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Saturday, August 19, 2017

Television Review: CRAZY LIKE A FOX: "Motor Homicide" (1985)




CRAZY LIKE A FOX: "Motor Homicide" (CBS-TV/Sony 1985) Original Air Date: February 3, 1985.  Starring Jack Warden as Harry Fox, John Rubenstein as Harrison Fox, Penny Peyser as Gail Fox, Robby Kiger as Josh Fox.  Guest Stars:  Bo Svenson as Chuck Dobson, Patrice Chanel as Saleswoman, Paul Koslo as Maggot, Ed Bakey as Earl Stanton, Susan Bjurman as Evelyn Blaine, Al Ruscio as Manager.  Written by John Baskin, Frank Cardea, George Schenck and Roger Shulman.  Directed by William Asher. 

Introduction to the 1984-86 CBS series CRAZY LIKE A FOX is at this link.


En route to a Fox family camping vacation, Harry swears he's witnessed a murder in a neighboring R.V.  Eschewing their existing reservation, Harry follows the culprit to the not-so-aptly named Heavenly Hideaway, a campground that young Josh accurately describes as a "dump".  Meanwhile, Harry waits for the body to drop.


After an unauthorized search of the RV lands Harry in hot water, the "corpse" turns up alive, well, and very shapely.  After the senior Fox's suspect turns out to be a physically imposing twenty-five year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department, one has to ask: did Harry's instincts finally failed him?  Well, that lifeless arm we see dangling from the vehicle's roof has to belong to someone.


The first ingredient of the comedy/mystery hybrid is crisply executed in Motor Homicide.  Harrison Fox was seldom more reluctantly involved than in this one.  First, a two week family vacation is shot to Hell before it even begins, with prime reservations lost while dead fish, poison ivy and bee stings are found--along with a murderer, and a (thankfully friendly) motorcycle gang. 


The sabbatical truncated, Harrison then hopes to enjoy a San Francisco Giants game with his father--only to have the investigation trail heat up again, costing the junior Fox a chance to see a once in a lifetime event at the old Candlestick.  John Rubenstein rarely got more opportunities to deliver priceless reactions.


It's no surprise that the humor is so deftly handled by sitcom vet William Asher (BEWITCHED), but the director had been absent from the detective genre for a quarter century (since 1958's THE THIN MAN) and unfortunately doesn't deliver the second key component of the FOX formula as smoothly. To be fair, the script from the series' creators has a few problems also.


You'd think that a long-time cop would know enough to keep his RV locked when he's away, knowing there's a corpse inside.  Certainly you'd think that he'd know not to behave in a way that arouses suspicion: when Harry takes advantage of the first error, Sgt. Dobson is far less outraged than one would expect--and it's that curious inaction that keeps Fox hot on his trail for the rest of Motor Homicide.   Sure, it's fun seeing Harry try to bluff his way out of the Sergeant's motor home unscathed, but as physically menacing as Dobson is (played by Bo Svenson), he's never the truly worthy adversary that his experience should create.


The show's usual charms can go a long way even when the tension is lacking.  In addition to Svenson, Ed Bakey brings his long face and perpetual crooked smile for one of his final TV roles as the failing campground proprietor; Paul Koslo is unusually sympathetic as another of Harry's oddball allies; DAYS OF OUR LIVES co-star Patrice Chanel makes an offer that is hard to refuse as a guns and ammo dealer; and the ubiquitous Al Ruscio turns up as yet again, as Bjurman's former landlord.


Asher's only FOX ended up also being his last episodic TV assignment; he closed out his career with the RETURN TO GREEN ACRES reunion movie five years later.  Motor Homicide continued the show's first-season winning streak in the Nielsens, scoring a 20.7 rating and handily outgunning the network television premieres of FIREFOX and THE VERDICT to win the 9 PM ET timeslot.  The episode might not fully work but Asher's deft touch for comedy is very much in evidence.  (**1/2 out of four)






Thursday, August 10, 2017

Television Review: CRAZY LIKE A FOX: "Some Day My Prints Will Come" (1985)





CRAZY LIKE A FOX: "Some Day My Prints Will Come" (Sony/CBS-TV 1985)  Original Air Date: December 1, 1985.  Starring Jack Warden as Harry Fox, John Rubenstein as Harrison Fox, Penny Peyser as Gail Fox, Robby Kiger as Josh Fox.  Guest Stars: Norman Fell as Vern, Russ Marin as Jerry Clouser, Ja'net DuBois as Idee, Theodore Wilson as Eddie, Harry Moses as Donald Woodley, Al Ruscio as Tony, Barrie Ingham as Crime Boss, Herman Poppe as Henchman, Joe Renteria as Mendez, Joe E. Tata as Ralph Moss, Sandra Gould as the Landlord.  Written by Sid Dorfman, Philip Saltzman, Harvey Weitzman and David R. Toddman.  Directed by Paul Krasny.


Introduction to the 1984-86 CBS series CRAZY LIKE A FOX is at this link.


Working for his son on his latest case, Harry Fox hits the jackpot when he captures photographic proof of insurance scammer Moss not only out of his wheelchair, but running.  Unfortunately his pictures are mixed up with another customer's at Idee's Photo Shop.  Stuck with snapshots of the docked Wanderer at the pier, Harry asks questions to find the owner that he presumes is the holder of his needed evidence.



Unfortunately for the senior Fox, the shutterbug was Mendez, who is investigating drug traffickers tied to the vessel and the disappearance of its original possessors.  Harry's questioning leads the crime boss to surmise that the two investigators are working together, making both of them targets--along with their perceived co-conspirator: the con artist in Harry's prized photographs.


One simple mixup turns a refreshingly mundane (and realistic) case into one more worthy of Harry Fox's talents.  While the twists that follow in Some Day My Prints Will Come might not be all that surprising for veteran FOX watchers, the story goes into slightly grittier territory than usual once drug lords are involved.  Even comedically nimble Norman Fell keeps a tight jaw and a stone face, no matter how annoyed his cop is to learn that there's a Fox on his case.


Not that the humor suffers: on the contrary, Harry's street savvy serves him well in solving the overall puzzle (as even Detective Vern grudgingly admits),  but his smaller hunches hilariously fail him at some crucial moments (famous almost last words: "They'll never know where the shots are coming from!"). 


Harrison and Harry Fox are both on the same case, and both are in their respective day jobs for once--at the outset.  But of course, the junior Fox is forced into the real action, yet again ending up in the middle of gunfire and a wild car chase.  With his father behind the wheel, it's a tossup as to which experience is more harrowing.


It's always great watching the verbal sparring of old pros Warden and Fell, but there are other delights in a guest cast that's deeper than usual.   Joe E. Tata is at his weaselly best as the fraudster (though it is hard to believe he falls for that trick in the open), and in another surprise, Al Ruscio isn't part of the mob in an episode revolving around it.  Ja'net Dubois' prime time appearances were sporadic in the mid-1980's, so it's a shame she only has two scenes as the harried Idee.


The fate of Some Day My Prints Will Come was a microcosm of the show's sophomore season.  After being pre-empted on consecutive weeks, CRAZY LIKE A FOX returned to its 9 PM time slot on December 1st--the same night and time that NBC premiered the highly anticipated Perry Mason Returns, the week's top-rated program.  The ensuing 15.2 Nielsen rating was the series' lowest to date.  Too bad: those who opted for Raymond Burr and friends (27.2 and a 39 share) missed another fun ride with the Foxes. (*** out of four) 



CRAZY LIKE A FOX airs Monday through Thursday at 9 A.M. Central on getTV.