lcountz1 Reviews

Columbo (1971–2003)

Made Concurrently with "Law and Order" in the 1990s!

[7/10 · 19 September 2021]

I watch the reruns of Columbo for the show, the sets (vintage 1970s and 1980s cars, clothes, interior decor.....I LIVED thru that time...and I like all shows of this vintage to bring back memories!!!)..

No one has a phone, and no computers on every desk in the early episodes...ALL the electronics are SO dated...LOVE IT!!!

But...I just recently realized that THIS show was still being made in the 1990's after the hit "Law and Order" came on the scene....with it's real life crime solving...

I know they are two different periods of TV interpretations of Police shows, but Columbo is REALLY dated beside the early episodes of L+O, yet it still soldiered on until the 2000's.

I like the show. Will watch in middle of the night if I need something to occupy my insomnia hours. But it IS corny!!!

Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021– )

STOLEN scene from "The Third Man"..HOW????

[5/10 · 2 April 2021]

WOW.....did Dick Wolf et al get permission to virtually lift verbatim the ferris wheel scene from "The Third Man" or is he counting on people not knowing or remembering that famous scene.....right down to the people looking like dots, and the idea that fake PPE was being sold to the US ( like in the Third Man...fake meds...etc....)

I know they have to develop characters for the new show, but the ferris wheel scene was TOO much....some guy they hired just turns it on and no one sees or cares? And there must be tons of other places to meet to kill someone....like the back seat of a car and the Jersey swamps...

But that scene steal, with NO credit given anywhere, was shocking.

We'll see...So far all the other L+O franchises have succeeded, maybe this one will too. The only PC thing they lacked was a trans female black white supreacist....

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Criminal Stories (2014) Season 15, Episode 18

Always Be Closing....tribute to Glengarry Glenn Ross

[10/10 · 13 March 2021]

ANyone else catch the phrase "always be closing" when the two perps enter thier office to meet with the police?

That was the catch phrase that the Alec Baldwin character used in "Glengarry Glen Ross" about the cut throat real estate business...he was the brutal office manager..

Another time they did this with Jeremy SIsto....who starred in the cornball horror film year ago "Wrong Turn" ....he was killed with a arrow to the back. In L+O he observes that a dead person must've taken a "Wrong Turn"...

The BEST use I've seen is an episode with Munch and his old partner from "Crime in the Streets" Andre Braugher, who is in L+O as an attorney now. Munch and him meet in the squad room, and Munch makes some remark like "Great second act".

Clever show. That's why it's all I watch any more. Everything on Tee Vee is junk today.

In Cold Blood (1967)

See something new every time I watch.....

[10/10 · 7 March 2021]

Did anyone else notice that, at the end, the hangman turns into Perry's father for a moment just before he places the hood over Perry's head?

I just saw this yesterday (March 6, 2021 TCM) for the first time.

What a horror show for the poor victims....remember in those days people were a lot more innocent....and the two main stars who plan Perry and Hickock look like twins to the actual criminals....

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Dreams Deferred (2012) Season 14, Episode 9

"Dreams Deferred" One of best SVU episodes

[10/10 · 7 March 2021]

One of the reasons is the opening song while the show preview sets up.."I'll Take Everything" by James Blunt....an old song but perfect for this episode...

I only watch the Law and Order franchise any more...new shows on TV etc are awful in my opinion....

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

Paradigm Shift

[10/10 · 3 November 2019]

Hard to believe that was filmed the USA in this documentary....

Obviously these were hard working, god-fearing simple people who worked against enormous odds...At that time, coal WAS the go-to fuel for power generation...natural gas was just beginning it's rise...

When you see these people, and how they are hoping for a brighter future for thier kids, and then think to where our "president" Drump made them promises that coal was coming back under his watch, it magnifies the cruelty still in place today. The powerful who've never set foot in coal country, nor would ever for fear of ruining thier suits.....dare to get hopes up again.....and the miner believed him.

Today, Kentucky will carry Trump again based on his false promises. Not much has changed in the hollers of Kentucky or W. Virginia coal country. How they can vote GOP is beyond me....I guess hope springs eternal.

Rivetting documentary....a scene that haunts me is in the 1970s, a mother bathing her child in a bucket and saying "Daddy will have money to get running water..."(Paraphrasing here..). Side observation: Did you notice the GM and Ford cars? What were those companies thinking when they designed ( a word I use loosely) those slab sided land barges ?!?!??! They were current models when the film was made and they look horrible!