Sinise, Gary

Crime Story - Season Two

When the first season of Crime Story ended spectacularly in the Nevada desert, it was anyone's guess what season 2 would do for an encore. With low first-season ratings and conservative watchdogs complaining about its violence, the show received a surprise renewal that necessitated the "miraculous" return of mob-boss Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) and his dimwit sidekick Pauli Taglia (played by former Chicago burglar John Santucci). Moving from 10:00 p.m. Fridays to a new 10:00 p.m. Tuesday-night timeslot on NBC, the Michael Mann-produced series continued its ratings decline, and this lent the series a giddy, go-for-broke quality that held plenty of surprises. The year is 1966, and Chicago Police Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his close-knit Major Crimes Unit continues to track Luca's criminal activities in Las Vegas, where additional complications fueled a number of dynamic, stand-alone episodes, beginning with season opener "The Senator, the Movie Star and the Mob," guest-starring Kevin Spacey (in his first major TV role) and Jenny Wright (Near Dark) in a sordid, mob-connected plot with obvious parallels to Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. This established the neon-lit, casino-and-nightclub milieu of the season, and Luca's reappearance set the season in volatile motion.

The series' daring, pulp-fictional style attracted an impressive array of guests stars and newcomers, some of whom (like 24's Dennis Haysbert) would later appear in Michael Mann's films. Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs) reprises his role as burglar-turned-rocker Frank Holman; Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) and NYPD Blue's James McDaniel are superb in the racial-tension plot of "Seize the Time"; Laura San Giacomo (sex, lies, and videotape) aces her role as Luca's former flame in "Protected Witness"; and Elias Koteas delivers a fine performance in "Roadrunner," an exciting road-thriller episode that showcases Farina's skill with hardboiled comedy. (For the record, other noteworthy guest stars include Pam Grier, David Hyde Pierce, Billy Zane, David Soul, Steven Weber, Michael Jeter, and recurring performances by Andrew Dice Clay and Rolling Stone editor Jann S. Wenner.) "Pauli Taglia's Dream" is an outrageous experiment in all-out delirium, focusing on Santucci's scene-stealing character and providing a wacky lead-up to the season's climactic story arc, which leads Luca and Torello to their ultimate showdown in an unspecified Latin American country full of corruptible drug-trade politicians.

Of course, any innovative series has a few drawbacks: The violent shootouts turn somewhat redundant as the season progresses, and while Torello's gun-toting crew is brought to life by a perfect supporting cast (Bill Smitrovich, Ray Butler, Steve Ryan, and a young Bill Campbell), there was never enough time (or episodes) to properly develop their characters. The turncoat betrayal of lawyer David Abrams (superbly played by Stephen Lang) is never fully convincing (you just know he's not a bad guy), and when Crime Story's cancellation inevitably came to pass, the final-episode cliffhanger of "Going Home" (broadcast May 10, 1988) left frustrated fans with unanswered questions and nowhere else to go. It's especially regrettable, then, that this four-DVD set offers no extras whatsoever. The fact that Farina, Denison, Mann, and series cocreators Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger were not invited to do audio commentaries represents a missed opportunity of epic proportions. We can be grateful, however, that the series' pop-music soundtrack (chosen by the great Al Kooper, credited as "Guy Who Picks Music for the Show") remains intact and unchanged as an essential ingredient to one of the best TV shows of the 1980s. --Jeff Shannon

It was hailed for its realism, condemned for its violence and ended with a climax that shocked millions. Though it lasted only two seasons, fans and critics still consider CRIME STORY to be one of the most uncompromising and influential action dramas in television history. In this stunning final season, obsessed lawman Mike Torello and his street tough strike force pursue mob kingpin Ray Luca from the neon battleground of Las Vegas to the corrupt killing fields of Latin America. Experience the explosive closing chapters of the acclaimed crime epic that New York Newsday calls "A genuine work of art... a masterpiece in a classic genre"

Crime Story - Season One

Conceived as a "22-hour movie for television," the incendiary first season of Crime Story (1986-87, on NBC) marked a controversial milestone in TV history, and its lasting influence can be seen in such better-known series and films as The Sopranos, Homicide: Life on the Street, Donnie Brasco, Casino and elsewhere. The season-long story arc followed Chicago Police detective Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his tireless pursuit of fast-rising mob boss Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) from Chicago to Las Vegas, circa 1963-64. Heading the Major Crimes Unit (MCU) with his hand-picked team of detectives (including fresh-faced Bill Campbell, long before Once and Again) and passionate public defender David Abrams (Stephen Lang), Torello moves from city to federal jurisdiction as Crime Story unfolds its post-Kennedy scenario with stark, often brutal authenticity, pausing for stand-alone episodes that propelled the Torello/Luca rivalry while showcasing such up-and-coming guest stars as David Caruso (in the electrifying pilot), Gary Sinise (who also directed two episodes), Ving Rhames, Lorraine Bracco, and 19-year-old Julia Roberts, who shows early promise as a sexually abused teenager in "The Survivor," a typical example of the show's emphasis on character depth and gritty, hard-hitting plotlines.

Riding high on the success of Miami Vice, executive producer Michael Mann (who helmed the penultimate episode "Top of the World") had several aces up his sleeve: Cocreator Chuck Adamson had been a legendary Chicago detective; Farina was an 18-year veteran of the Chicago Police before he switched to acting; and Luca's dim-witted Mafia sidekick, Pauli Taglia, was played by John Santucci, who had been one of Chicago's most notorious criminals in the 1960s. All of this--along with James A. Contner's color-saturated, mostly nocturnal cinematography--guaranteed that Crime Story would be unique for its time, earning controversy (over its rugged depiction of violent cops) and just enough ratings against ABC's Moonlighting to win a second-season reprieve. Unfortunately, Anchor Bay's budget-conscious DVDs represent a missed opportunity: Crammed onto four discs with five episodes each (with the pilot on a separate disc), the transfers barely rival VHS quality, and costly music rights resulted in song replacements that loyal viewers will regret. Lack of chapter indexing and a perfunctory background essay do little justice to a landmark TV series that deserved a full-featured release on DVD. Those caveats aside, Crime Story can be appreciated as an ambitious American epic that still packs a wallop. --Jeff Shannon

Following the phenomenal success of MIAMI VICE, Executive Producer Michael Mann returned to television with a new kind of gritty crime drama, one that talked tougher and hit harder than anything the small screen had ever seen before. For two explosive seasons, CRIME STORY told the hard-boiled saga of hair-trigger cop Lieutenant Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his obsessive pursuit of ruthless gangster Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) from the mean streets of early '60s Chicago to the neon nights of mob-run Las Vegas. Today, CRIME STORY is considered a true cult classic as well as one of the most startling series in television history. featuring a stellar supporting cast that includes Stephen Lang, Bill Campbell, Ted Levine, Darlanne Fluegel and Joseph Wiseman, and such guest stars as David Caruso, Michael Madsen, Pam Grier, Ving Rhames, Lorraine Bracco, Gary Sinise, Deborah Harry, Vincent Gallo and Julia Roberts.

thirtysomething

Miles from Home

Gary Sinise, who had built a certain following and credibility based on his work with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater (which he cofounded with John Malkovich, among others), nearly used it all up on this ridiculous farm story, starring Richard Gere and Steppenwolf alumnus Kevin Anderson. They play a pair of Midwestern farmers who, thanks to a combination of bad luck, bad weather, and Reaganomics, are about to lose the farm that's been in their family for generations. Rather than give it up to foreclosure, they burn it down in an act of protest, then go on to rob banks and otherwise become hayseed Robin Hoods (even attracting the attention of a Rolling Stone reporter played by Malkovich in one of the film's silliest touches). But Gere overacts and Sinise can't transcend what is essentially a witless and unlikely script by Chris Gerolmo. --Marshall Fine