Product Details

• Actors: Joe Mantegna, Eugene Lipinski, Laila Robins, Chris Britton, Marcia Gay Harden
• Directors: Robert Markowitz
• Writers: Robert B. Parker
• Producers: David Coatsworth, David Craig, Delia Fine, Michael Brandman, Michael Jaffe
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• VHS Release Date: November 30, 1999
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767019512
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,937 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With Small Vices, based on the book by Robert E. Parker, Joe Mantegna may have a franchise in the making as legendary private eye Spenser. To borrow a line from Casablanca, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The cops, wise guys, and hustlers Mantegna has portrayed in David Mamet's films and plays have prepared him well for stepping into the shoes of this crime fiction icon. Spenser is a literate, well-spoken private eye who, as one acquaintance notes here, "can't be frightened, bribed, or seduced." Nor intimidated, as we witness in his handling of three lowlifes who attempt to warn him off a case. Spenser is investigating whether Ellis Alves, a young black man who was convicted of murdering a white honors student, was framed. The case itself is not especially compelling (nor is Spenser's relationship with psychologist Susan Silverman, portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden). The fun is watching Spenser stand up to a corrupt cop who threatens, "You go down that road, pal, you're going to get a lot of people angry at you... including me." But in classic, hard-boiled tradition, Spenser will not be swayed, which leads to his near-fatal shooting (that never happened to Robert Urich). Luckily, he has friends in low places, including his partner, Hawk (Shiek Mahmud-Bey, a little more animated than the glowering Avery Brooks on the television series), a self-described "thug," as well as some wise guys who help track down Spencer's would-be assassin.

Freed from the constraints of network television, Small Vices indulges in some mild profanity, sexual situations, and nudity that give this production some added pulp panache. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a strange first choice for the new Spenser cast, January 18, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Small Vices [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It is interesting to me that even though I believe I watched most of one episode of the television series "Spenser for Hire" that when I worked my way through the extant Robert B. Parker novels in chronological order one summer that Avery Brooks was definitely Hawk in my mind's eye. However, I did not think of Robert Urich as Spenser. While I did think Urich had the general build of Spenser as described in the novels (to wit, ex-boxer) I did not hear him saying the witty lines written for the character by Parker. In "Small Vices," Joe Mantegna plays the part of Spenser and while I never would have thought of him for the role if I was doing the casting, I do think that for the most part he delivers the one-liners pretty well. However, I certainly do not think of him as being an ex-boxer.

For the record, I consider Marcia Gay Harden to be an ideal Susan Silverman but Shiek Mahmud-Bey is just too young to be Hawk.

Ultimately, with "Small Vices," I am more troubled by the fact it was somehow selected to be the first Spenser television movie with this new cast. I know it was because it was, at that time, the most recently published Spenser novel. Parker adapted his own novel so certainly the dialogue is in the spirit of the original words on the printed page. But "Small Vices" was the 24th Spenser for Hire novel and anybody come newly or lately to the character in novels and/or television incarnations is not going to appreciate the relationships as they stand and this point in the history of the characters. That is of vital importance, because as the teaser to "Small Vices" shows, this story is about the time that Spenser encountered someone who may well be his superior as an opponent.

My major complaint against the adaptation in the final analysis is that the psychological damage done to Spenser's psyche, as well as the long period involved in his physical recovery, is barely sketched out in the film. The novel took the time to develop both in much detail, which is why "Small Vices" was one of the very best of Parker's Spenser novels. Consequently, my response to this adaptation was that both the character and the viewers were being shortchanged by this brevity. I would have saved this pivotal Spenser story for later in this series of adaptations, assuming, of course, that it continues for sometime to come. Still, Spenser fans will see something here for the writer and cast to build upon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good film, questionable casting choices, May 4, 2001

By 

Jeff Cross "His Illustriousness" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Vices [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you've read the novel, you will be pleased to know that this stays quite true to it--most likely due to Parker himself scripting it (he also appears as mysterious government operative Ives). What I wasn't too thrilled about was the casting decisions and how they differed from previous Spenser flicks and the old "Spenser: For Hire" TV series: I could live with a new Belson (done once before), a new Susan (done twice before) and a new Quirk (the original actor died), but even with the recastings done in the Lifetime Spenser movies, they retained Robert Urich and Avery Brooks as Spenser and Hawk. Mantegna's a little too Brooklyn-sounding to be Bostonian, and Sheik Mahmud-Bey is way too friendly to even be considered a successor to Brooks. Also, all the police uniforms featured herein are Canadian-style; Captain Healy's Massachusetts State Police uniform isn't even close to the real thing. However, this new film is significantly edgier than the previous ones.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very exiting., March 12, 2002

By 

Robert Potter (Sandy Bay, Tasmania Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Vices [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have an image of Spenser from reading the books - that of a big guy with an 18 inch neck, 50 inch chest and 18 inch arms. Very strong and above all, very physical. Joe Mantegna is a good actor but (for me) just does not cut it as Spenser. He is just not big enough! Robert B. Parker himself, plays 'Ives' in one scene and it is clear to me that he based Spenser (at least physically) upon himself - although he denies this. Sheik Mahumud-Bey is too nice to be Hawk whom I see as menacing but articulate. Casting aside, the story was slow and quite frankly boring. By the time it ended I did not care what happened to the characters. It was treated as more of a love story between Spenser and Susan than a detective story.