Reviews

2 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
From the Golden Age of TV cop shows
17 March 2006
Remember Robert Lansing in 87th Precinct, or Lee Marvin in M-Squad?? Golden Age indeed..!

Even though it's called "The Asphalt Jungle" this series had nothing to do with W.R. Burnett's noir classic novel (which was made into a movie starring Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, John McIntire and Sam Jaffee)...

This is one of the first 60 minute cop shows I recall (along with 87th Pct and the later episodes of Naked City) and it certainly didn't feature any pretty faces considering Jack Warden and Arch Johnson were the leads along with a young George Kennedy putting in a few appearances... But I recall it as a good, well-written, adult drama, along much the same lines as Naked City...

The real mystery is why this only lasted for 13 episodes...(?)
13 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Not as good as the book...
16 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
...but this movie was saved by Michael Caine (who can make a bad movie watchable) and Nigel Havers as his son...

Caine was great as the father trying to find out why his son Robert (Havers) died... His son was an analyst for Britian's GCHQ (the equivalent of the NSA in the U.S)... Through flashbacks, we learn that Robert has stumbled on some activities that British Intelligence would just as soon not have made public, but Robert has a conscience...

Good premise and well done... BUT, what really griped me was the ending sequence when Sir John Gielgud was given some lines to say that were lifted almost verbatim from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (both the book and the Alec Guinness mini-series)... I felt ripped off... This spoiled what was otherwise a reasonably entertaining cloak-and-dagger, paranoia flick...
5 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed