Crime Story | |
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Anthony Denison (left, as Ray Luca) and Dennis Farina (as Lt. Mike Torello)
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Genre | Crime drama |
Created by |
Chuck Adamson Gustave Reininger |
Written by | Chuck Adamson Gustave Reininger David J. Burke Robert Eisele Peter Lance Mark Rosner Gail Morgan Hickman Tom Towler Ken Solarz Clifton Campbell Eric Blakeney Tony Castro Carlton Cuse Richard Christian Danus Frederick Rappaport |
Directed by |
Leon Ichaso Aaron Lipstadt Colin Bucksey Mario DiLeo Bobby Roth Stephen Sayadian Eugene Corr David Soul Bill Duke John Nicolella James Quinn Gary Sinise Paul Krasny Mark Rosner Jeff Stein |
Starring |
Dennis Farina Anthony Denison Stephen Lang Bill Smitrovich Bill Campbell Steve Ryan Paul Butler Ted Levine |
Theme music composer | Del Shannon, Max Crook |
Opening theme | "Runaway" |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 44 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Michael Mann |
Running time | 44 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Michael Mann Productions New World Television |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | September 18, 1986 | – May 10, 1988
Crime Story is an American television drama, created by Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger, that premiered in 1986 on NBC, where it ran for two seasons.
The show premiered with a two-hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically — and was watched by over 30 million viewers. It was scheduled to follow Miami Vice on Friday nights, continuing to attract a record number of viewers. NBC then moved the show to Tuesdays at 10 pm opposite ABC's Moonlighting, hurting its ratings to the point that NBC ordered its cancellation after only two seasons.
Set in the early 1960s, the series depicted two men — Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and mobster Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) — with an obsessive drive to destroy each other. As Luca started with street crime in Chicago, was "made" in the Chicago Outfit and then sent to Las Vegas to monitor their casinos, Torello pursued Luca as head of a special Organized Crime Strike Force. Torello, his friend Ted Kehoe, and Luca had grown up in Chicago's "The Patch" (Smith Park) neighborhood, also called "Little Italy" or "Little Sicily" and the haunt of the Forty-Two Gang.
The show attracted both acclaim and controversy for its serialized format, in which a continuing storyline was told over an entire season, rather than being episodic, as was normal with shows at the time (including Miami Vice).
The first season ended with Ray Luca and Pauli Taglia on the lam, hiding from Torello in a Nevada desert shack, which is located in an atomic bomb test area. An A-Bomb explodes, presumably obliterating Luca and Taglia, in one of the most memorable cliffhangers in television history, leaving viewers wondering whether they were dead or alive.
The first season follows Chicago Police detective Lt. Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his pursuit of organized crime from Chicago to Las Vegas, circa 1963-64. At the beginning of the series Torello is the head of the Major Crimes Unit (MCU), a squad of hard-boiled cops that includes Sgt. Danny Krychek (Bill Smitrovich), Det. Walter Clemmons (Paul Butler), Det. Nate Grossman (Steve Ryan) and Det. Joey Indelli (Bill Campbell).