Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Carroll O'Connor | ... | Frank Nolan | |
Lois Nettleton | ... | Claire Willis | |
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Larry Atlas | ... | Capt. Larry Jacobs |
Samuel E. Wright | ... | Capt. Michael Shore | |
Jimmy Baio | ... | Tony Covello | |
Marcia Cross | ... | Victoria Willis | |
Begonya Plaza | ... | Rosa Garcia (as Begonia Plaza) | |
Vincent Gardenia | ... | Chief Mike Maldonato | |
Anita Gillette | ... | Sister Mary Elizabeth | |
Robert Brown | ... | Chief Shannon | |
Richard Bright | ... | Philip Stack | |
Wayne Tippit | ... | Police Commissioner Haines | |
Paul Shenar | ... | Schuyler Ross | |
Gary Howard Klar | ... | Leland Brice | |
Al Mancini | ... | Gianni Farro |
The Chief of Detectives of the New York City Police Department, is a tough cop who has worked his way up the ladder from being on a beat. When a boyhood buddy and fellow officer finds himself facing dismissal, the Chief finds himself at odds with his fellow officers. Meanwhile he is also working two cases involving the murder of senior citizens and a series of homicides occurring after kidnappings. Written by John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>
In between his successes with All In The Family and In The Heat Of The Night, Carroll O'Connor did this pilot film for another series Brass. In this he plays the NYPD's Chief of Detectives or in police jargon the Chief of Ds.
There are two parallel stories in this pilot, one concerns the killing of several people in a parking lot, similar to the CBS killings. The one ultimately responsible thinks he's too big to touch and he's got a lot of juice.
The second one is more interesting. Some senior citizens are being shot with a low calibre 22 pistol, the best not to give out too much noise allowing for the perpetrator to escape. The detectives assigned fell down on the job and my favorite scene in the film was O'Connor dismissing them. He takes over personal investigation of the case, a lot like the way Rock Hudson did in McMillan&Wife.
Brass had a lot of promise, but I've seen other promising pilots get rejected also. It really is a crapshoot as to what gets picked up and what doesn't I've felt for years.
But on the other hand if this had been successful we might never have seen Carroll O'Connor defending law and order in Sparta, Mississippi.