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I just finished watching the season one DVD set and "Crime Story" is the best 1963-5 period crime drama you will ever see. Filmed and recorded in 1986-7, the cinematography and music (with Todd Rundgren) are of the highest quality. Co-creators Chuck Adamson (a real life Chicago and Las Vegas detective) and Gus Reininger spent a lot of time living and researching the subject matter of organized crime in the Midwest and West. Dennis Farina (also a 20 year Chicago detective) is very convincing as an incorruptable Elliot Ness-like war hero(Mike Torello) with a very dysfunctional personal life. This is the "reverse Sopranos" where the highly strung and violent cop is the one who needs a shrink, but doesn't get one because you didn't do that then. He is basically a good guy, dedicated to fighting crime and injustice, but who is so obsessed with taking down the rising star of the Chicago mob that he loses almost everything in the process. Once The Outfit moves into Las Vegas, things begin to turn around for him but only after seeing some of his people die at the hands of the merciless men he is tracking. The series is based on the same events and characters from the book/movie "Casino" it pre-dated, namely, the ultraviolent Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro (or Ray Luca as played by Tony Denison) and gambling czar Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (or Max Goldman as played by Andrew Dice Clay), and the mob's move into big time Vegas casino action led by an elderly Meyer Lansky (or Manny Weissport). It does not follow the history exactly but close enough so that you get a very good idea of how they operated in Chicago and Las Vegas and how they were brought down. The DVD images and soundtrack are high quality but there are no extra features and it doesn't have any chapter or scene selection capability. For your $50 will get 20 episodes and the pilot of a timeless TV crime epic and you won't be sorry. You will get an excellent written summary detailing the history of the show and its creators and actors. A must have for true crime buffs who want realism or are interested in organized crime/law enforcement and how it works. If you liked Casino and Goodfellas you will love this..... and Michael Madsen, David Caruso, Gary Sinise, Ving Rhames and Julia Roberts all have substantial roles in several of the episodes. There was a second season and we will have to wait for that one. Here's to hoping they roll out some extra features then as it would be interesting to see how much it influenced later crime dramas such as "The Sopranos".
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