Sunday, May 7, 2017

Homicide: Life on the Street





Back in 1993, well before The Wired aired on HBO, the first great Baltimore crime show premiered on network television.  It was Homicide: Life on the Street, and it would run for seven seasons. But were the indications of the show's greatness apparent from the very first episode? I took a look back at the Homicide pilot for Criminal Element. You can read the piece here.




Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion


Man kills woman. Man cleans up scene. Man plants clues for the cops to find.  Then he goes to work, and it turns out he's the chief of the police force homicide division.  It's Elio Petri's great 1970 Italian film, INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION, starring Gian Maria Volonte.

Part murder mystery, part Kafkaesque satire, it's a film that is hard to shake.  I've seen it a few times over the years, and I figured it would be fun to write about for Criminal Element. You can find that piece here.