Cagney & Lacey (1981) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

Barbara Avedon (teleplay)
Barbara Corday (story)

Release Date:

8 October 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Cagney and Lacey are two female New York policewomen doing their job as best they can in a male-dominated police department...

Plot Keywords:

Female Detective | Character Name In Title

Cast

Loretta Swit	...	Det. Christine Cagney
Tyne Daly	...	Det. Mary Beth Lacey
Al Waxman	...	Lt. Bert Samuels
Joan Copeland	...	Mrs. Friedlander
Ronald Hunter	...	Harvey Lacey
Yvette Hawkins	...	Female
Carl Lumbly	...	Det. Mark Petrie
Gerard Parkes	...	Capt. Wells
Ben Hammer	...	Schirmer
Harvey Atkin	...	Desk Sergeant
Anna Berger	...	Mrs. Goldman
Patrick Brymer	...	Macho John
Neil Dainard	...	Taylor
Lili Francks	...	Honey
Richard Yearwood	...	Randy

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Filmways Television

Trivia:

The script for the movie was written in the mid-1970's. It took many years for the script to be produced because the networks felt that there was no audience for a realistic show about policewomen. When the TV movie aired, it was a ratings smash and inspired a successful series of the same name.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Model Behavior (#3.11)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Ain't That The Way

Best Friends, Partners and Actresses!

Cagney and Lacey was the drama series of two female cops, Mary Beth Lacey, married with three children to Carl, and Christine Cagney, the single or divorced partner. They were played to the hilt by perennial Emmy Winners, Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless. You just couldn't imagine one without the other. It was the Laverne and Shirley in the New York City Police Department. Of course, the show was much better written than most police dramas today. Neither Cagney or Lacey were attractive in the conventional terms but Cagney had a blonde hair. These were mature women playing mature women. There was never anything unusual about their relationship. After all they were working in a man's field, networks wouldn't raise questions if it was two men instead of two women. I can't recall when Gless or Daly dissed one another personally or professionally. They were magic on screen with their dynamic personalities. The New York City Police Department hired two women who were smart and pleased to be police officers doing their job and nobody male or female did it as well or better than Cagney and Lacey in the toughest neighborhoods in the city. Cagney and Lacey was brought back by popular demand for a reason.