***SPOILERS*** Debut episode of "Streets of San Francisco" with bulbous nosed old veteran cop detective Let. Mike Stone, Karl Malden, and his young whipper snapper and wet behind the ears pretty boy Inspector Steve Keller, Michael Douglas. The two SFPD cops are on the hunt for a cop killer who gunned down Let. Stone's good friend and former partner officer Gus Charnouski, Edmond O'Brien, in a failed jewelry store robbery. Using his very prominent and noticeable, who can anyone miss it, nose like a bloodhound Lt. Stone sniffs out the person who gunned down his good friend Officer Charnouski that leads to the very exciting chase scene in the under construction Bart subway Station with the younger Inspector Keller doing most of the chasing.
It was odd that Let Stone who should have know better acted like an outright armature, by letting his emotions get in he way, in his hunt for Officer Charnouski's shooter. But then being such a good and close, like in the heart wrenching hospital scene between the two, of the gunned down policeman you can easily overlook that fact. There's also officer Charnoski's grieving wife Stella, Eileen Hacthart, who seems to not be all that overwhelmed with grief at all at the news of her hubby being gunned down who later died of his wounds. Was it that the two were on the outs and him now being out of the way she can now play the field in the dating GoGo and night club scene?
Actor Edmound O'Brian who mostly was on life support, until he finally passed away, during the entire episode was unforgettable as the doomed Officer Charnoski. O'Brian had his role as a dying man down pat to his last, which was off camera, breath. Michael Douglas as Inspector Keller showed that he could be entered in the Boston or New York Marathons in his his excellent cross country or city running on the streets rooftops and subways of San Francisco. But it was old battered and bulbous nosed Karl Malden who stole the acting honors here. That in him showing as Det. Stone that he could admit that he was wrong in his obsession in catching Officer Charnouski's killer and then getting the job done not out of blind vengeance but through of cool and calculated police work instead.
It was odd that Let Stone who should have know better acted like an outright armature, by letting his emotions get in he way, in his hunt for Officer Charnouski's shooter. But then being such a good and close, like in the heart wrenching hospital scene between the two, of the gunned down policeman you can easily overlook that fact. There's also officer Charnoski's grieving wife Stella, Eileen Hacthart, who seems to not be all that overwhelmed with grief at all at the news of her hubby being gunned down who later died of his wounds. Was it that the two were on the outs and him now being out of the way she can now play the field in the dating GoGo and night club scene?
Actor Edmound O'Brian who mostly was on life support, until he finally passed away, during the entire episode was unforgettable as the doomed Officer Charnoski. O'Brian had his role as a dying man down pat to his last, which was off camera, breath. Michael Douglas as Inspector Keller showed that he could be entered in the Boston or New York Marathons in his his excellent cross country or city running on the streets rooftops and subways of San Francisco. But it was old battered and bulbous nosed Karl Malden who stole the acting honors here. That in him showing as Det. Stone that he could admit that he was wrong in his obsession in catching Officer Charnouski's killer and then getting the job done not out of blind vengeance but through of cool and calculated police work instead.