KOJAK: MONKEY ON A STRING (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas about the cases of Lt. Theo Kojak and the detectives of the Manhattan South Precinct.
In this episode, Kojak plays poker with some cop buddies, including down-on-his-luck young Vinnie Pomerantz. After suffering yet another loss, Vinnie tells his wife Laetitia about his father's similar struggles, recalling the time he tried desperately to buy his wife an elegant fur coat. Later, Kojak, Vinnie and the others raid a warehouse belonging to crime lord Shelley Briscoe, and in the chaos, Vinnie is unable to resist helping himself to $10,000 in contraband cash. Laetitia is amazed when Vinnie soon presents her with a fur coat of her own, as well as receipts from several recently settled debts. He opts not to explain their sudden windfall, but Briscoe then contacts him and offers him additional money to "forget" his eyewitness testimony against another criminal, Sammy Jergens. Vinnie reluctantly agrees, but tells Briscoe not to "come to the well again."
Vinnie takes Laetitia to a fancy restaurant, where they happen to run into a few of his fellow cops, who are keeping an eye on Briscoe. Vinnie makes a show of insulting Briscoe to his face as Kojak arrives to serve him with a subpoena, and Vinnie explains that they're there celebrating their wedding anniversary. Back at the precinct, McNeil sternly reminds Kojak to complete his required weapons recertification, and Briscoe again calls Vinnie for "one last favor," the name and location of the district attorney's rumored surprise witness against him. Vinnie angrily refuses. Later, Crocker saves Vinnie's life from a knife-wielding criminal, Tommy O'Halloran, and Briscoe pointedly suggests that Laetitia deserves more than a widow's small pension if and when Vinnie were to die in the line of duty. Realizing that Briscoe wants him to kill the witness in question, a deeply conflicted Vinnie demands time to consider the matter.
Kojak hears that Briscoe may have "bought himself a flatfoot," and discovers that Vinnie has been spending an unusual amount of time at the firing range. Vinnie seems prepared to do Briscoe's bidding; McNeil calls and instructs him to go pick up the secret witness, Danziger, along with Crocker, using a bulletproof hearse as a disguise vehicle. Briscoe instructs him to drive the car and then have a convenient breakdown on the road, while elsewhere Kojak's fears are confirmed when he discovers that Vinnie lied about his anniversary and left a fatalistic note behind for Laetitia. As Vinnie drives the hearse into a secluded wood, he thanks Crocker for saving his life; when Briscoe's gunmen rush up to kill the witness, they find only Vinnie, who claims that he's only a decoy and Danziger is in another car. Crocker returns from the woods, and Vinnie tells him to run as he turns on Briscoe's men and shoots them. Vinnie is fatally hit as Kojak rushes onto the scene. Vinnie explains that Danziger is safe and hidden nearby; when Kojak sadly asks the dying officer why he made such terrible choices, Vinnie can only say that he "wouldn't understand" his need to buy his wife an expensive coat. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:49:33
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 127514
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Police corruption
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1973-1978
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Matthew Rapf … Executive Producer
- Jack Laird … Supervising Producer, Writer
- James McAdams … Producer
- Chester Krumholz … Producer
- Ernie Pintoff … Director
- Abby Mann … Created by
- Selwyn Raab … Suggested by the book by
- John Cacavas … Music by
- Goldenberg, Billy (See also: Goldenberg, William) … Theme Music by
- Telly Savalas … Cast, Lieutenant Theo Kojak
- Dan Frazer … Cast, Captain Frank McNeil
- Kevin Dobson … Cast, Lieutenant Bobby Crocker
- George Savalas … Cast, Detective Stavros
- Joseph Hindy … Cast, Vinnie Pomerantz
- Albert Paulsen … Cast, Shelley Briscoe
- Judith Light … Cast, Laetitia Pomerantz
- David Margulies … Cast, Midge Piper
- Jack Hollander … Cast, Dinky Geller
- Mark Russell … Cast, Detective Saperstein
- Vince Conti … Cast, Detective Rizzo
- Anita Dangler … Cast, Mrs. Nugent
- Christopher Carrick … Cast, Tommy O'Halloran
- Vincent Van Lynn … Cast, Danziger
- Tony Savage … Cast, Benny Parsons
- Mark Margolis … Cast, First Gunman
- Jack Weir … Cast, Second Gunman
- Sheila Coonan … Cast, Superintendent
- Charles McCarthy … Cast, Gun Range Keeper
- Ryan Hilliard … Cast, Courtroom Guard
- Richard Marr … Cast, Sommelier