"Homicide: Life on the Street"
The Heart of a Saturday Night (1996)

Director:

Whit Stillman

Writers:

Paul Attanasio (creator)
Henry Bromell (writer)

TV Series:

"Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993)

Original Air Date:

15 November 1996 (Season 5, Episode 7)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Loss Of Husband | Dead Woman In Morgue | Nonlinear Timeline | Dead Woman On Ground | Loss Of Daughter

Cast

Richard Belzer	...	Det. John Munch
Andre Braugher	...	Det. Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond	...	Det. Mike Kellerman
Michelle Forbes	...	Dr. Julianna Cox
Clark Johnson	...	Det. Meldrick Lewis
Yaphet Kotto	...	Lt. Al Giardello
Melissa Leo	...	Det. Sgt. Kay Howard
Kyle Secor	...	Det. Tim Bayliss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rosanna Arquette	...	Caroline Widmer
Chris Eigeman	...	Jude Silvio
Polly Holliday	...	Mrs. Rath (as Polly Holiday)
Sekou Laidlow	...	Tom Scritz
Nancy Morgan	...	Ms. Swirn
Tom Quinn	...	Tom Rath
Jim Scopelitis	...	Dr. Siegel (as Jim Scopeletis)
Tony Tsendeas	...	Gary Swirn
Robert Wagonhurst	...	William Webster
Jeffrey C. Westby	...	Officer Schenker
David Lamont Wilson	...	Edgar Gatlin

Soundtrack:

Not Ready Yet

Notice the differences

Another episode of this most excellent series is played in a sort of staggered time set where the incidents of the crimes--all murders--are played around a victim's therapy meeting. The people gathered:a grieving widower(Chris Eigeman),who not only lost my wife but his toddler daughter in a carjacking,a pretty widow(Rosanna Arquete),whose crumbling marriage was typified by her husband's demise at a bar and an elderly couple(Polly Holiday and Tom Rath),whose wayward daughter is killed on her birthday,all recount their experiences to a faceless therapist,voicing their anger,sadness and general discomfits,which all happened on the same Saturday night as it were.

The differences in question lie predominantly in the fact that this show is filmed in two different(actually,on second thought,it was three)lights:the normalized light of the squad room where the detectives track each aforementioned case,the surreal colors of each testimonial's memories,and the grim,grainy light of the therapists room. Solid guest turns by actors playing the victims,added with the usual performances by the detectives on duty--Gee in particular,tackling the bar single-handedly,make this show a quiet gem.