This film essentially begins with two rival mob families led by "Baruch Waldman" (Martin Gabel) and "Eddie Manzaro" (Marco St. John) in contention over the lucrative automobile theft business in New York City. At first the detective in charge of this investigation, "Deputy Inspector Frank Hovannes" (Frank Sinatra) insists that his small section abides by the rules and use standard police tactics. This changes, however, when his good friend and colleague "Captain Ernie Weinberg" (Martin Balsam) is killed in the line of duty while on a raid on one of the automobile body shops operated by one of the men belonging to Manzaro family-and things spiral out-of-control after that. Now rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a solid crime-drama for the most part but it suffered somewhat by some rather slow scenes along with a longer than normal running time (145 minutes). Likewise, although there were several decent actors involved, none of them really stood out in my opinion either. In any case, those looking for a basic 70's crime-drama of this sort might find this film to their liking and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
Review of Contract on Cherry Street
Contract on Cherry Street
(1977 TV Movie)
Suffered Somewhat by Some Slow Scenes and a Lengthy Running Time
16 November 2021