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Plus Court TV, half-century fugitive runs, the Dresden job, and more
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“Why’s it smell like Lemon Pledge in here, SDB?” I’m cleaning out the longread/headline closet before the weekend! [sneeze] Grab your e-reader and a mocktail and let’s send the week out right. — SDB
Steve Harvey is joining the ranks of TV judges. Hat tip to our tireless tipster T-Bone, who slacked me yesterday with the Deadline story announcing that ABC has given Harvey’s “unscripted courtroom comedy series” a 10-episode order. The show’s an hour long as of this writing, and will premiere in 2022.
Tara and I agreed on Slack that, while Harvey’s particular brand of silent-movie reaction to dumb answers on Family Feud is not necessarily for us, a lot of what people DO like about him as Feud host is perfectly suited to a gig like this. (And for the record, I think Harvey’s great at what he does. I just don’t always want to watch more than one episode at a time.) The show’s casting right now, so if you live in Atlanta and have a dispute you’d like settled publicly (and possibly hilariously), keep an eye out. — SDB
Court TV announced coverage of a couple of major cases earlier this month. Per the network’s website, among the cases they’ll have cameras in the courtroom for are
· Wisconsin v. Kyle Rittenhouse – A 17-year-old charged with killing two people during protests that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin last summer.
· Georgia v. Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, William Bryan – Three white men are accused of murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man who was shot while jogging through a south-Georgia neighborhood.
I also discovered while writing up that item that the Court TV site has a “Trials On Demand” section, with lots of notorious proceedings you’ll recognize…and a full complement of tasteless subheds for those you don’t (“Sex, Cyanide, and a Doctor on the Run” is one of the less Post-y offerings). I also can’t stop laughing at that picture of Erik Menendez, which is…not great? — SDB
The father Mario Montoya knew as “Ramon” was actually a man of many names, and years on the run. Deseret Magazine and Ciara O’Rourke’s “The fugitive and the chameleon” tells the story of a cat-and-mouse game that began 50 years ago:
In the fall of 1971, the man eventually known as Ramon Montoya shot the man known then as officer Daril Cinquanta during a brief encounter in Denver. Cinquanta bled in the street. Montoya ran. Like a modern Inspector Javert, forever in pursuit of his Jean Valjean, the cop didn’t let up. And just as in Victor Hugo’s famous tale, the two men became locked in a chase that spanned decades, each changing through the years to adapt to the circumstances.
And for Mario Montoya, learning the truth was especially destabilizing; he “grew up listening to Spanish-language radio and identified as Hispanic,” but “Ramon” was born Lawrence Pusateri to Italian immigrants in New York City.
From there, the story wends through a prison break, a scofflaw heading to the police academy, several amazing ’70s mustaches, business cards printed with the word “crimefighter,” and John Walsh. — SDB
We mentioned the Green Vault heist in passing last year, and now Joshua Hammer has a deep dive into the job, and the rise of the crime family allegedly responsible, in GQ. It seems the November 2019 “Dresden job” had all the hallmarks of a Remmo-syndicate operation — nasty, brutish, and short, basically. Here’s a snip on the Remmos, Lebanese asylum-seekers currently making their home (and trouble) (allegedly) in Germany:
The clan has earned a reputation for crude violence and a brute criminal style. For example, instead of torching their way into stolen safes with welding equipment, in at least one instance that experts discussed, a safe was hauled up to the roof of a tall building and thrown to the ground in order to bust it open.
Experts say that the clans impose a culture of omertà and stoicism in the face of arrest. A prison term is considered a badge of honor. “The family says that ‘jail makes men,’ ” says Falko Liecke, a Neukölln politician who works to dissuade young people from pursuing criminal careers. “When the kids get out of prison, they throw them a big party and give them their first Rolex watch.”
Very GutFellas, ja? The piece offers background not just on the Remmos but on the original acquirer of many of the Vault’s treasures, process-y explanations of how loot that high-profile is (or isn’t) unloaded, and more. — SDB
Eve and I, meanwhile, will make our money the old-fashioned way: by asking nicely for it. As appealing as the mental image is of the two of us, our dogs in Snuglis, going full Remmo and hurling a massive gold medallion off a German overpass, then chopping it into bars for the black market, I for one would rather keep it legal, and mention that for just $5 a month, you get headlines and analyses, deep dives into IMDb entries, and extra reviews.
You also help fund rentals of movies great AND terrible, and let us pay our contributors, who could use a raise tbh. And it makes a fine gift: asymptomatic, low shipping costs, no carbon footprint. Hook your favorite Virgo up today.
And thanks for reading. — SDB
Reviewer, film prof, and Berlinger beef-ee Chris Reed let us know his No Man Of God review is live. Reed’s mostly positive on the movie, despite a regrettable hairdo on Elijah Wood as Bill Hagmaier — and some serial-killer “abyss” tropes. Here’s a snip:
What lands a little less well is the notion that Hagmaier sees himself in [Ted] Bundy and vice versa. It’s a trope as old as drama, that members of opposing teams think, “There but for the grace of [fill in deity] go I.” [Director Amber] Sealey does her best to sell this less-than-novel concept with a variety of montages, some more effective than others, in which Hagmaier’s imagination runs wild with possibilities. They break up the prison scenes nicely but are hardly the main attraction. The reason to watch is twofold: [Luke] Kirby and Wood, both at the top of their game. Allowing her camera to roam evocatively between and around them, Sealey skillfully directs her actors to verbally joust, parry and thrust. Their battle makes the movie.
Various mixed reviews prior to Reed’s had this one on my “maybe one day” list, but I may promote it to the “near future” list now. — SDB
And speaking of Bundy, as we always seem to end up doing, I guess the American Boogey[person] thing is shaping up as a franchise? Whose hallmark is…“offbeat” casting? Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman, starring Chad Michael Murray as Bundy (…k, although you’re just never going to top Corin Nemec when it comes to avant-garde Bundy choices IMO), hits VOD next Friday. I have a screener and will report back; here’s a trailer:
And then there’s Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman. This one goes to theaters for a day on 9/20 before heading to VOD/DVD in early October, and the casting on this one is even more bizarre — and its existence even more superfluous based on its press materials calling it “a ‘companion piece’ and prequel to Monster.” I don’t know who asked for this and I tremble to to think what’s next from this production brain-trust — James Van Der Beek in Dennis Rader: American Boogeyman? — but here’s a trailer for AW:AB.
…I’m not saying people shouldn’t try stuff! I went into The Jeffrey Dahmer Files with arms firmly folded, but the thing believed in its own ear for the story, and it worked! But these just seem like Reelz rejects, which if you know the first thing about that network’s programming line-up… — SDB
Sundance NOW got the rights to Trial In The Outback, which premieres exclusively on the streamer October 12. This is the Lindy Chamberlain case. “Who?” You know…Lindy CHAMBERLAIN? Played by Meryl Streep? Don’t make me call it the “dingoes ate my baby” case, you g— DAMMIT.
Well: it’s a three-parter on that case, directed by Mark Joffe, and it sounds analogous to Lorena in that the folks at the center of the case are taking back the late-night monologue-joke narrative; “Lindy and her family finally share their own story.” I don’t know any more about the case than the Streep-meme stuff myself, so I’m looking forward to this one. — SDB
Next week on Best Evidence: Real-life CSIs, docudrama poisonings, victim-impact reckoning, and more.
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