John Finnerty Movies
- 1998
The question of journalistic ethics is brought into play when the wife of a prominent New Yorker is murdered. The victim's husband blames the killing on a gossip columnist working for a widely circulated checkout-stand tabloid. In pursuing the case in tandem, the detectives and the lawyers again find themselves in the position of setting a precedent that may have long-range repercussions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
No sooner has serial rapist Lewis Darnell (Burt Young) been released on parole than a young woman is assaulted and murdered. Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) is determined to connect Darnell with this most recent outrage and to put him behind bars permanently. Unfortunately, McCoy's zeal leads to accusations of undue "strongarm" methods on the part of detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Investigating the murder of a social worker, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) unearth an expansive foster-child scam. At the same time, a young black woman kidnaps her biological son from the child's white foster parents. This episode marks the return of former series regular Richard Brooks as attorney Paul Robinette, this time working against the D.A.'s office rather than with it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
An autistic youth dies while in custody, leading Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) to investigate the clinic where the victim was being treated. The clinic's head, Dr. Alan Colter (Lawrence Pressman), has been known to use radical and possibly illegal therapies on his patients, most of these "treatments" involving electric shock. The D.A. office's efforts to tie Colter together with the victim's death are complicated by the lack of cooperation from the parents of Colter's patients. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Theodore Bikel guest stars as millionaire Sol Bregman, a longtime friend of District Attorney Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). When his son is snatched by kidnappers, Bregman refuses to cooperate with the police. The reasons for Bregman's behavior go far beyond mere concern for his son's well-being. This is one of the few Law & Order episodes in which stalwart series regular Steven Hill is allowed to carry the ball dramatically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
The emphasis is more on law than order as the viewer follows detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) through an extremely eventful 24 hours. Their unusually heavy case load includes five murders -- all unrelated -- and a violent, domestic quarrel, in which the husband gets the worst of it. Evidently, this episode made quite an impression on the series' producers; not only was it referred to in the tenth-season Law & Order episode "Entitled," but its memory was also invoked in a first-season episode of the spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
