The Ripper

"The Ripper" is an installment of "Police Story" that will no doubt offended many folks back in the day and will offend folks today...but for the opposite reasons. I still recommend you see it because it's well made and way ahead of its time. And, you have to start somewhere...

Detective Matt Hallett (Darren McGavin) is investigating a serial killer who is targeting homosexuals. They have cut their victims to pieces...and the viciousness of the killings set them apart. Hallett is ahead of his time in the way he views gays, and is very kind. His partner, however, is a real jerk and through the course of the film he utters a lot of nasty stuff about gays...whereas Hallett sees them as what they are...people as well as victims.

The important thing about this one is that the bigoted partner is shown to be exactly that. And, the show shows him again and again as a real jerk. So, while he says a lot of hateful things, the partner doesn't follow his thinking and he makes that clear. In fact, it's a very early positive portrayals of the gay community for American television...where, up until then, they were rarely mentioned at all.

Overall, like all the "Police Story" episodes, this one is very well made...well written and acted. Well worth seeing and a bit of a surprise when I watched it.

This episode inspired the Al Pacino classic. Crusing. And Darren Mcgavin played the reporter on ABC's Night Stalker. One of the episodes was a Jack the Ripper killer. This episode is not offensive if your straight like me. But this is offensive to the gays. TV back then could never not offend viewers for ratings.

Veteran LAPD cop Detective Matt Hallet (Darren McGavin) and his young partner Doug Baker (Michael Cole) begin investigating serial mutilation murders of young gay men in the Los Angeles area.

Hallet is a liberal-minded sort even after decades on the job. His partner is a homophobe of near epic proportions and only does his job as a reflex. He feels nauseated about seemingly every aspect of the case. Hallet puts up with it until he thinks it is hurting the investigation.

Following up the leads across a community well-versed in the art (one necessitated by regressive laws) of keeping secrets a picture emerges of the prime suspect - a burly cowboy-type nicknamed 'Tex'.

By the time that picture is in focus four men are dead and there is another very different suspect. Hallet and Baker have to cross-reference everything all over again on the off-chance they missed something useful.

The casting is only slightly against type. Darren McGavin was a very masculine type of actor who played uber-macho private detective Mike Hammer in the ultra-conservative 1950s. Michael Cole portrayed a hippie undercover operative on The Mod Squad. You'd think the older macho actor would be the homophobe rather than the young hippie icon.

The maturity of that theme explored alongside the mystery invites the viewer to examine judgments of people by previously ingrained perceptions.

A lot is going on in the various character arcs each moving to different degrees. Where there is any perceptible movement at all is a starting point for a realistic character study as change is the one constant in everything.

The immediate unsubtle hint that what we are watching is from 1974 is the dress and physical appearance of the cast. The wardrobe suggests mass color-blindness. The hairdos appear to have drawn inspiration from the contents of vacuum cleaner filters. The nearly ever-present temptation is to ask each of them if they looked in the mirror before they left for work.

Then there is the attitude of the character portrayed by Michael Cole. Beyond his homophobic slurs he questions his own decision to allow his wife to take a job.

But aside from that what is shown is, politically speaking, decades ahead of it's time.

Darren McGavin has one of his strongest and most sympathetic roles as lead detective, partnered by Michael Cole who, in one of his best roles, gives one of his best performances.

As another review says, "ahead of its time." This powerful story, with one of the best scripts of the series, also has one of its best casts.

For example, Pat Carroll, usually in a funny role, gives a strong and emotional portrayal of a gay homicide victim's mother.

Peter Mark Richman is such a strong personality, his brief appearance as a magazine publisher is scene-stealing just because of his voice and presence.

Lew Horn, about whom nothing is known here at IMDb, steals every scene he is in. What a performance! He has been a fairly busy actor, although apparently not since 1996.

What makes this a seemingly pioneering script is, simply, it's about gays, not as stereotypes -- although many of the characters so see them -- but as people, real, flesh and blood people.

When detective Baker expresses his dismay that a woman he liked, or wanted to like, is "such as waste," as he watches her dancing with another woman, his partner asks, "Can't you still like her?"

Dramatic and powerful stuff. I highly recommend this entry in the "Police Story" series. An excellent version is available at YouTube.