When I looked back upon hearing of Dennis Farina’s death at 69, the opening credits of “Crime Story” weren’t quite as awesome as I thought. Maybe because that aspect of television has evolved into a higher art form in recent years. When you’ve seen the opening of “The Sopranos,” it looks very pedestrian, very mid-80s.
But at the time, it seemed very cool. Part of it was the evocation of the early, pre-Beatles ’60s. Mind you, this was several years before the same period was explored in “Goodfellas,” and long, long before “Mad Men” reminded America of that era of skinny ties, martinis and songs like Del Shannon’s “Runaway.”
I enjoyed that short-lived show, and was really impressed by the cop-turned-actor who starred in it, Dennis Farina. He really had that character — the hard-boiled type who could be either cop or crook — down, and could play it in a variety of vehicles, from the hip “Snatch” to the comic “Get Shorty.”
I’m sorry to hear the news.
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He had a great role as the American wine customer who needled the French wine enthusiast in Bottle Shock. Great movie.
Yes! “I’m getting undertones of bacon fat…”
Alan Rickman is awesome, too!
Good flick!
“When you’ve seen the opening of “The Sopranos,” it looks very pedestrian, very mid-80s.”….Brad
Don’t agree with you on that point Brad. The Sopranos opening theme song by Vinnie Pauleone & The Ba Da Bing Orchestra is very good but Crime Story and the use of popular music are offshoots of the Phil Collins song used when Sonny and Rico were driving his 72 Ferrari knock-off going after the drug dealer who was getting away.
Michael Mann created both series but Crime Story didn’t have the same appeal but the use of popular music was a mainstay. A lot of well-known actors got their start on Crime Story. What would CSI Miami be without “Horatio”?
lifts glasses…”Looks like we’ve got a mystery to solve.”