The Marcus-Nelson Murders had it been released theatrically might have been in
Oscar contention, it's that good. Although Jose Ferrer gets top billing by dint of
his Oscar the film serves to introduce Telly Savalas as Lt. Theo Kojak, a most
incorruptible cop dedicated to the truth.
On the day of the March on Washington in August 1963 Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert were stabbed to death in their uptown Manhattan apartment. They were discovered by a third roommate Patricia Tolles hours later. For this fictionalization their surnames are Marcus and Nelson.
Incredible as it seems George Whitmore aka Louis Humes for the film was singled out for the murders because he had a picture of a girl who looked like one of the victims and the cops thought it was her. After that in Brooklyn where he was picked up the police and DA charged this man with another unrelated murder and an attempted rape. They rushed to trial and got a guilty verdict.
Telly Savalas who is the lead detective on the Manhattan Marcus-Nelson Murders is skeptical about the whole thing. He investigates and it all unravels. Sad though it becomes a turf war between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
No one ever likes to admit they're wrong especially in law enforcement. I saw enough of that in my time at New York State Crime Victims Board. Whitmore aka Humes was tried and retried in Brooklyn several times before being cleared of everything. Jose Ferrer plays a Louis Nizer like defense attorney and is a most impassioned advocate for justice.
The usual disclaimers about the film being written for art and drama's sake and characters being composites and time frame being altered are there. What surprised at least so far as the Whitmore/Humes end was how much of it was exactly and frighteningly how it happened. Gene Woodbury plays Humes as this frightened kid who is the object of so much attention by detectives like Ned Beatty and Val Bisoglio looking to pad their arrest stats and a very political DA Allen Garfield running on a 'law and order' platform.
It's more fictionalized as Kojak finds the real killer and uses drug dealer Roger Robinson to trap him. Marjoe Gortner plays the killer who in real life was named Ricky Robles. Robles is still serving a life sentence for the double homicide. Robles was a junkie who was a burglar to feed his habit as is shown here.
The Marcus-Nelson Murders is outstanding made for TV drama and gave us Theo Kojak for five great seasons. And the real life case was addressed and remedied by the Supreme Court's Miranda decision about a defendant's right to counsel. Not to be missed if broadcast.
On the day of the March on Washington in August 1963 Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert were stabbed to death in their uptown Manhattan apartment. They were discovered by a third roommate Patricia Tolles hours later. For this fictionalization their surnames are Marcus and Nelson.
Incredible as it seems George Whitmore aka Louis Humes for the film was singled out for the murders because he had a picture of a girl who looked like one of the victims and the cops thought it was her. After that in Brooklyn where he was picked up the police and DA charged this man with another unrelated murder and an attempted rape. They rushed to trial and got a guilty verdict.
Telly Savalas who is the lead detective on the Manhattan Marcus-Nelson Murders is skeptical about the whole thing. He investigates and it all unravels. Sad though it becomes a turf war between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
No one ever likes to admit they're wrong especially in law enforcement. I saw enough of that in my time at New York State Crime Victims Board. Whitmore aka Humes was tried and retried in Brooklyn several times before being cleared of everything. Jose Ferrer plays a Louis Nizer like defense attorney and is a most impassioned advocate for justice.
The usual disclaimers about the film being written for art and drama's sake and characters being composites and time frame being altered are there. What surprised at least so far as the Whitmore/Humes end was how much of it was exactly and frighteningly how it happened. Gene Woodbury plays Humes as this frightened kid who is the object of so much attention by detectives like Ned Beatty and Val Bisoglio looking to pad their arrest stats and a very political DA Allen Garfield running on a 'law and order' platform.
It's more fictionalized as Kojak finds the real killer and uses drug dealer Roger Robinson to trap him. Marjoe Gortner plays the killer who in real life was named Ricky Robles. Robles is still serving a life sentence for the double homicide. Robles was a junkie who was a burglar to feed his habit as is shown here.
The Marcus-Nelson Murders is outstanding made for TV drama and gave us Theo Kojak for five great seasons. And the real life case was addressed and remedied by the Supreme Court's Miranda decision about a defendant's right to counsel. Not to be missed if broadcast.