3. Lt Mike Torello Crime Story (1986)
Crime Story was a short lived TV series produced by Michael Mann after he created Miami Vice. Set in the 1960s, the series followed Lt. Mike Torello and rising mob enforcer Ray Luca, as they try to destroy each other. Crime Story only lasted two series, after NBC moved the show from prime time to a graveyard slot. The series was created by Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger. Chuck Adamson had been a beat cop in Chicago with Dennis Farina, before becoming a screenwriter. John Santucci, an actor in the series, was also a thief arrested by Farina and Adamson multiple times before becoming an actor. Farinas plays Mike Torello as an unstoppable force. His sense of justice is unflappable, hell stop at nothing to protect the innocent and he makes sure people know it. Farina turned Mike Torello from a standard tough cop character into a satisfyingly realistic performance. You hurt anybody else, when this is over, I'm gonna find what you love the most and I'm gonna kill it. Your mother, your father, your dog... don't matter what it is, it's dead. In the 80s, Farina played cops like no-one else, they were tough and unrelenting characters driven to the edge of their own moral code to protect the people they loved. Crime Story is Farina finest performance as a cop; hes given time to really explore the motives behind a tough cop like Torello.