Customer Reviews

Naked City - New York to L.A.

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In its earlier half-hour series starring James Franciscus "Naked City" was a pretty conventional cop show, but when it was expanded to an hour's length and recast with Paul Burke it became more like an anthology series, with its famous "eight million stories" taking in the ordinary people and eccentric characters of New York City. Gradually it developed a unique tone and style, mixing action with sentiment, humour, and occasional moments of the surreal - how many other cop shows, then or now, would begin an episode with a voice-over meditating on the meaning of the Talmud? These DVDs feature episodes from the hour series, chosen in seemingly random order, a wise move as many of the best episodes came later. Picture quality is excellent, showing the atmospheric New York locations to great advantage. I've bought all the discs released to date and am keenly looking forward to future volumes.

I cannot praise this late 50's, early 60's series too much. This DVD contains four episodes. By far the best is "A Case Study of Two Savages" starring a young Rip Torn and Tuesday Weld as two hillbillies with virtually no ethics. The acting is superb and heart wrenching. Another episode, "The Night the Saints Lost Their Halos," stars Martin Sheen and a pimply Peter Fonda as two young boys who have tried to rob a store and must pay the messy consequences. Two additional powerful episodes make this a must buy for fans of film noir and gritty reality. The real star, of course, in this tough and totally realistic series filmed on location is a black and white New York City with finned cars, stores, snowy streets and a smoggy skyline vastly different from today's. It is an entrancing step back in history for lovers of New York City and reality TV.

Like "The Twilight Zone" without the fantasy element, "Naked City" is a superby crafted television series from the golden age. "The Hot Minerva" is a bit too comical for the overall series concept, however "New York to L.A." and "The Nights the Saints Lost Their Halos" are heady stuff, far more thought provoking than the current crop of tv fluff. Observe Frank Sutton and Robert Blake in "NY to LA", this is what dramatic method acting is all about. Like the other fine episodes in the remaining volumes, characters are multi-dimensional, beset with inner conflicts, flaws and ambiguities that make for a top notch series. "Dragnet" had its straight forward good guy vs. bad guy approach but "Naked City" was far more complex and nebulous in its portrayal of the human condition. Let's hope Image Entertainment releases all 99 episodes of this superlative show.

If you can find only one of these single disc Naked City editions, this may be the one to have. It has two of the best episodes ever: New York to L.A. with Frank Sutton, Robert Blake and Ed Asner; and A Case Study of Two Savages with Rip Torn and Tuesday Weld. These are shocking episodes today 50 years after they were made. My highest recommendation.

One of the best cop show which centered on the people involved and NOT special effects. There is much dialogue and character development in each episode. You get to see the effect that various crimes have on the police, victim and even the perpetrator.