Volume 14, No. 1, Spring 1998
As promised in the last issue, in this article I've
listed my choices as the ten NYPD short stories, movies, and TV
series. I've imposed two rules on myself. First, no one writer can
have more than one work cited per list. Second, each work cited
has to be about the NYPD, not some other law enforcement agency
operating within New York City. Hence, stories that are primarily
about the Transit Police, the Manhattan DA's Office, the NYC
Medical Examiner's Office, or the New York Field Office of the
FBI, are, no matter what their merits, ineligible for
consideration.
That said, here are my choices.
The Top 10 Short Stories
1. "Green Paint" by William MacHarg (Collier's, 29 November
1930)
This short-short, the first to feature Detective O'Malley, may
be the very first American police procedural in any medium.
O'Malley (sort of an Irish proto-Columbo, claiming dumbness but
demonstrating a sharp deductive mind) solves a waterfront murder
through sharp wits and some rudimentary forensics.
MacHarg wrote dozens of O'Malley stories before his death in
the late '40s, thirty-three of which were collected in The
Affairs of O'Malley. (Dial, 1940). Oddly, "Green Paint," the
very first in the series, was not included.
2. "Murder at the Automat" by Cornell Woolrich (Dime Detective, August 1937)
Though he didn't rigorously research police work (in fact it's
doubtful the reclusive Woolrich researched anything) he managed,
through a sort of knowing vagueness, to make his cop stories seem
realistic. This one, about a poisoning at one of Manhattan's
famous Depression-era fast-food restaurants includes a harrowing
description of a police third degree adminstered to an innocent
man, as the hero tries to clear him by finding the real killer.
"Murder at the Automat" has been reprinted at least twice, in
the posthumous Woolrich collection Nightwebs (Harper,
1971), and in the scholarly anthology The World of Mystery
Fiction (UC San Diego, 1978) edited by Elliot L. Gilbert.
3. "Sentence of Death" by Thomas Walsh (Saturday Evening Post, 23 October 1948)
Thomas Walsh started writing stories about hard-shelled,
tender-hearted Irish cops for Captain Joseph T. Shaw in Black
Mask. Unlike many pulpsters who graduated to the higher-paying
slicks, Walsh didn't change his style much. This one, about a
young detective who thinks he may have been instrumental in
sending the wrong man to New York State's death row, would not
have been out of place in any of the great pulps. Walsh's
Edgar-winning novel, Nightmare in Manhattan (Little, Brown,
1950), appeared in serial form a few months after "Sentence of
Death." The only reason that book isn't on my list of top ten
novels is that its hero is a railroad cop rather than a city cop.
"Sentence of Death" was reprinted in both The Saturday
Evening Post Stories -- 1948 (Random, 1948) and The
Best Detective Stories of the Year -- 1949 (Dutton, 1949)
edited by David Cooke.
4. "Small Homicide" by Evan Hunter (Manhunt, October 1953)
One of several "dry runs" for the 87th Precinct series which
Hunter wrote for magazines like Manhunt and Argosy in the early
'50s. Heavily influenced by Dragnet, it has Detective Dave
Levine of Brooklyn's 77th Precinct (who also narrates)
investigating the case of strangled infant found in a church.
"Small Homicide" was reprinted, under the Hunter byline, in
The Best Detective Stories of the Year -- 1954 (Dutton,
1954) edited by David Cooke, and, under the McBain pseudonym, in
his short story collection The McBain Brief (Arbor, 1983),
and in the anthologies City Sleuths and Tough Guys
(Houghton, 1989) edited by David Willis McCullough, and The
Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (Oxford, 1996)
edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert.
5. "Homicide Expert" by Lawrence Treat (Crime for Two,
edited by Frances and Richard Lockridge, Lippincott, 1955)
Precinct Detective Mitch Taylor, the hero of Treat's pioneering
V as in Victim (Duell, 1945), competes with a hot shot from
the Homicide Squad to solve a case that may be simply an instance
of domestic violence, but may be something quite different.
Not published 'til 1955, it may have been written some years
earlier, since by this time Treat had moved his characters out of
NYC and into a smaller, unnamed city. "Homicide Expert" has not,
to my knowledge, ever been reprinted, but a number of Taylor short
stories set after the move from New York, including the
Edgar-winning "H as in Homicide," are collected in P as in
Police (Davis, 1970).
6. "The Conscience of the Cop" by William Fay (Saturday Evening
Post, 27 August 1955)
A young detective kills a man in a shootout and must deal with
the guilt of taking a human life. An interesting and early look,
years before police departments started dealing with the problem,
into something the shrinks now call "afterburn" or the "post-kill
syndrome."
Interestingly, William Fay, who also wrote stories about
suburban cops, had a son who grew up to be one. John Fay is a
detective in the Glencoe, Illinois, Department of Public Safety.
Since Glencoe's is a combined agency, John is also a firefighter.
Finally, he's an ordained permanent deacon at St. Matthias
Catholic Church in Chicago. Policeman, fireman, and clergyman, he
is, indeed, a cop with a conscience.
"The Conscience of the Cop" was reprinted in The Saturday
Evening Post Stories -- 1955 (Random, 1955) and The
Best Detective Stories of the Year -- 1956 (Dutton, 1956)
edited by David Cooke.
7. "The Death of a Bum" by Donald E. Westlake (Mike Shayne
Mystery Magazine, June 1965)
The fifth of six stories Westlake wrote about middle-aged,
heart-diseased Detective Abe Levine of Brooklyn's 43rd Squad.
Looking into the murder of a low-rent underworld figure, Levine,
for whom life is precious, is frustrated that nobody else, not the
victim's brother, not his friends, not his colleagues on the Job,
care enough to try to find the killer. An excellent look at the
frustrations inherent in modern-day police work.
All six of Abe's stories, including the Edgar-nominated "After
I'm Gone" (which would have been on this list but for the fact
that it was largely set in suburban Long Island), are collected in
Levine (Mysterious, 1984).
8. "The Girl in Gold" by Jonathan Craig (Alfred Hitchcock's
Mystery Magazine, September 1970)
Craig's series of eleven novels about Sixth Precinct Detective
Pete Selby started around the same time as McBain's 87th Precinct
books. Just as knowledgeable about police procedure, Craig was
less innovative than McBain. Consequently, he never broke out of
the paperback original ghetto like McBain did, and is,
unfortunately, largely forgotten today. This story, appearing four
years after the last Selby novel, The Case of the Brazen Beauty
(Gold Medal, 1966), may be the last Selby entry in any medium.
In it, Selby and his partner look into the death of a man who's
been thrown from a window to conceal the real cause of his death.
It was reprinted in Alfred Hitchcock's Borrowers of the
Night (Dial, 1983) edited by Cathleen Jordan.
9. "Christmas Cop" by Thomas Adcock (Ellery Queen's Mystery
Magazine, March 1986)
Detective Neil "Hock" Hockaday, of the elite SCUM detail
(that's Street Crimes Unit -- Manhattan), proves to the
denizens of his bailiwick that he can be big-hearted at most
joyful time of the year. Edgar-nominated, "Christmas Cop" has
never, to my knowledge been reprinted, though Hock has since
appeared in a series of well-received novels, including the
Edgar-winning Dark Maze (Pocket, 1991).
10. "Crime Scene" by Carolyn Wheat (Sisters in Crime,
edited by Marilyn Wallace, Berkley, 1989)
A rookie policewoman, trying to control her emotions at the
scene of a messy homicide, lets an experienced detective talk her
into getting in touch with her feelings, not just to keep from
getting hardened to death, but to give her insights that will help
solve the murder. Absolutely first-rate short-short that shows the
insights Ms. Wheat has gained as a lawyer working for the NYPD's
Legal Affairs Office.
The Top 10 Movies
1. Bullets or Ballots, screenplay by Seton I. Miller,
directed by William Keighley (Warner, 1936)
One year after the Miller/Keighley team pinned a badge on Jimmy
Cagney in "G" Men it was Edward G. Robinson's turn. As NYC
Detective Johnny Blake (easily recognizable as real-life Detective
Johnny Broderick, who served as technical advisor), he goes
undercover to bring down the city's biggest mobsters.
Rip-snorting, gang-busting entertainment!
2. The Naked City, screenplay by Malwin Wald and Albert
Malte, directed by Jules Dassin (Universal, 1948)
Lieutenant Dan Muldoon and Detective Jimmy Halloran (Barry
Fitzgerald and Don Taylor) look into a good-time girl's murder in
this filmed-on-location semi-documentary. The whole "street-smart
old veteran/college-educated rookie" riff got its start here.
3. Where the Sidewalk Ends, screenplay by Ben Hecht,
directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel Night Cry by
William Stuart (20th Century Fox, 1950)
The team of director Preminger, leading man Dana Andrews, and
leading lady Gene Tierney are reunited six years after
Laura in this gritty film noir about a tough cop who
accidentally kills a man then tries to cover it up. He only
succeeds in getting an innocent man, who also happens to be the
father of the girl he loves, falsely accused. Excellent supporting
performances by Karl Malden, Tom Tully, and Gary Merrill.
4. Detective Story, screenplay by Philip Yordan and
Robert Wyler, directed by William Wyler, based on the stage play
by Sidney Kingsley (Paramount, 1951)
During a typical day in the squadroom of Manhattan's 21st
Precinct, Detective Jim MacLeod must come to terms with, and try
to overcome, the monster his relentless pursuit of criminals is
turning him into. One of Kirk Douglas's best performances. Equally
fine supporting jobs by Eleanor Powell as MacLeod's wife, Lee
Grant as a sweet-natured kleptomaniac (both Oscar-nominated),
William Bendix as MacLeod's partner, Joseph Wiseman as a sneak
thief, and Horace McMahon as the squad commander. Burt Mustin (Gus
the fireman on Leave It To Beaver) made his film debut in
Detective Story. This film (and the play on which it was based)
had a major influence on Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. The
notion of telling several different stories in the course of one
presentation may also have influenced John "J.J. Marric" Creasey.
Years later its effect is still felt in TV shows like Barney
Miller and NYPD Blue.
5. Pay or Die!, screenplay by Richard Wilson and Bertram
Millhouser, directed by Richard Wilson (Allied Artists, 1960)
In his best performance since his Oscar-winning role in
Marty, Ernest Borgnine portrays real-life
turn-of-the-century Mafia-buster Joe Petrosino. Nice period
detail, despite a noticeably small budget, good performances by
the supporting cast, particularly Zohra Lambert as Petrosino's
squeeze. The life of this little-known American hero has also
provided material for two novels by British writer Frederick
Nolan, No Place to Be a Cop and Kill Petrosino!,
neither of which, unfortunately, has been published in the United
States.
6. Madigan, screenplay by Henri Simon and Abraham
Polonsky, directed by Don Siegel, based on the novel The
Commissioner by Richard Dougherty (Universal, 1968)
Very faithful film version of Dougherty's book has top
performances by Richard Widmark as Detective Madigan and Henry
Fonda as Commissioner Russell. Tight script and top-notch
direction by Siegel (who went on to helm Dirty Harry a few
years later). Slightly marred by a glossy look Universal was
giving all its releases at that time, but that's a minor quibble.
Widmark went on to star in a short-lived Madigan TV series
which rotated with several other shows on NBC's Mystery
Movie wheel.
7. The Detective, screenplay by Abby Mann, directed by
Gordon Douglas, based on the novel by Roderick Thorp (20th Century
Fox, 1968)
Frank Sinatra, in one of the many tough guy roles he essayed
during the '60s (i.e. The Manchurian Candidate, Tony Rome,
etc.), ably portrays Lieutenant Joe Leland, a precinct squad
commander on the way up, who discovers that the case on which he's
built his reputation, a nasty homosexual murder, might be a fraud;
that he might, however unwittingly, have sent an innocent man to
the electric chair. As he reinvestigates the case, powerful forces
move to thwart him. Good performances by Jack Klugman, Ralph
Meeker. Horace McMahon, who played avuncular old coppers in the
stage and film versions of Detective Story and in the TV
version of Naked City, is cast wildly against type as an
avuncular old copper. One of Jacqueline Bissett's first American
movies.
8. The French Connection, screenplay by Ernest Tidyman,
directed by William Friedkin, based on the book by Robin Moore
(20th Century Fox, 1971)
Not much to be said here. Five Oscars, including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay (adapted). An
Edgar. A bunch of Golden Globes. Just about every critic's top ten
list. The best chase scene (with the possible exception of
Bullitt) ever filmed. That just about says it all. On the
off chance you've never heard of it, Gene Hackman as Jimmy
"Popeye" Doyle and Roy Scheider as Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (fictional
analogs for Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso who appear in supporting
roles and who acted as technical advisors) relentlessly pursue an
international heroin smuggling ring. The result is one of the best
action films ever made.
9. Serpico, screenplay by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler,
directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the book by Peter Maas
(Paramount, 1973)
Like a latter-day Cagney or Robinson, Al Pacino has played many
roles, and played them excellently, but is best-remembered for his
gangsters (the Godfather trilogy, Scarface, Dick
Tracy, Donnie Brasco, etc.) and his cops (Heat,
Cruising, Sea of Love, etc.). His first, and best, cop role
was this excellent fictionalization of the career of Frank
Serpico, the incorruptible vice cop who exposed the deep-seated
system of graft and payoffs in the NYPD, setting in motion the
chain of events that culminated in the formation of the Knapp
Commission. A made-for-TV sequel (or perhaps, more correctly,
"in-between-quel") called The Deadly Game starred David
Birney as Serpico and led to a short-lived, but well-done
Serpico television series. Director Lumet went on to do a
very similar movie based on Detective Bob Leucci's career, The
Prince of the City.
10. Fort Apache -- The Bronx, screenplay by Heywood Gould,
directed by Daniel Petrie (20th Century Fox, 1981)
Paul Newman and Ken Wahl as beat cops in the worst precinct in
America (or at least in NYC) can do little to keep a lid on crime
in the stricken neighborhood they patrol. Little in the way of a
cohesive plot; it's more of a series of vignettes. Some of the
irony is also a bit heavy-handed. Having said that, it must also
be said that the film is a harrowing look at impossible job faced
by cops in the country's worst urban neighborhoods. The violence,
the drugs, the racial tensions, are all presented with stunning
effect.
The Top 10 TV Shows
1. Naked City (ABC, 1958-59, 1960-63)
John McIntyre and James Franciscus took over the roles that
Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor had in the 1948 movie for the
first season of this show. Later Horace McMahon took over from
McIntyre (whose character was killed off). After a year's hiatus,
the show returned with a mostly new cast (including Paul Burke as
young Detective Adam Flint), expanded from its previous half-hour
length to a full sixty minutes. The hour-long version was
something of a critic's darling, but I personally preferred the
tighter half-hour episodes from season one. Like the movie, this
was filmed entirely on location in New York City.
2. N.Y.P.D. (ABC, 1967-69)
Jack Warden as a tough old lieutenant, Robert Hooks as a
veteran detective, and Frank Converse as a young rookie turned in
creditable performances in this highly effective half-hour series,
done with the cooperation of the NYPD. Like Naked City, it
was filmed on location.
3. Kojak (CBS, 1973-78; ABC 1989-90)
An exceptionally fine made-for-TV movie, The Marcus/Nelson
Murders, based on the real-life Wylie/Hoffert case, introduced
viewers to Telly Savalas as Lieutenant Theo Kojak, commander of
the detective squad at the Manhattan South Precinct. Garnering
critical kudos and high ratings it led to a long-running series a
year later. The series left the air after five successful seasons.
Kojak returned for two "reunion" TV-movies, The Bellarus
File and The Price of Justice during the '80s. Finally,
ten years after the original series ended its run, ABC brought the
series back for one more season. Kojak himself, now an Inspector
commanding the city-wide Major Crimes Squad, was the only
returning character. Two NYPD detectives who served as technical
advisors on the series, Sonny Grosso and Burton Armus, went on to
become TV producers themselves.
4. Barney Miller (ABC, 1975-82)
Ask most real cops what their favorite cop show is and they'll
say Barney Miller. Unlike most cop comedies (i.e. Car
54, Where Are You? or The Andy Griffith Show), Barney's
cops were not buffoons or bumpkins. They were competent
professionals, with human foibles, who faced an unpleasant,
sometimes dangerous job with a sense of humor. In that respect,
Barney Miller was law enforcement's M*A*S*H. Barney Miller
got a lot of the technical details wrong. Squad commander Barney
was a captain, for instance (in real life, he'd be a lieutenant),
and virtually every detective on his squad was a sergeant
(actually there'd be, at most, one, possibly two sergeants in a
precinct squad). But it got the sense of things so right, that no
one seemed to mind.
5. Eischied (NCB, 1979-80)
A made-for-TV version of To Kill a Cop got high ratings
for NBC during the 1978-79 season. Joe Don Baker, best known for
down-home action roles in movies like Walking Tall and
Guns of the Magnificent Seven, was not exactly the
performer one immediately thought of when trying to cast the part
of a New York City Chief of Detectives, but he did a fine job. The
series that inevitably followed that September was very well-done,
but, unfortunately, very short-lived as well. Lasting only a
half-season, it managed, during that time, to get some great
episodes on the air. Robert Daley, perhaps inspired by his TV
success, wrote and published his second cop novel shortly after
the series was broadcast.
6. Cagney and Lacey (CBS, 1982-88)
Now I'll admit that this was a well-done series, that gave a
good sense of what women in the predominantly male club of the
police service faced. It had good scripts, good performances, good
direction; it was always worth watching. That said, I have to add
that I found all the liberal posturing on the show irritating as
hell, and if I'd been able to catch more than one episode of an
earlier series about NYPD policewomen (Decoy, a syndicated
series from the '50s in which Beverly Garland played an undercover
detective named "Casey" Jones), I might have picked it instead of
Cagney and Lacey.
7. Night Heat (CBS, 1985-89)
This no frills series, filmed in Toronto because filming in NYC
was too expensive, was one of several made by former NYPD
Detective Sonny Grosso's production company. It was not exactly
high-concept. Just two precinct detectives working the night
shift. The criminals they encountered were unbelievably
vicious, but, after all, the show was produced for the late night
audience, not prime-time. Scott Hylands, who brought a world-weary
"been there done that" attitude to his role as a veteran cop, was
the standout in a fairly large regular cast (a lot of whom sounded
more Canadian than Brooklyn, but why quibble). A good show that
made up in substance what it lacked in style.
8. Law & Order (NBC, 1990-)
Back in the '60s there was a short-lived television series
called Arrest and Trial that was built around a novel
concept. Rather than simply showing the police investigation, like
say Dragnet or Naked City, or just the trial, like
Perry Mason or The Defenders, they'd show both.
During the first half, we'd watch the cops track down their
quarry; during the second we'd watch the trial of the defendant
they'd arrested. They made two mistakes. First, at an hour and a
half, Arrest and Trial was too long. Second, the two lead
characters, cop Ben Gazzara and defense lawyer Chuck Connors were
adversaries, which put the audience in a quandary. After spending
forty-five minutes rooting for Gazzara to catch whoever he was
chasing, you were supposed to spend the next forty-five minutes
rooting for Connors to get him off. This was bound to make viewers
feel schizophrenic, so the show tanked. Years later producer Dick
Wolfe recycled the concept, only this time he got it right.
Streamlining it down to an hour, he made the attorneys
prosecutors, so that the viewer was rooting for the same thing
throughout the episode.
Law & Order is the finest single cop show currently
on the air (and yes, that includes NYPD Blue and
Homicide). The scripts are consistently the best-written on
television, packing so much into an hour, you come away swearing
you've just seen a full-length movie. Of five teleplays nominated
for the 1996 Edgar in the Best Episode from a TV Series category,
four, including the winner, were from Law & Order. Over
the years it's been on, numerous cast changes have been
accomplished with singular grace. Filmed on location in NYC, it
has an authentic look. So far, the 1997-98 season is looking like
its best ever. Most TV series run, even good ones, out of steam
after a few seasons. Law & Order just gets better and better.
9. NYPD Blue (ABC, 1993-)
It's not as good as everybody says it is, and it's certainly
not as good as it thinks it is. But it's still damned good. In
fact it's one of the best cop shows ever put on the air. It's good
enough, in fact, that it doesn't need the gimmick of body parts
that have never before been seen on TV, or words that have never
before been heard on TV. It's good enough to succeed without that.
It's a shame they didn't try. I've been watching reruns from the
first season, and I have to say that NYPD Blue is not as
good as it used to be. But improvement from season to season, like
we see on Law & Order, is rare. NYPD Blue is
still one of the best things on TV.
10. Brooklyn South (CBS, 1997-)
As a uniformed cop, I'm naturally disposed to like anything
that focuses on uniformed cops instead of detectives. That's why I
liked Adam-12 and High Incident. If Steven Bochco is
a latter-day Jack Webb, and NYPD Blue his Dragnet,
then Brooklyn South is his Adam-12. It's only been
on a few months, but I'm already hooked. This gritty look at the
beat cops patrolling NYC's second biggest borough is my favorite
show of the Fall Season.
NYPD has, as we've seen, provided grist for a lot of
mystery-makers' mills. And, long as this two-part article is, I've
only scratched the surface. Aside from all the novels, short
stories, movies, and TV shows I didn't mention, there are all the
NYPD stories in other media. What are the ten best stage plays,
the ten best radio shows, the ten best comic books or strips, the
ten best non-fiction books? If the Journal ever makes another
visit to the Big Apple, that might be material for another
article.
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The Big Apple: New York Mysteries II