THE BLUE KNIGHT (1973)

With pilot episodes for STAR TREK, MOONLIGHTING, REMINGTON STEELE, HILL STREET BLUES, even BATMAN, tv director Robert Butler, who died last week, should be as famous as sit-com guru JAMES BURROWS.  And this four-night ‘event’ television (full cut just over 3'; Euro-theatrical under 2) may have been his most influential work.  Taken from a typically downbeat best-selling cop novel by Joseph Wambaugh, it’s a granular/quotidian look at the last week on the job for aging ‘beat’ cop Bumper Morgan, played by recently revived movie star William Holden in his first tv drama.*  Last week on the beat?  We all know what that means.  (Actually, that’s the plot of Wambaugh’s just filmed THE NEW CENTURIONS/’72.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-centurions-1972.html)  Engaged to Lee Remick with less than zero in common, her social circle all cop-haters as seen in some of the worst scenes in the pic.  The first two episodes, with Holden’s vet patrolman handling one damn thing after another, come off best; with a random spontaneity and lack of direction that feels very believable.  The last half pulls the strings into a ball: revenge angle; tyke in trouble; imploding court case; closure on the kinky murder that opened the film; life goes on/downbeat ending.  With consistently good acting and mostly real L.A. locations, what really sets this apart is how Butler seems to look decades ahead inside future cop series.  (He’s got one foot firmly planted in KOJAK, a rival 1973 product, and the other stepping toward HILL STREET, NYPD BLUE, even toeing THE WIRE.)   What holds it back is a lack of action chops and his inability to vary the pace.  Something that might have been less obvious without a very ‘70s tv music score from Nelson Riddle that vamps when it needs to create a little suspense.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Holden’s waning career waxed to life with THE WILD BUNCH/’69 only to fall back from three consecutive flops.  This tv film got him an Emmy® and re-revived till his death eight years & twelve films later.  But a gem hides in those three flops, Blake Edwards’ WILD ROVERS/’71, recut & renamed to disastrous results on first release, it’s now restored.    OR:  Paul Newman was about the same age (if looking a decade younger than Holden) and in a similar career slump when he pulled the same aging ‘beat’ cop angle in FORT APACHE THE BRONX/’81.  Worked even better for him.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-wild-bunch-1969.html  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/06/wild-rovers.html  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/01/fort-apache-bronx-1981.html