Murder in Black and White (1990)

A recently appointed black police commissioner is killed. So, Frank Janek is assigned to investigate.

Director:

Robert Iscove

Writer:

Gordon Cotler

Stars:

Richard Crenna, Diahann Carroll, Cliff Gorman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Crenna	...	Frank Janek
Diahann Carroll	...	Margo Stover
Cliff Gorman	...	Aaron Greenberg
Philip Bosco	...	Wycoff
Sam Coppola	...	Dave
Caroline Kava	...	Jean
James McDaniel	...	Fred
Kenneth Welsh	...	Ruggieri
Keith David	...	Martin
Paul Sparer	...	Chief Drake
Richard Russell Ramos	...	Lugash
Joan Copeland	...	Mrs. Finkelstein
Ellen Foley	...	Emma
Wanakee Legardy	...	Nadine
Fred Gwynne	...	Brannigan

Storyline

A recently appointed black police commissioner is killed. So, Frank Janek is assigned to investigate.

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Plot Keywords:

police | sequel | color in title

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asesinato en blanco y negro

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Titus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Arch Johnson's final role.

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Connections

Followed by The Forget-Me-Not Murders (1994)

User Reviews

What links three disparate murders in one night and with one m.o.?

Richard Crenna and his unit solve this mystery in a hyped-up New York City atmosphere, with the by now clichéd background of community interest groups, race relations, cops trying to retire the easy way, and politics.

A new police commissioner is found dead in a Central Park sailboat pool, and it looks as if he went wading in the middle of the night, slipped and hit his head. However, within hours another corpse is found of a doctor. Several days later, yet another female corpse is found. All were killed with a blow to the head.

Crenna leads his unit in investigating the related persons, but leads are slow to turn up, giving him time to romance Diahann Carroll a bit. The crew goes off in some false directions, so as to pad out the movie. In particular, a subplot with the estranged son of the commissioner is introduced and he is given a long speech about his relations with his dad. Even a very good actor would have had trouble selling that scene.

Ms. Carroll is her usual attractive self but with her usual monotone/overly smooth/nasal delivery (soap-operish?) that I find annoying. But then most of the actors had a wee bit of trouble in this movie making their parts seem credible. The exceptions would be Cliff Gorman and Richard Crenna who have the capacity to show some chutzpah and seem real.

The movie can't be called hard-boiled, nor yet does it go deeply into politics. It's more like keep up a rapid pace, even as it digresses. It doesn't make the most of a story that really isn't bad. It's content with a sort of gloss and superficiality such that one cannot take it too seriously. This is a TV-movie (Lifetime), after all. Some rise above their origins and have some panache. This one doesn't. It has blandness. Nothing too exaggerated. Nothing too powerful. I rate it as average, between 5 and 6.