Don Billett Movies

Adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from Peter Maas's book, Sidney Lumet's drama portrays the real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system. Neophyte officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is determined not to let his job get in the way of his individuality. Despite his colleagues' leery reactions, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the counterculture, sporting a beard and love beads and living in bohemian Greenwich Village, while he performs his police duties with dispatch. Serpico's peers genuinely ostracize him, however, when he refuses to take bribes like everybody else. Appalled by the extent of police corruption, Serpico goes to his superiors, but when he discovers that they have ignored his charges, he takes the potentially fatal step of breaking the blue wall of silence and going public with his exposé. Serpico's revelations trigger an independent investigation by the Knapp Commission, but they also make him a marked man, permanently changing his life. Shot on location with a gritty emphasis on documentary-style realism, Serpico presents a city in decay both literally and morally, as everybody is in on the take, and the cops and criminals are almost interchangeable. Released in late 1973, after months of revelations of Presidential malfeasance in the breaking Watergate scandal, Serpico's true story of bureaucratic depravity touched a cultural nerve, and the film became a hit with both critics and audiences, particularly for Pacino's complex performance as the honest, long-haired whistleblower. One year after his star-making triumph in The Godfather, Pacino was nominated for an Oscar again, and lost again; Lumet and Pacino would reunite two years later for another true New York story, Dog Day Afternoon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Once again, Jim Rockford (James Garner) finds himself neck-deep in trouble when he develops car trouble in a small town. The town in question is Pastoria, where thanks to a series of "misunderstandings" Jim is accused of several crimes, including grand theft auto, narcotics smuggling, statutory rape, and worst of all, posing as an insurance agent! Protesting his innocence on all but the last charge, Jim refuses to cop a plea and demands his day in court. Unfortunately, the entire economy of Pastoria is based upon collecting huge fees from strangers charged with phony crimes--and the powers-that-be aren't about to let Jim mess up a good thing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Robert Redford's directorial debut ended up the 1980 Oscar winner for Best Picture. It is a simple but painfully emotional story of the disintegration of a "perfect" family. Teenager Conrad (Timothy Hutton) lives under a cloud of guilt after his brother drowns after their boat capsizes in Lake Michigan. Despite intensive therapy sessions with his psychiatrist (Judd Hirsch), Conrad can't shake the belief that he should have died instead of his brother; nor do his preoccupied parents (Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore) offer much in the way of solace. The boy is brought out of his doldrums through his romance with Jeannine (Elizabeth McGovern). A winner in every respect, Ordinary People (adapted from the novel by Judith Guest) scores highest in the scenes with Mary Tyler Moore, who superbly and perceptively portrays a blinkered, ever-smiling suburban wife and mother for whom outward appearance is all that matters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Teenager Fran (Kari Michaelsen) loves her mother (Marion Ross), but is somewhat ashamed that her family is nearly broke, forcing her mom to accept a summer job as a cook for the wealthy Fairchild family. Making things worse as far as Fran is concerned, she will now have to come in contact with young Andrea Fairchild (played by 20-year-old Jennifer Jason Leigh), who has the reputation of being an insufferable snob. It turns out, however, that Fran and Andrea have a great deal in common: Both are on the outs with their parents, if not for precisely the same reasons. This ABC Afterschool Special has been released to video under the title Just Like Us, which is also the name of the novel by Sheila Hayes upon which it is based. ~ Rovi

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, Rovi

A bail bondsman is murdered, and the detectives subsequently haul in a likely perpetrator. Then, an offhand comment made by the suspect leads to irrefutable evidence that a disreputable attorney has been fixing cases for a price. Even more disturbing is the possibility that the attorney's accomplice is a "mole" working within the New York City legal system -- and maybe in the offices of the DA himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charissa Chamorro guest stars as defense attorney Kay Hartley, the former classmate and bitter rival of ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm). Hartley is defending the schizophrenic suspect in a particularly callous hit-and-run killing. Relishing the opportunity to settle old scores with Hartley, Southerlyn veers dangerously close to overplaying her hand in court. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi