Homicide: The Movie (2000) (TV)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jean de Segonzac

Writers:

Tom Fontana (writer)
Eric Overmyer (co-writer)

Release Date:

13 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The One Case So Important, Every Detective Is Back.

Plot:

Former Homicide Shift Commander Al Giardello is now the leading candidate for Mayor or Baltimore. As...

Plot Keywords:

Political | Police Detective | Baltimore Maryland | Murder | Police

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Daniel Baldwin	...	Beau Felton
Ned Beatty	...	Det. Stanley 'The Big Man' Bolander
Richard Belzer	...	Det. John Munch (NYPD)
Andre Braugher	...	Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond	...	Mike Kellerman
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Officer Mike Giardello
Michelle Forbes	...	Dr. Julianna Cox
Peter Gerety	...	Lieutenant Stuart Gharty
Isabella Hofmann	...	Megan Russert
Zeljko Ivanek	...	A.S.A. Ed Danvers
Clark Johnson	...	Det. Meldrick Lewis
Yaphet Kotto	...	Al 'Gee' Giardello
Melissa Leo	...	Sgt. Kay Howard
Toni Lewis	...	Det. Terri Stivers
Michael Michele	...	Det. Rene Sheppard

Also Known As:

Homicide: Life Everlasting (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some language.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Baltimore Pictures

Trivia:

According to Tom Fontana, Ed Begley Jr. is indeed playing his Dr. Victor Ehrlich character from Fontana's previous show St.Elsewhere. He's not mentioned by name to avoid having to get legal clearances.

Quotes:

Det. Meldrick Lewis: Luke Ryland snuffed two women live on the Internet. And Baltimore being Balto-less, he got off on a technicality. Next day, they found him curbside, laying there, .44 slug in the back of his head.

Movie Connections:

References The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Soundtrack:

Beautiful Way

About the ending you'd expect going from the show's run.

I was a big fan of Homicide: Life on the Street which remains one of the television shows I've most enjoyed watching. The last two seasons do colour my impression somewhat but I usually like to remember the good times of the first five seasons.

Homicide: The Movie is definitely in the mold of the last two seasons in that it's good but the magic is missing, the movie is a pretty good effort all the same though. Pembleton is back to his old self and old favourites Brody and Detective Howard are back, although their input is minimal. I liked spotting actors from the HBO show "Oz" (not coincidentally this movie was co-written by Oz creator Tom Fontana).

Homicide: The Movie is worth watching but it's not great, eg. I didn't bother burning a copy of the rental DVD, I'd rather hold out for a DVD boxset which I'll probably have to import from overseas. The story is fairly interesting but still isn't up to the standard of the early days of the show, the presentation is very "TV movie" but we can hardly knock that given its source material. The writers went for Bayliss/Pembleton as the main dynamic which is reassuring, but again the magic is never quite recaptured.

Homcide: The Movie ends up being a fitting end to the unfortunately downward trend of the TV series. It was good to see all the characters back but it ends up being yet another installment of Homicide that doesn't live up to the show's brilliant first five seasons. It was a good effort though.