By Morris Dean
If you look under Tom Selleck's filmography as a producer (IMDb), you'll see that he has eight "Jesse Stone" TV films to his credit—all based on Robert B. Parker's novels about the character. The first film, Stone Cold, came out in 2005, followed by the prequel Jesse Stone: Night Passage in 2006, which gave the back story to explain why Stone lost his job as homicide detective in Los Angeles and found his way to Paradise, Massachusetts, a small coastal town north of Boston.
My wife and I had seen each of the films the year they came out, or soon thereafter, but recently it became long enough ago that when one of them showed up on Netflix's "Top 10 for you" list, we watched it. We enjoyed it so much that over the next two days we watched the next three that Netflix had on instant download. Fully charged now for a regular festival, I checked the county library's website and learned that the county has the whole collection, and the last four movies were available. We watched them that weekend. It was like old-home week.
Watching all the films in such quick succession provides a triple revelation. You realize how consistent the leisurely pacing of Robert Harmon's direction is from film to film. Harmon directed all but 2011's Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost, possibly because he directed an episode of Blue Bloods that year. Dick Lowry directed this film, whose tone fell right in line with that established by its predecessors, although my wife and I couldn't remember having seen this one, but that doesn't prove we had missed it originally.
You also appreciate the appropriateness of the original music by Jeff Beal, which perfectly matches Harmon's leisurely pacing. The impression is restful, unhurried, just the thing for people taken with "Masterpiece Theater." There may be more to this comparison than you realize, for I see in Wikipedia that Selleck was notified in 2012 that "CBS wouldn't be ordering any more episodes, because the films mainly attracted older viewers." [emphasis mine]
The third thing much in evidence when you watch the movies in quick succession is the entertaining reoccurrence of certain lines of dialog, which I suspect wouldn't work in a fast-paced, frenetic action film [Jesse's dialog in italics]:
"How do you know that, Jesse?
"I'm the chief of police; I know everything."
"I think this is what happened."
"You 'think,' Jesse?"
"I know, but I can't prove it."
"You don't like him."
"I don't think I ever said that."
[But he did.]
"Do you box, Jesse?"
"No, I fight."
"What's the difference?"
"Boxing has rules."
"Why did you do that, Jesse?"
"I don't know...That sounds like a shrink question."
[Jesse is driving and being followed. He abruptly skid-reverses and, as the car behind passes him, reverses again and pulls him over. After checking the driver's license or whatever:]
"You're not going to give me a citation?"
"I am not. I'm going to give you a warning instead. Don't follow me around."
[The best of these encounters occurs in the eighth film, Benefit of the Doubt (2012).]
"I'm just a small town cop. Mostly I give out parking tickets."
"Don't you talk?"
"Only when I have something to say."
"Damn it, we can fire you."
"You can. But you can't tell me what to do."
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| Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) |
Fortunately, although IMDb doesn't currently list anything in production, Mr. Selleck seems to be looking for another avenue for producing more Jesse Stone films: "I don't think [Benefit of the Doubt (2012) will be [the last Jesse Stone film], because there are so many other markets, cable and everything."
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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
"Correct order" in the following presentation includes the prequel's being listed first. The accompanying music by Jeff Beal gives you a taste:
| Please comment |
Only older viewers watch---we are the largest group in the viewing area and we control the remote.
ReplyDeleteRobert B. Parker's wife wrote the part of the deputy(the woman in the office)and after Robert's death she held a contest to pick a writer so Jesse Stone would live on. Can't remember the name of the winner only that he was a young fellow.
Maybe the "successor" is Michael Brandman, whose name I remember seeing paired with Selleck's in the writer credits for some of the movies? I found this on the Internet:
DeleteLate author Robert B. Parker’s estate has announced that his signature Spenser and Jesse Stone mystery novel series will continue. Parker died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., on Jan. 18, 2010 at age 77. Michael Brandman, who has co-written and produced the CBS TV movies that feature Tom Selleck as the tortured alcoholic detective Stone, will write the first Stone novel. Titled Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues, it will be published Sept. 13, 2011.
Shouldn't that be "mainly attracted MUCH older" viewers? (smile) Those of us who did not have our retirements ensconced by 2007 have minimal downtime to watch mindless TV or movies, so we prefer something with some life to it, and that puts some life into us. Ditto for sports: Give me X-Games energy over baseball or golf drudgery any day.
DeleteI don't think that is the fellow. I don't think this one had never written with Parker or at least that was the way the interview came across. Maybe they were just hyping for the next book, because I remember thinking at the time, to have a contest would mean thousand of manuscripts to read through. Thanks for the names of the other movies, I've only seen the two that were aired on TV.
ReplyDeleteThroughly love the Jesse Stone movies and watching Tom Selleck is just an added bonus.
ReplyDeleteI go along with Sharon's comment.That's the way I feel. Have been a big Tom fan for years too.
Delete"Big Tom"—is that what all Selleck's popularity with women is about? <grin>
DeleteWhile I was out in the back yard working just now, I thought of another short conversation that occurs more than once in the Jesse Stone movies, and, because it's one of my favorites, I added it to the post. It was this one:
ReplyDelete"Do you box, Jesse?"
"No, I fight."
"What's the difference?"
"Boxing has rules."