Contract on Cherry Street (1977)

When his partner is killed, NYC detective Frank Hovannes and his organized-crime squad go against the mob, despite strong objections from his superiors and the legal-departmental restrictions that hinder him.

Director:

William A. Graham

Writers:

Edward Anhalt (written for television by), Philip Rosenberg (novel) (as Phillip Rosenberg)

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Martin Balsam, Jay Black

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Sinatra	...	Dep. Insp. Frank Hovannes
Martin Balsam	...	Capt. Ernie Weinberg
Jay Black	...	Tommy Sindardos
Verna Bloom	...	Emily Hovannes
Joe De Santis	...	Vincenzo Seruto
Martin Gabel	...	Baruch 'Bob' Waldman
Harry Guardino	...	Ron Polito
James Luisi	...	Al Palmini / Arnold Palmer
Michael Nouri	...	Lou Savage
Marco St. John	...	Eddie Manzaro
Henry Silva	...	Roberto Obregon
Richard Ward	...	Jack Kittens
Addison Powell	...	Bob Halloran
Steve Inwood	...	Fran Marks
Johnny Barnes	...	Otis Washington

Storyline

The partner--and best friend--of a tough New York detective is murdered by killers working for a local mob. Infuriated at the inability of the Police Department to bring in the murderers, he decides--with the help of a few of his fellow detectives--to operate on his own, using whatever means necessary, to destroy the gang.

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Plot Keywords:

1970s | new york city police department | detective | shoot out | criminal justice system | 

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Taglines:

An angry detective devises a scheme to set gangland "families" at each other's throats...putting his own neck on the line, too!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 November 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stakeout on Cherry Street

Filming Locations:

Wall Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artanis Productions Inc., Columbia Pictures Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was made by Sinatra because of his late mother's fondness for the novel, Contract on Cherry Street.

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Connections

Referenced in Laugh-In: Episode #1.3 (1977)

User Reviews

The police try to start a Mafia war

Frank Sinatra clearly did not want Dirty Dingus Magee to be his movie career swan song. Seven years after that was released Sinatra did this made for television film Contract On Cherry Street which was good enough to have been a theatrically released film. Sad that the producers did not have enough faith in it. It's also good in that Sinatra turned in a real acting performance and did not rely on his hipster personality to walk through the part.

The Chairman Of The Board plays an NYPD police inspector who is in charge of an organized crime unit in the department. His problem is that no one really wants him to succeed because the wise guys have way too much juice and there are too many layers of underlings to wade through before the big guys could ever face justice.

Two Mafia families are currently rivals over a stolen car and chop shop racket and after a raid on a chop shop that one of them has, Sinatra's second in command Martin Balsam is killed by Johnny Barnes who is one mean psychotic button man. Sinatra then just blows him away even though Barnes wants to surrender.

No witnesses who would have talked would have blamed Sinatra or squealed on him, but Sinatra decides the only way to eliminate these people is for the cops to do their own hit on one of the Family heads and hope that starts a war. Then Murphy's law takes over and anything that can go wrong does.

Best performance in the film running slightly ahead of Sinatra is that of Harry Guardino who is one of Sinatra's cops and who hates Mafiosa from when he was a kid and saw his father forking over tribute to these people. He gets a real liking for the idea of being his own hit squad. Also Steve Inwood gets a real nice part and makes the most of it as a junkie informant that one of Sinatra's cops Michael Nouri has.

Contract On Cherry Street was filmed entirely in New York City and there are some real nice looks at the Big Apple at the time. I've heard it said that this film plays like an extended episode of Kojak. But I like Kojak.