I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

My friend & me were discussing old TV shows & she remembered a great detective/police show starring William Holden that she viewed back in the 70's. She couldn't remember the name of it so I told her I would go online & find out the show's name & the information for her, which I did at this site. She loved the show & watched it even though the series didn't last as long as she would have liked. She also said the show included a dog which was his companion. I did discover that the dogs name was Leo & that it was a Bulldog/Terrier mix. I noticed this information was not on the other comments & thought maybe some of the readers would enjoy knowing this. Thanks so much for this great site!

This movie was terrific in it's view of what police work was like at that time, before the handcuffs were put on the police more than they were on the criminals. Bumper Morgan was the kind of cop I trained under, and each of them, and he, were real characters. The most memorable line to me was, when Morgan (William Holden) told the State's Attorney, after screwing up in court and being asked why "Because I'm 50 lousy years old, and I just can't cut it anymore!" Only people who have been in law enforcement can understand the truth in that admission...... This is a wonderful movie on many levels. It shows how police work used to be done in another era, it may make some people realize that maybe it was better done that way, it may scare some people, and it truly sheds light on the dilemma that faces a man in the twilight of his chosen career. A stellar performance by Holden, who was in his twilight at the time it was filmed. Perhaps he brought more to the role than even he realized. His personal decline was mirrored in his portrayal of the kind of cop we all want when we are the victim, but never, ever want to face as the offender. Darkly brilliant !

I also saw this NBC mini series in its original uncut network run in the fall of 1973 and then saw it repeated in 1975, but that's it. Yes, it needs to be released on DVD or VHS in its original state because this is classic landmark adult TV. This was the re-birth of William Holden's career and he was beyond memorable as Bumper Morgan. The characters ran better here than in print and that was hard to top because Wambaugh wrote a great first person character analysis with his novel of the final works days of a dinosaured LAPD street cop. Overlooked was the supporting mastery of Joe Santos, Vic Tayback and Sam Elliot. Along with KOJAK, this was TV's best of 1973.

I saw this mini series when it first aired back in the seventies before the days of the vcrs. The only time I ever saw it again was after it was cut down to a 90 min. TV Movie with most of the "bite" taken out of it. I think that it was this movie that made me realize how good an actor William Holden was. I certainly would like this entire min-series put on a DVD. I would buy it in a heartbeat.