Kojak (TV Series) Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die (1974) User Reviews

Bring her around slowly

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 May 2016]

The murder of a well known player among the female population is the case that the Manhattan South Squad is dealing with in this story. One murder turns into two when it's discovered that Andrea Marcovicci's treating psychiatrist has been missing for weeks.

The first victim had just finished a date with Marcovicci and she witnesses the killing, but is too traumatized to help. Telly Savalas attempts to really get inside her mind in order that Marcovicci open up.

We know from the beginning that the perpetrator is Lenny Baker who's also one disturbed, but violent individual. He's a pretty frightening character. Baker was very good and sadly died at a young age, one of the very first AIDS fatalities in 1982.

How the squad traces Baker's involvement is quite interesting. Check this one out for good performances from Marcovicci and Baker.

Well acted and creepy

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 19 June 2022]

An obsessed neighbor murders anyone he thinks is a threat to his relationship with a mentally fragile young woman. Unusual, creepy and well-acted, especially by Andrea and Baker, with shades of psycho.

Please not Joyce is a crazy young man!

[donnamariejones · 9/10 · 16 April 2024]

This is an excellent episode; Joyce is weird and turns scary and creepy. Lisa , you feel sorry for because she's already fragile mentally and this is all she needed was to witness Joyce's craziness and go deeper into mental shock. Lohan was very caring and tried to get to the bottom of what was going in and help Lisa. And Joyce's mother was excellent too as the nosy interfering demanding pain in the neck old lady. No wonder Joyce was off his rocker. This episode is one of my several favorites. The Christmas one and Ariana are also at the top of my list. This episode kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and it was sad seeing the psychiatrist killed and especially seeing Lisa pushed way over the edge where it appears she'll never get over her experience. It didn't surprise me that Joyce lost it with his mother.

A Very Involving Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 30 January 2012]

This was a good episode because it was different, and had a character you really cared about: "Lisa Walden." Andrea Marcovicci was riveting in that role.

She lived alone, was a former mental patient, tended her plants and birds and was a beautiful young woman. She was extremely vulnerable in her mental state and some wacko across the way was obsessed with her. "Joyce" lived with his sick mother and also had Lisa's house tapped so he could hear every conversation.

Meanwhile, Lisa hadn't had a date in a long while and that didn't end so well, thanks to good-neighbor "Joyce" (Lenny Baker). He stabs Lisa's date and almost gets away with it.

Through investigation, Kojak finds out Lisa was the dead man's date that night. However, he has to be very careful in trying to get some information out of her because she simply can't recall much and is so child-like it's sad.

Both Marcovicci and Lenny Baker made this an involving story. Reading the bios of both were shocking. Marcovicci is a very talented woman while poor Baker died of cancer at the age of 37, about five years after he did this episode.

Hitchcock should have had a cameo

[Ralpho · 6/10 · 12 December 2021]

The similarity between this episode an Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is obvious. An obsessive young man dresses as his mother and tries to stab Kojak.

Is this a police show, or a horror movie?

They should have offered Hitch a cameo.