John Larroquette is the latest of those who have experienced fame on long-running television series to move on to a second career and another perhaps long-running character or franchise. Jack Klugman did it, going from "The Odd Couple" to "Quincy". Dick Van Dyke did it with his long-running sitcom to "Diagnosis Murder". Buddy Ebsen followed "The Beverly Hillbillies" with Barnaby Jones. And with Larroquette who is following up "Night Court" with "McBride", following Andy Griffith who went from his self-titled series to "Matlock".
Larroquette is given a good character here. He brings to his role a heartfelt and genuine desire to help those accused without concern for say how much they can pay; his primary concern is finding out the other and perhaps the potential and most likely suspect. That is why perhaps he gets away with what he does in court; the prosecution has the new suspect practically handed to them. The ADA and the DA here perhaps will arrest that one and then maybe McBride will end up defending that person in a subsequent trial. McBride is a throwback to the days of Perry Mason where everyone Perry defended was truly innocent. McBride uses his investigatory skills honed from his career as a police officer to spend lots of time away from his office, and what he is unable to get hold of he leaves to his companion, a former public defender who seems to be getting a better education about being a lawyer than he did in law school. He is genuinely more concerned about finding the truth than have been many TV and movie lawyers the past few years, who seem to be mainly concerned with billable hours, getting ahead of their rivals, showing off their cars, their expensive threads, you name it. But Larroquette is fine with his offices, his house, and the dog a client left him, along with the house. That feeling of satisfaction that he gets is worth more than just say getting his client off. He wants to see his client not acquitted but cleared, exonerated.
That said, I cannot say that this is the best of his character's movies yet, but it provides a nice introduction to the series. Interesting move to place Larroquette in the flashback so you say see it as he sees it as the witness or the accused tells his story. The guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My main complaint was that Larroquette agreed too quickly that he was innocent; I would think you would need a little more reason to believe that.
For those who want to see a mystery movie similar to those of the 1970s like Columbo, watch McBride. It is, for me, a respite from the procedural shows and the seemingly endless reality shows all over the cable wires of late.
This may contain several references to the movie for those who haven't seen it yet. Then again, it may get some curious about it to watch in case it airs again.
Larroquette is given a good character here. He brings to his role a heartfelt and genuine desire to help those accused without concern for say how much they can pay; his primary concern is finding out the other and perhaps the potential and most likely suspect. That is why perhaps he gets away with what he does in court; the prosecution has the new suspect practically handed to them. The ADA and the DA here perhaps will arrest that one and then maybe McBride will end up defending that person in a subsequent trial. McBride is a throwback to the days of Perry Mason where everyone Perry defended was truly innocent. McBride uses his investigatory skills honed from his career as a police officer to spend lots of time away from his office, and what he is unable to get hold of he leaves to his companion, a former public defender who seems to be getting a better education about being a lawyer than he did in law school. He is genuinely more concerned about finding the truth than have been many TV and movie lawyers the past few years, who seem to be mainly concerned with billable hours, getting ahead of their rivals, showing off their cars, their expensive threads, you name it. But Larroquette is fine with his offices, his house, and the dog a client left him, along with the house. That feeling of satisfaction that he gets is worth more than just say getting his client off. He wants to see his client not acquitted but cleared, exonerated.
That said, I cannot say that this is the best of his character's movies yet, but it provides a nice introduction to the series. Interesting move to place Larroquette in the flashback so you say see it as he sees it as the witness or the accused tells his story. The guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My main complaint was that Larroquette agreed too quickly that he was innocent; I would think you would need a little more reason to believe that.
For those who want to see a mystery movie similar to those of the 1970s like Columbo, watch McBride. It is, for me, a respite from the procedural shows and the seemingly endless reality shows all over the cable wires of late.
This may contain several references to the movie for those who haven't seen it yet. Then again, it may get some curious about it to watch in case it airs again.