User Reviews

This opening episode for Kojak's third season boasts a really strong cast with the Kojak regulars and such people as Eli Wallach, Jerry Orbach, F. Murray Abraham, Michael V. Gazzo and Jennifer Warren. The focus of the story is on Wallach who is an old friend from Astoria of Kojak.

Wallach got himself jammed up when he hid some stolen furs from a robbery in his place in the garment district. But Telly Savalas also got jammed a bit because he didn't wait for a warrant. Jennifer Warren as Wallach's lawyer is ready to pounce.

But it all might get worked out through the Feds as Jerry Orbach who is totally unrecognizable with black hair and one of the stupidest looking mustaches ever would like to use Wallach to make a case against loan shark Michael V. Gazzo. Savalas approaches Wallach and he's set up and has to go through some real terror at the hands of Gazzo's enforcer F. Murray Abraham.

In fact Wallach, Abraham, and Gazzo all give performances that could have been Emmy material. This was a really fine beginning for Kojak's third season.

Reading a one-sentence description of this episode on the DVD box didn't make it sound too exciting.....but it is. It's a very good season-opener, a two-part story about nailing a brutal loan shark and the people he has in his back pocket.

What's really good about this episode is the film noir feeling of tension and the great guest cast. Michael V. Gazzo is not name a lot of people may know but film buffs know him well as "Frankie Pentangelli." in The Godfather series. He's the main villain and has a distinctive high voice.

Eli Wallach, who has the most interesting role ("Lee Curtin") is fascinating as always, and Murray Abramson, as "Solly," is terrifying as the thug who collects the payments and makes the physical threats.

Also contributing is mustached-Jerry Orbach who went on years later to be a big star in the TV show, "Law and Order." The dread in part one turns out to be real in the second part. There is a good mixture of talk and action in this 100-minute opening episode and it's well worth your time to watch. I've found the Kojak seasons to get better and better as they go on.