Out of the Darkness (1985)

Lack of good storyline.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Most negative comments on docu-dramas usually focus on factual inaccuracies, which is certainly valid. My highest rating for this intense TV movie is based entirely on the dramatic elements, not knowing all the details of the Son of Sam case myself. There seem to be two camps who "own" the story, the Jimmy Breslin group which includes Spike Lee, who based his "Summer of Sam" film on Breslin's book. Ed Zigo is the hero here, and Breslin is dissed early in the "Out of the Darkness" by the Brooklyn cops who are the focus of this tight and emotionally rewarding film.As portrayed by Martin Sheen, Ed Zigo's professional and family life is richly revealed. Sheen is completely believable (except probably for those who know Ed Zigo personally), and he sets the acting bar at an extremely high level. The fine supporting cast, led by Elizondo as the aquarium-loving priest, are up to the task. The script is as naturalistic and engrossing as any you will find in a TV movie, and the outstanding location shooting add to the pitch-perfect atmosphere.When you see the real-life hero of the film listed as the technical adviser, you always suspect he or she is going to be shown in a positive if not downright glorified way. I don't need to know Ed Zigo to know that this is a truly great film, made-for-TV or not, with real drama, suspense, fascinating characters, and large emotional rewards.

Out of the Darkness (1985) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Made for TV movie about Detective Eddie Zigo (Martin Sheen) who is trying to keep his personal life on track while hunting down the Son of Sam killer. This movie left me pretty disappointed because it promised to "tell you new things" but it hardly deals with the actual Son of Sam case. Most of the film deals with Sheen's sick wife, which is fine but it's all very routine. The Son of Sam case is barely talked about and we really don't get too much behind the scenes info on what the police were thinking or doing at the time. Towards the end when they finally capture the guy things really pick up but by then it's too late. Sheen is good in his role as is Hector Elizondo, Robert Trebor and Joe Spinell.

What could be an interesting story about a madman and the police in pursuit of him is turned into a soap-opera tragedy of the week punctuated by a few anonymous shots fired from a pistol in close up. We learn an awful lot about Detective Ed Zigo's tribulations, mainly centering about his wife's terminal illness, and very little about the key figure in the story. David Berkowitz was a paranoid schizophrenic who worked for the post office and obeyed orders given to him by a neighborhood dog, which he called "Sam." He led the police and the press a merry chase. The newspapers and TV reporters of the time were going berserk with speculation. He was an ex-policeman because he used the two-handed combat crouch that cops used. (All he had to do to learn that stance was go to a movie.) He was on the lookout for girls with long brown hair parted in the middle because of some buried trauma. (Every young woman in the United States of America had long brown hair parted in the middle.) He was an artist or an architect because of the fussily neat printing he used in his letters to journalists. (He was nothing of the sort, just a guy with neat printing.) He had some kind of cowboy complex because he used a .44 caliber weapon. (It was just convenient, he had other weapons too.) He turned out to be, not David Berkowitz, but rather "David Berkowitz," an adopted child with an Italian background. (All my Jewish friends breathed a sigh of relief.) Whatever his background he was nutty as a fruitcake. A hole in his apartment wall had a cartoon balloon over it, saying, "Hi. My name is Mr. Williams and I live in this hole." The fact that a guy so flagrantly nuts could work in an ordinary post office without detection is almost as scary as the fact that he could stalk the streets at night. The story was filled with ironies. The ol' .44 he toted was built by Charter Arms. It's a large-caliber gun. Yet, despite firing at very close range, he only managed to kill six of his 13 victims with it. Was it possible that Charter Arms' .44 pistol wasn't really as lethal as everyone had thought? A spokesman for the firm was more or less forced, in effect, to defend the product and apologize for the fact that most of the victims survived.None of this is in the film. Not that the acting is poor. Martin Sheen is quite good, as usual, especially hustling across the street to inform his partners that he has just discovered the shooter's identity after searching his car, practically dancing with excitement. But the people making this film didn't seem to know what they were aiming for. The first several shootings take place without elaboration or explanation before we meet any of the characters. The procedures involved in tracking Son of Sam down are skipped over, as if they were interruptions of the tragic drama of Zigo's life, the main subject of the movie. James Edward Olmos, a first-rate actor, is given a surfeit of screen time at the expense of the detective story. There are extended family scenes that deserve no more than footnotes. All of this detracts from the impact and suspense of a sensational story, even from our interest in it.Where did the director and the writers think they were going with this? Into Plan A, The disease of the week protocol? If you want to learn about the case, read one of the several books available about it, including a novelized version by Jimmy Breslin. Don't waste time on this misguided effort.

The movie presents a horrific time in New York in a very positive way. Giving facts. Also letting us in on what it is like to be a policeman with a family. Very good movie.