Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Vigil of Fear (1981) User Reviews

"Vietnam couldn't kill him but his neighbourhood did." More classic Quincy.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 18 May 2007]

Quincy M.E.: Vigil of Fear starts as two vigilantes Frank (Len Bari) & his younger brother Tony Penner (Peter Virgo Jr.) stumble across an armed robbery at a liqueur store where an innocent bystander has been shot dead, Frank & Tony purse the killer (Paul Koslo) into a pitch black alley where in a gunfight Tony shoots him dead. Quincy (Jack Klugman) is called in to autopsy the body & discovers that Tony shot an innocent man, Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) wants Tony put away while there is still an armed killer on the loose as the relationship between the vigilantes & the police deteriorate even further...

Episode 18 from season 6 this Quincy story was directed by Bob Bender & is one of those times where Quincy & his crime solving ways take a back seat to a moral message. The script has the basic message that vigilante groups that operate outside the law are bad & cause more problems then they solve although vigilante groups who work with the police get instant results & are a very good thing. To be honest Quincy is secondary in this episode & while the basic plot is pretty solid it's nothing more than a platform to raise the whole vigilante issue, having said that Quincy still gets to do a bit of detective work at the start as he figures out what really happened in the pitch black alley way. It depends on your opinion of these more morally driven stories how much you will enjoy Vigil of Fear, in my opinion it's still a watchable episode & at least they managed to work at least one impassioned speech into Quincy's dialogue!

Vigil of Fear hasn't dated that well, I mean if you went up to some punk these days & asked them to move on they'd probably pull & gun or knife on you & blow you away, I also think the sight of six middle aged men wouldn't really send shivers down the spines of hardened criminals these days either. The acting isn't the best here, I mean when Frank & his mates get back from his younger brother's funeral they all start drinking beer & having a laugh like they were at a party as opposed to having had just buried someone!

Vigil of Fear maybe hasn't dated as well as some Quincy stories but it's still good fun with a serious message!

It's hard to take this one very seriously...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 19 May 2013]

The idea behind "Vigil of Fear" is great. Too bad the writing isn't very good, as there is MORE macho posturing in this episode than a hundred John Wayne films!

The show begins with a neighborhood watch group getting themselves into trouble. Instead of helping the police, these hot-heads are out to kick butt and clean up the streets by themselves. One guy in particular, Frank, is a serious idiot--and aching to kill a criminal! When a nearby liquor store is robbed and a customer is murdered, Frank rushes into an alley--and ends up shooting an innocent man. Later, Frank demonstrates he has the intelligence of a sack of door knobs, as he gives chase to a killer--and gets himself shot in the process. Now as for Frank's brother, he's level-headed--until the end, when he behaves like Frank--and goes off on a personal rampage.

The show is silly. Just plain silly. With so many of these vigilantes acting stupidly, they all end up being one-dimensional. I think this is a sloppy way for the writer to make their point that crimes should be handled by the cops--but it is done is such a ham-fisted way that it might also make you laugh. With some BELIEVABLE neighborhood watch members, this one would have worked. Instead, it's cartoony, preachy and a bad way to end season six.

Decent premise, poor execution

[rayoflite24 · 5/10 · 29 November 2015]

Vigil of Fear begins with an aggressive community watch group patrolling their crime ridden neighborhood. Later that evening when they happen upon an armed robbery at a store, they chase the shooter into a dark alley and exchange gunfire killing a man. When Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy, he determines that an innocent bystander was killed and this puts the neighborhood watch group at odds with the police who want to shut them down as they are not trained for this type of work.

The premise for this episode was not bad, but the execution is so poor and ridiculous that it nearly becomes laughable. Right from the opening scenes it gets silly in that we see a bunch of supposed criminals standing in the street face to face in a close huddle singing songs to each other until the watch group breaks it up and sends them on their way. Not sure about anyone else, but I had a hard time believing that this is how hardened criminals spend their time, singing happy tunes together out in the open while drawing attention to themselves. Then we have the watch group which consists of a bunch of caricature types reciting some of the most corny dialogue you've ever heard. Throw in the police and their speeches about not taking matters into your own hands and calling the proper authorities when you see something suspicious, and we have one of the worst episodes of Season 6 which I do not recommend.

This was the finale for Season 6 which brought the total episode count for that season to 18. I found that interesting because once again it is not really a "full season" by traditional standards for primetime series of the time as most featured 22 or more episodes. I don't know if that was all NBC ordered at the time or if it was cut back due to Jack Klugman wanting more time off like in Season 3, but this is a recurring trend in the Quincy series which lead to a much lower total episode count in comparison to other shows that also ran for 8 seasons.