Sunday, July 19, 2009

Before Michael Mann's Public Enemies, There Was Crime Story

On September 18th, 1986 following Miami Vice, a 2 hour pilot would introduce Del Shannon, Dennis Farina, and the coolness of 1963 to an eleven year old kid.


Season One Intro (Chicago)


Season Two Intro (Vegas)

Before Mad Men, Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) was kickin' ass and takin' names while Ray Luca (Anthony Dennison) was just plain kickin' ass. Produced by Michael Mann after his success with Miami Vice, Crime Story first took place in the streets of Chicago, later moving to Las Vegas, both highly stylized and were as much characters of the show as the rest of the cast.


Chicago Department Store Robbery (wait for the background music)

Guest appearances included David Caruso, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Deborah Harry, Gary Sinise, Ving Rhames, Christian Slater, Stanley Tucci, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Madsen & Andrew Dice Clay. The character of Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) was based on Chicago mobster Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, who also inspired Joe Pesci's character of Nicky Santoro in "Casino". In addition, Andrew "Dice" Clay's character, Max Goldman and Robert DeNiro's character of Sam "Ace" Rothstien in "Casino" are both based on Spilotro's partner, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal.


Opening scene season One

Unfortunately the show was bounced between time slots on Friday and Tuesday evenings, unable to find a steady audience and was cancelled after only 2 seasons.

On a side note, Del Shannon's Runaway is on rotation on the ipod.