Law & Order (TV Series) Black Tie (1993) User Reviews

What justice the rich can buy

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 12 June 2018]

On a desultory day at the precinct Jerry Orbach receives a call from anonymous source saying that a prominent millionaire has died and it was not natural causes. When he and Chris Noth arrive the wagons are circled and the widow Caroline Lagerfelt has dispatched the body to the funeral home.

Lagerfelt insists on no autopsy. Her stepson Malcolm Gets has other ideas and hires his own investigation.

Murder may have been done and if it was it was by a truly exotic means which I won't reveal. But the issue is was evidence obtained illegally by the PI who got well paid by the son. What about the poor defendant who can't afford the rates of a PI? It's the issue that will form the basis of an appeal.

The episode was based on the Claus Von Bulow case with the roles reversed as the husband is now the victim. We know how that one went.

The rich really can buy their own justice on some occasions.

Great Episode from the Show's Early Years

[Better_TV · 9/10 · 2 April 2018]

A well-written and very classy episode. Here the show is is riffing on the famous Sunny von Bülow case, with the genders flipped: instead of the wife being put in a coma due to an insulin overdose, it's the socialite husband who is killed instead.

Because Law & Order is such a plot-focused show, the smaller character moments are to be savored whenever they pop up. There's a great argument between the detectives and Van Buren about six minutes in; the cops are irritated that their lieutenant made them look like doofs in front of the victim's wife. "We couldn't handle it, is that what you're saying?" Logan angrily asks her.

"What you can't handle is my rank in a skirt, but this is neither the time nor the place to discuss it," she she fires back.

The episode focuses heavily on procedure and legal maneuvering thereafter, especially with regards to the controversial decision to exhume the victim's body to test his insulin levels. There's also a short, fun bit where Kinkaid meets with Whit Ferguson, the Truman Capote-esque writer who supplied the victim and his ice queen wife (a brilliant Caroline Lagerfelt) with their drugs. Actor Tom Lacy totally steals the scene.

The complex plot ultimately takes EADA Ben Stone to appellate court, where, as Schiff points out, the defendant is no longer on trial. "Now it's the lawyer's turn to be tried," he says.

An episode worth revisiting for its great performances and writing.

The ties that bind

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 3 September 2020]

As others have noted, "Black Tie" is based upon the Claus and Sunny Von Bulow case (a case that was still relatively raw around this time with the film 'Reversal of Fortune' having only come out a few years before). Except, again as said, the gender roles being reversed. The premise here is suitably complicated and fascinating and there was no doubt in my mind that it would not be wasted. If one liked or even loved the previous four episodes of Season 4, like me (especially "Profile"), it is very understandable if expectations are high.

Thankfully, "Black Tie" lived up to my high expectations on first viewing, and actually although the episode was great on first watch in terms of execution it is even greater now. It does nothing to squander its premise, it is every bit as intriguing and as intricate as one can expect. 'Law and Order' and the franchise in general often excelled when it came to touching upon tough and controversial topics, which "Black Tie" very much has and it does it very, very well indeed.

"Black Tie" feels a little rushed at the end, but actually there is so little to fault.

Immediately striking about "Black Tie" is the intricacy of the plotting. The story is appropriately complex, without being too over-complicated so coherence was not an issue, and raises a lot of interesting and insightful arguments. Yet again, it is another episode to not be afraid of handling a difficult topic and do so without any holding back, anything regarding body exhumation for evidence is controversial dependent on what lengths are gone to get it done. The subject matter is not done heavy-handedly but it doesn't sugarcoat and was done with tact.

Expectedly, all the regulars are strong with Michael Moriarty really carrying the legal-related scenes with aplomb. Caroline Lagerfelt plays one heck of an ice queen and really did give me chills without being obvious. They are helped by the clever and intelligent script, that had a nice balance of wisecracking and intensity in the investigative elements, Briscoe and Logan are so well matched, and real insight in the legal-oriented parts of the case. The direction lets the case breathe on the most part while not letting it lag at the same time.

Production values are fine, have always liked the photography's intimacy and grit and the look of the show has come on a good deal over-time (and it was good to begin with). The music doesn't intrude and has a haunting quality, have not always remembered that the theme tune is easy to remember and holds up.

To summarise, terrific episode and among the better ones of the first half of Season 4. 9/10

Dressed to be killed.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 1 December 2010]

This is a particularly interesting episode because it hews as closely as it does to events in the Claus von Bulow affair of some twenty years ago. (Cf., "Reversal of Fortune.") In this instance, instead of Sonny Bulow, the spoiled wife, being found in an insulin coma, the philandering husband is found dead at home. A phone call alerts the police to the possibility of murder. Brisco and Logan find the corpse on the bed, dressed neatly in a tuxedo, and quickly embalmed.

The dime, it turns out, was made by the maid, ever loyal to her rich master, and played by Viveca Lindfors, who is now no longer the gorgeous Queen sought by Errol Flynn, but a magnificent wreck who gives the best performance in the story.

At any rate, the cops get a warrant to dig up the body and find it "swimming in insulin." Neither the husband nor his wife were diabetic but both shot up insulin in order to avoid becoming unfashionably overweight. They were introduced to the practice by an effete writer named Gerald Austin (read "Truman Capote"). Arrested for murder, the wife hires a very high-end lawyer, Professor Norman Rothenberg (read "Professor Allan Dershowitz".) The evidence may all point to the wife as the culprit but it's ruled out by the appellate court because the initial search was done by a private investigator, as happened in the original case.

Moriarty wants to switch tactics and try the case again but the DA puts the kibosh on it, shrugging with resignation and acknowledging that money buys innocence.

Aside from this being an episode a clef, it's an interesting story in itself, and one in which the side of justice loses. I got an additional kick out of it when it occurred to me that two of the stars -- Moriarty and DeMunn -- were my supporting players in the sublime miniseries, "Windmills of the Gods."

Michelle Obama guest appearance

[alsolomon · 9/10 · 14 October 2018]

When judge orders body resume, she's the clerk in the background

Keyes to the murder

[safenoe · 6/10 · 23 October 2023]

Malcolm Gets, who later achieved stardom in the over-rated Caroline in the City, guests stars in Black Tie. Black Tie could have been a nuanced look into super-wealth and access to justice, but it kind of was a bit too black and white and there was no nuance at all really. If only there was nuance, then perhaps Black Tie could have really been a contender.

Also, the fury that Mr Big (Chris Noth) had towards his African-American boss was kind of out of line for sure, but I guess the racial aspects plays a role in New York City police. Anyway, I'm enjoying watching the early seasons of Law and Order.