case is dropped -- and a murder occurs soon afterward. In a powerful courtroom finale, detective partners Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) each provide testimony which contradicts the other's words. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A certain high-profile "May/December" marriage is brought to mind in this episode. The murder of an elderly millionaire yields a bumper crop of suspects, including (inevitably) the servants. Once the detectives and the lawyers have sifted through the probables, they focus their attention upon the dead man's sexy young wife (Arija Bareikis) and the family's lawyer. Unfortunately, prosecution of the case is fouled up by an all-too-convenient robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This episode was clearly inspired by the 1993 arrest of Vietnam-era activist Katherine Anne Power. While pursuing a routine robbery investigation, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) follow the trail of clues to 1960s war protester Susan Forrest (Mary-Joan Negro), who has been in hiding ever since participating in a 1971 burglary in which a policeman was killed. As the dead man's widow (Marilyn Chris) presses for full retribution, Forrest enlists the services of none other than "Chicago Seven" defense lawyer William M. Kunstler -- played by Kunstler himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the play by Ivan Menchell, this drama concerns three friends, Doris (Olympia Dukakis), Lucille (Diane Ladd), and Esther (Ellen Burstyn). All three live in the same Jewish community in Pittsburgh, are in their mid-to-late 50s, and have become widows within the past few months. Once a week, they gather to visit their husbands' graves and meet at a deli afterward to talk about their lives. Doris remains fiercely devoted to her late husband and takes her responsibilities as a widow seriously. Lucille is eager to get her feet back in the waters of dating, partly as revenge against her late husband, who often cheated on her, and partly because she's very lonely by herself. Esther is also not used to being alone after 39 years of marriage, but she doesn't feel ready to start dating again, at least not until she meets Ben (Danny Aiello), a former cop turned cab driver who gradually but firmly eases his way into her life. Doris is appalled when she discovers that Esther is dating again and loudly protests that she's being disrespectful to her late husband, while Lucille is more than a bit jealous that Esther snagged a good man before she could. Jerry Orbach and Lee Richardson appear in a brief prologue sequence. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis, (more)
- 1993
Natalya Negoda guest stars as Irina Cooper, a "green card bride" from the former Soviet Union. When Irina's wealthy husband is murdered, the subsequent investigation reveals that she was primed to take a job against his wishes and to enter into an extramarital affair -- whereupon he planned to divorce her just before she was qualified to claim American citizenship. This episode was directed by former Law & Order regular Dann Florek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
A young female doctor is found murdered. While seeking out evidence, the detectives come across the woman's diary. The book paints a sordid picture indeed, suggesting that the woman's death may have been the outgrowth of a romantic triangle involving her fiancé, Danny Garrett (Frederick Weller), and Garrett's domineering psychiatrist, Diane Meade (Lindsay Crouse). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The discovery of a nude woman's body in a Manhattan elevator, six months after a similar discovery in another state, indicates that a serial killer is at large. The police manage to collar the killer, whereupon assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty) endeavors to have the accused stand trial in New York. But his efforts may be thwarted by the parents of the killer's previous victim, who intend to have the man tried in their own state -- where the death penalty is all but mandatory in such cases. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
After a long estrangement, Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) is reunited with his tenement-dwelling godson, 17-year-old Theo Kojak Moore (Todd Davis). But it is hardly a joyous reunion: Young Theo is now in charge of a street gang specializing in shaking down shopowners and pensioners. Even so, Kojak believes it is not too late to redirect the boy to the right path--while at the same time, a high-profile hoodlum intends to use Theo as an accomplice in a diamond heist. Appearing in this episode are stars-to-be F. Murray Abraham and Brian Dennehy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Audiences loved him as a Berber sheik in the historical saga The Wind and the Lion, so who better to play a Saudi Arabian minister of state who wants to make peace with Israel during the Arab oil embargo of 1976 than Sean Connery? Connery plays Khalil Abdull-Muhsen, a peace-mongering diplomat who wants to sign a mutual assistance pact with Israel and sell Saudi oil to needy nations at cost. The object of his pipe-dream plan is to free those needy nations from the East-West conflict. Unfortunately, the world is not ready for such starry-eyed idealism, and before you can say "Tiger in your tank," Khalil finds himself the victim of choice for a network of Arab terrorist groups. The terrorists clearly have the pick of the litter at the casting office, for Khalil finds himself pursued by the frisky and beautiful Bryn Mawr graduate and cool-as-a-cucumber terrorist Nicole Scott (Cornelia Sharpe). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Cornelia Sharpe, (more)
This was the only directorial effort of Philip D'Antoni, producer of the action classic Bullitt (1968). Roy Scheider stars as Buddy Manucci, a New York City Police Department investigator running a task force charged with taking down criminals guilty of offenses that would get them a minimum sentence of seven years in prison upon conviction. Manucci's best street informant is Vito Lucia (Tony Lo Bianco), who double-crosses Manucci by using the lawman's secret list of Mob loan sharks to kidnap the crooks on the list and hold them for ransom. When the scheme results in the death of Ansel (Ken Kercheval), one of Manucci's men, the tough cop and his team, including Barilli (Victor Arnold) and Mingo (Jerry Leon), wage war on the city's underworld. As they bend the law in whatever violent shape they see fit in order to track Lucia down, grisly deaths and a heart-stopping highway car chase along the Hudson River ensue. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Scheider, Victor Arnold, (more)
- 1972
- PG
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Paul Zindel, this is a joint effort of husband and wife team Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. Produced and directed by Newman, Woodward portrays the eccentric young widow who is raising her two disparate daughters in an atmosphere of bitterness, hatred and over-protection that threatens their very growth and development. Embittered and misandristic, she raises her daughters in an atmosphere of hate that leaves them as depressed and neurotic as she is. The title of the movie comes from her anger at her daughter's science teacher for encouraging her to expose marigolds to gamma rays as a science project. Her experiment shows how radiation sometimes kills growing marigolds, but sometimes it causes them to grow even more beautiful. This experiment becomes a metaphor for her own life, as she struggles to bloom in a household deadened by her mother's alcoholism and her sister's lethargy. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Woodward, Nell Potts, (more)
- 1971
Crawlspace is a quirky made-for-TV movie about a strange young drifter (Tom Harper) who arrives in a small New England town. He is sheltered by a generous middle-aged couple (Arthur Kennedy and Teresa Wright), but he insists upon living in a tiny crawlspace in the couple's cellar. His hosts had hoped that the boy would fill an emotional gap in their childless lives, but the young visitor refuses to leave his cramped living area, where he harbors disturbing notions of taking revenge on a world he feels has wronged him. Crawlspace was adapted from the suspense novel by Herbert Lieberman. It should not be confused with a 1986 slasher flick also titled Crawlspace, wherein Klaus Kinski hides in the homes of the beautiful girls he intends to murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
