Oct · 30 · 2009

I watch a lot of movies.  Some I post here.  Many I do not, either because I don’t take the time to or frankly, because they stink and don’t deserve my time.  This is sort of a movie review, except it’s about a series.  A very well produced television series by CBS, that really isn’t a series in the sense of the norm on TV.

It is a series because there’s more than one.  But the 5 (soon to be 6) “episodes” have been spread out over several years, and each is really a full length film in it’s own right.  Each “episode” features the key same actors playing the key same characters in the same settings, like a television series. The production and acting are top notch, unlike a television series.  If I remember right I saw one on TV a while back.  Then noticed them in the video store and found them at the library.

Jesse Stone, the main character, played superbly by Tom Selleck, is a former LA detective turned small town chief of police in a quaint Massachusetts coastal community with an overbearing town council.  It’s based on a series of novels by Robert B. Parker.  I’ve never read the novels but I do really enjoy this series.  I’ve never worked in law enforcement but there’s just something about the character of Jesse Stone that completely resonates with me.  After a divorce he didn’t want, he leaves the big city for a slower pace and to, one might guess, rediscover himself.  He’s obviously focused on upholding the law, and especially has a zeal for what’s right and just.  On occasion he may bend the rules a little in order to do what’s right and just, but isn’t at all what you’d call a crooked cop.  He cares about people.  He sees a shrink (played by William Devane) who himself is a former cop.  He loves his whiskey (scotch in this case) a little too much.  He has a dog who is always with him everywhere he goes but he rarely talks to the dog.  Yet the way this is filmed, the dog obviously is very important to him and has a personality, which is quite amusing at times.  His home is a very cool and old house that sits on it’s own tiny island of sorts.  Topping off the production is some very nice, low key music that is both reflective and melancholy… it’s quite haunting and wonderful, reminiscent of the music for the movie “Road To Perdition”.

This series has completely gotten under my skin for what ever reason.  I can’t wait for the sixth “episode” to be finished.

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