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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most amazing hours I've ever witnessed, September 19, 2001
This review is from: Homicide Life on the Street: Subway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
One of Homicide's best episodes, "The Accident" or "Subway Show," premiered during its creative low point. Like a lot of Homicide fans, I wasn't happy with the direction the series took in its final two seasons. I won't rehash the typical complaints other than to say that, even during that time, the show was still one of the greatest in television history whenever it forgot about its new "supercops" and focused on the fiery, iconic Detective Frank Pembleton. Pembleton was a rarity -- a believable human being who seemed, at times, to speak with the voice of God. He gave the show's grim proceedings a much needed moral compass. One knew that as long as Pembleton was walking the streets, then the darkness erupting all around wouldn't be allowed to envelop the world. In "The Subway," Pembleton literally becomes, if not God, then perhaps the equivalent of St. Peter. When a commuter (brilliantly played by Vincent D'Onofrio) is pushed in front of a moving train, the unfortunate man finds himself literally hanging between life and death. Suspended between the train and the platform, he is questioned by Pembleton concerning who might have pushed him. But if this sounds like a gimmick, then be aware that this show deals with so much more. During their conversation, D'Onofrio and Pembleton confront the issues of life, death, fate, and faith that fueled the show since its premiere -- issues that many fans correctly felt the show had mistakenly moved away from during the final two seasons. Pembleton becomes almost a father confessor for D'Onofrio. Perhaps most arrestingly (for me at least), is that D'Onofrio's victim isn't presented in an extremely sympathetic light. While other shows would have idealized him, Homicide makes it victim out to be a self-centered, vain jerk. He is a man forced to confront the whole of his still young life in one hour and for him, that subway platform becomes his purgatory. Not what you'd typically expect to see on television and one of the main reasons why I've always thought of this show as Homicide's proper swan song. As for the documentary included with the video, its a fun watch and definitely will be enjoyable to any true Homicide fan. However, even if the tape was composed only of this episode, it would be a must have for anyone serious about how television can truly create a work of art.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most compelling dramatic anything I've ever seen, June 22, 2002
This review is from: Homicide Life on the Street: Subway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I have never had such a visceral reaction to any piece of drama, live or on big screen or small. I'd long been a Homicide fan, so I was well aware of Andre Braugher's skill, but Vincent D'Onofrio's performance was a revelation. His character is Everyschmuck, the Bud Lite-swilling blowhard found in any bar on any Saturday night, under-tipping the bartender and copping a feel from the cocktail waitress. But as he slowly discovers his fate, he strips away his schmuckness in layers, like an onion, with Braugher's Pembleton as Father Confessor and keeper of the knowledge that he is doomed. Together they reveal the character's essential humanity and vulnerability. Pembleton is our surrogate, I think, because he doesn't like this guy much either, but goes in to do his job, and is eventually touched by him, as we are. My words are feeble. Just see it.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Television drama at its very best!, October 24, 2000
This review is from: Homicide Life on the Street: Subway [VHS] (VHS Tape)
If you're reading this, chances are you're already a fan of Homicide to some degree. Some early fans of the show became disenchanted with the program as its run on NBC progressed, feeling that it became more conventional. While it's true that the show's later seasons used less of the stirring camera-work which was the show's visual trademark in the early episode, the stories told were no less compelling. A case in point is season six's "The Accident" or as it's commonly known "the subway episode." When a commuter becomes pinned between a subway train and the platform, detectives Tim Bayliss and Frank Pembleton are called in, because the accident victim is alsmost certainly going to die. As Bayliss tries to determine what caused the accident, Pembleton (as played by Emmy-winner Andre Braugher) forms an uneasy bond with the victim (played by Vincent D'Onofrio). With Homicide, the focus was always less on what the detectives revealed about their cases and more on what the detectives revealed about themselves as human beings. Of all Homicide's detectives none showed us more of what was good and bad about human beings than Frank Pembleton. In the context of the show, Pembleton was not only the best investigator in the squad, he was also the moral center, a good man whose sense of right and wrong never fails, soemone who will always remain on the right side of that line even if it means offending those who care about him. As he tries to comfort the victim whom he knows is about to die, Pembleton confronts his own beliefs and notions of faith and goodness. The interplay between the two characters is as insightful, gripping and well-written as anything committed to film in years, and more than anything this is probably the episode which earned Andre Braugher his Emmy award. This episode also went on to win the Peabody award and was the subject of a fascinating documentary called "Anatomy of a Homicide." In addition to focusing on the specifics of writing and producing "the subway episode," it is also an intriguing window into the politics of television network programming. That documentary is available on this tape along with the full episode. Homicide never quite got its due during its network run, but the availability of these two productions may help redress that balance.
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