I have not commented one episode in particular from this amazing TV show made in NY city; I only made a comment about the whole TV series, that's all. I repeat: all are fast paced épisodes that also were the first appearances of future great actors such as Al Pacino, Roy Scheider, Jon Voight, and also lesser ones: Mitch Ryan, Emmet Walsh, and so on... All inspired from actual events picked up in NYPD files, the cases are very different from one to another, but sometimes similar. All kind of cases: rapes, racism, theft - petty and grand - murder charge, all involving petty thugs and - or - ordinary people like you and me. A very deep dive in the social problems of the city of NY. A very accurate and sharp analysis of all problems of this time. Very interesting. Such this episode telling the case of one of the leads, a black police officer - I don't know the actor's name - who is chasing a burglar on a roof when suddenly arrive two police patrol men in uniform. Our detective has a gun in his hand and only wears his civil outfits. One of the policemen in uniform is a rookie and when he sees our lead with a gun in his hand...
Guess what...
Of course our lead black detective is only wounded, but that's when it becomes interesting, because one question is asked: Would this white skinned rookie have proceeded differently if the man in front of him had been a white dude? Would have the policeman hesitated? Fired, sure, because the man in front of him on the roof was armed, but would he have hesitated. in this case, he did not. Why?
OK, most of this 24 minutes episode focuses on the rookie trying to solvethe deep problem in which he was thrown, including finding the burglarafter whom the black detective was after in the beginning. It is ratherunusual to see a sub character - the rookie - investigating instead ofthe usual leads of this TV series - Jack Warden and his team.
And the best is the very ending when Warden asks to the rookie, after the latest had finally found the burglar, if Yes or Not he would have fire on a white man, instead a black one.
In 1967, it was very daring to ask such a question. At least interesting.
Guess what...
Of course our lead black detective is only wounded, but that's when it becomes interesting, because one question is asked: Would this white skinned rookie have proceeded differently if the man in front of him had been a white dude? Would have the policeman hesitated? Fired, sure, because the man in front of him on the roof was armed, but would he have hesitated. in this case, he did not. Why?
OK, most of this 24 minutes episode focuses on the rookie trying to solvethe deep problem in which he was thrown, including finding the burglarafter whom the black detective was after in the beginning. It is ratherunusual to see a sub character - the rookie - investigating instead ofthe usual leads of this TV series - Jack Warden and his team.
And the best is the very ending when Warden asks to the rookie, after the latest had finally found the burglar, if Yes or Not he would have fire on a white man, instead a black one.
In 1967, it was very daring to ask such a question. At least interesting.
