"A Cry for Justice" was a two-part "Police Story" that sat on the shelf for two years before it was finally shown on TV as a movie of the week. Why? Normally, when a show or movie sits on the shelf that long it means it's a stinker. However, in this case I think it's more likely due to two factors. While "Police Story" was a great police show, it reached a point of oversaturation. Additionally, NBC also kept moving the time slots for the show...which further increased the audience's apathy. It's sad, as "A Cry for Justice" is a very good installment of the series...and it's a shame it aired after the series was running on fumes two years later.
When the story begins, two bank robbers are sitting in a car across from a bank. A cop stops them...not because they were about to commit a robbery but because they were drinking alcohol in the car. The ticket or arrest for drinking and driving would have been minimal. Instead, the pair chose to ambush this cop...blasting him with a shotgun at point blank range!*
Amazingly, this cop manages to survive but he's a mess psychologically...which is no surprise. When two cops investigating the case have a hypnotherapist interview the victim, the hypnotherapist is angry. Why? Because he could tell the cop was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and hypnotizing the guy would do no good. Instead, Sgt. Price (Robert Culp) pushes the impaired cop to make an i.d. On the perpetrators. And, in his condition, it's not surprising he picked two guys in the lineup and said they were the ones who shot him. His partner, Sgt. Bentley (Dennis Weaver) isn't sure at all but eventually backs off and the two men are convicted and sent to prison.
A couple years pass. The real perpetrators are caught robbing a bank and their partner (played by Freddy Kruger, Robert Englund) tells cops that his two accomplices bragged about having "cut a cop in half" and Bentley is now worried that they blew the case and prosecuted two innocent men. As for his partner, Price does what he can to prevent the case from being reopened...and Bentley continues and uncovers more evidence. But no one seems to care...not his supervisors, not the judge...only Bentley. And so, despite being told to close the case, he's pressing ahead.
This is a very good episode that brings up many good points. It also makes the police, judge and prosecutors look pretty bad...which is good if you want a show that doesn't just make the police look like angels. In other words, if you like realism, this is a really good show. Sad it wasn't seen for so long.
*I know network standards at the time did NOT want programs to show any blood. But the notion of a cop being shot from five feet away and absolutely no blood is on the victim nor on the ground where he fell is just ridiculous. The show probably couldn't help this but it just made a horrible crime look amazingly sanitized.
When the story begins, two bank robbers are sitting in a car across from a bank. A cop stops them...not because they were about to commit a robbery but because they were drinking alcohol in the car. The ticket or arrest for drinking and driving would have been minimal. Instead, the pair chose to ambush this cop...blasting him with a shotgun at point blank range!*
Amazingly, this cop manages to survive but he's a mess psychologically...which is no surprise. When two cops investigating the case have a hypnotherapist interview the victim, the hypnotherapist is angry. Why? Because he could tell the cop was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and hypnotizing the guy would do no good. Instead, Sgt. Price (Robert Culp) pushes the impaired cop to make an i.d. On the perpetrators. And, in his condition, it's not surprising he picked two guys in the lineup and said they were the ones who shot him. His partner, Sgt. Bentley (Dennis Weaver) isn't sure at all but eventually backs off and the two men are convicted and sent to prison.
A couple years pass. The real perpetrators are caught robbing a bank and their partner (played by Freddy Kruger, Robert Englund) tells cops that his two accomplices bragged about having "cut a cop in half" and Bentley is now worried that they blew the case and prosecuted two innocent men. As for his partner, Price does what he can to prevent the case from being reopened...and Bentley continues and uncovers more evidence. But no one seems to care...not his supervisors, not the judge...only Bentley. And so, despite being told to close the case, he's pressing ahead.
This is a very good episode that brings up many good points. It also makes the police, judge and prosecutors look pretty bad...which is good if you want a show that doesn't just make the police look like angels. In other words, if you like realism, this is a really good show. Sad it wasn't seen for so long.
*I know network standards at the time did NOT want programs to show any blood. But the notion of a cop being shot from five feet away and absolutely no blood is on the victim nor on the ground where he fell is just ridiculous. The show probably couldn't help this but it just made a horrible crime look amazingly sanitized.
