I really had no idea what this was before watching. I was a fan of Diana Canova growing up and familiar with Yvette Mimieux. I associate Diana with comedic parts so I think I figured this would have a similar tone to Heart To Heart or Remington Steele. Boy was I wrong. I guess they were trying for a tone like very special episode of Hill Street Blues, but ultimately it's more like what a slow moving Lifetime movie would be if made in 1983.
Basically, Diana's character walks into her home while it's being robbed and is assaulted. She feels the just-the-facts male cop who shows up is too cold to her as a victim. She complains at a community meeting and the next you know she's volunteered herself and her friend, played by Yvette, to volunteer with the police as victim's rights advocates. They're set to do the job of social workers showing up at crime scenes, with no education or training besides doing obstacle courses at the police academy. In the meantime, there's a serial rapist running around, played by MC Gainey, who is so young and slim, he's virtually unrecognizable. Patti Davis plays a brief part as one of the victims they coach. Larry Linvale is surprisingly not a caricature of the hard ass captain and very likable.
It's very second-wave feminist including themes of women not being content with being a typist or housewife, wanting to make a difference for women, kids not being able to handle mom working, men who are often chauvinists or just insensitive. The writers seemed to being trying hard to create character arcs, such as to show how much more competent and self-assured the two women become once they have some experience on the job. But unfortunately the script spends way too much time with the two women looking incompetent to the point of being mentally challenged. Yvette's character especially is played as intensely meek and quiet for most of the movie and she has almost no personality. Diana manages to make her character to be likable and at times spunky. She had good report with the other male cops. I almost turned it off halfway thru between the women being unable to learn police code and the ridiculousness of bringing a bum home to sleep in the living room. But I made it thru.
This probably was pretty gritty in 1983 and dealt with relatively new topics, but it really has not aged well. It plays like it was a failed pilot with good potential for the secondary characters, like their police mentor. Doubtful it could have ever been Cagney and Lacey. But then maybe if Yvette was replaced, just C&L was also recast after its pilot, things would have been different. I am most definitely not a fan of Lifetime movies. They're just not for me. So I'm not a great judge for this movie. Perhaps if you're into that sort of thing, you might enjoy this as depiction of a different time. Otherwise, I'd skip it.
Basically, Diana's character walks into her home while it's being robbed and is assaulted. She feels the just-the-facts male cop who shows up is too cold to her as a victim. She complains at a community meeting and the next you know she's volunteered herself and her friend, played by Yvette, to volunteer with the police as victim's rights advocates. They're set to do the job of social workers showing up at crime scenes, with no education or training besides doing obstacle courses at the police academy. In the meantime, there's a serial rapist running around, played by MC Gainey, who is so young and slim, he's virtually unrecognizable. Patti Davis plays a brief part as one of the victims they coach. Larry Linvale is surprisingly not a caricature of the hard ass captain and very likable.
It's very second-wave feminist including themes of women not being content with being a typist or housewife, wanting to make a difference for women, kids not being able to handle mom working, men who are often chauvinists or just insensitive. The writers seemed to being trying hard to create character arcs, such as to show how much more competent and self-assured the two women become once they have some experience on the job. But unfortunately the script spends way too much time with the two women looking incompetent to the point of being mentally challenged. Yvette's character especially is played as intensely meek and quiet for most of the movie and she has almost no personality. Diana manages to make her character to be likable and at times spunky. She had good report with the other male cops. I almost turned it off halfway thru between the women being unable to learn police code and the ridiculousness of bringing a bum home to sleep in the living room. But I made it thru.
This probably was pretty gritty in 1983 and dealt with relatively new topics, but it really has not aged well. It plays like it was a failed pilot with good potential for the secondary characters, like their police mentor. Doubtful it could have ever been Cagney and Lacey. But then maybe if Yvette was replaced, just C&L was also recast after its pilot, things would have been different. I am most definitely not a fan of Lifetime movies. They're just not for me. So I'm not a great judge for this movie. Perhaps if you're into that sort of thing, you might enjoy this as depiction of a different time. Otherwise, I'd skip it.
