A couple of young punks take pleasure in beating and robbing older folks in New York City...and Sergeant Madigan (Richard Widmark) knows it's the Lakka brothers. Unfortunately, the pair have so terrorized these people that they are afraid to testify against Joe and Tommy Lakka. To make it worse, Madigan's got a new long-haired partner (Ronny Cox) who thinks that Madigan and his methods are old fashioned and injecting more heart and love into the job will make the streets a better place. Can they manage to stop these punks as well as sort out a good working relationship?
It's rather interesting that this first episode of "Madigan" portrays the title character as an ultra-old fashioned gun-wielding guy...sort of like a more conservative version of John Wayne! In real life, Richard Widmark was quite the opposite...against guns and certainly nothing like his Madigan character.
So is episode one of this tough-guy cop show any good? I did like the original movie (made back in 1968)...and is this worth seeing? Well, it is enjoyable...but Madigan's methods really do boil down to police harassment. And, the message seems to be 'you need to bust some heads to uphold the law'. This would have fit in to a film noir movie of the 1940s, but seems oddly out of place in 1972. Still, if you can ignore this (as well as the Bill of Rights), the show is entertaining.