Prime Target (1989 TV Movie) User Reviews (4)

Adequate -barely-TVcop movie

[lorenellroy · 5/10 · 1 March 2008]

Angie Dickinson plays a New York City homicide cop assigned to a task force to investigate the death of a female cop in a department store bomb blast .The death is not the only one as soon after another policewoman is killed when a drug set up goes awry.Both women were Hispanic and had recently successfully sued the Police Department for reinstatement .At first Dickinson believes the killings were the work of disgruntled male officers angered at male colleagues losing their jobs as a consequence of the womens'actions .Soon however it becomes clear one of the victims was taking bribes and that other officers are similarly compromised .She ignores warnings to drop the case and soon she is battling to save her life as well as her career. The acting is pretty solid with good turns from Dickinson ,David soul as the commissioner ,Yaphet Kotto as an overzealous Internal Affairs investigator and Charles Gurning as Dickinson's ex-cop Dad.The writing and plotting are "by the numbers"and the direction functional.

This is no great shakes but passes muster as a workmanlike TV cop movie

Not a "Police Woman" revival TV-movie, but it might as well be

[a_chinn · 5/10 · 19 February 2018]

Ange Dickinson plays Sgt. Kelly Mulcahaney, not to be confused with her "Police Woman" TV Series character Sgt. Suzanne 'Pepper' Anderson, but you might as well confuse the two because this TV movie was written and directed by the creator of Police Woman and plays out like an updated version of that series. Dickinson is still the same tough female cop in a man's world that she was on "Police woman," but in this TV movie there's a bit more "Cagney & Lacey" 1980s grit to the proceedings. That story revolves around Dickinson's NYCP detective looking into a series of killings of female police officers and finds out that she's the next target. There's nothing really of note here with the exception of Dickinson, who I've always liked since first seeing "Rio Bravo" and "Point Blank," but that was enough to hold my interest and to make it worth watching. Joseph Bologna and David "Hutch" Soul also appear in the telefilm.

Prime Target

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 27 June 2009]

Average cop thriller, a star vehicle for Angie Dickinson who portrays a Sergeant detective assigned the case of a series of killings towards women and how this might tie in with cops on the take. This difficult case coincides with a city wide furlough causing a dissension between male and female cops(..good male cops laid off while women officers continue working). David Soul is Dickinson's superior, the City Commissioner working with Yaphet Kotto of Internal Affairs, wanting to weed out the bad cops, especially those which might be killing female officers. Dickinson's life is endangered by those whose job is to protect and serve, encountering cops, under disguises, making hostile threats if she doesn't back away.

Really, this is merely an okay "Television Movie of the Week", with no profanity or violence(..nothing is shown on screen, just horrified reactions)with Dickinson a tough old bird who doesn't take too kindly to death threats..it does seem like a pilot for a television series. Charles Durning stops by as Dickinson's brother(..their mother is at the brink of death;it's basically a glorified cameo, but it's always nice seeing Durning pop up under any circumstances). The film, like others before it, makes a judgmental stance towards dirty cops taking "merchandise" from criminals. Always a benefit is the use of authentic city locations to add color and texture to the story. It was nice seeing Dickinson returning to her "policewoman" roots, even if the film itself doesn't exactly blow you away. I think the major problem of the film is you are never convinced that Dickinson will come under any harm, a fatal problem for a thriller such as this..she stares danger down and doesn't quiver at those who could potentially harm her. While this quality is admirable, when you are talking about cops wanting to keep their identities(..and jobs)secure, snubbing your nose at their threats towards her life should, at the very least, provoke caution for Dickinson's detective.

Just routine, Ma'am

[rmax304823 · 31 August 2002]

Spoilers. Somebody is killing the policewomen of New York, perhaps because they are digging up dirt on some of their male colleagues and squealing to Internal Affairs. Angie Dickinson, as Pepper Adams, I mean Kelly Mulcahaney, comes to suspect she may be next when she begins receiving the silent serial late-night phone calls that the others have received. The murderer turns out to be a bad cop who is offed by other cops in order to preserve "the honor of the badge." Charles Durning plays a retired ex-cop, Kelly's dad, very pleasantly, Irish accent and all. He's always a treat to watch and always likable, even when he's doing heavies. Durning, born in a New York suburb, participated as an infantryman in the Normandy invasion and contemporary photos show a slender, handsome, thoughtful soldier. He may be the best thing about this routine police mystery/thriller. New York City locations aren't used particularly well, the other performances are mostly fuzzy, and Durning himself doesn't have much screen time. An attempt at a car chase is thrown in but that's routine as well. Yaphet Koto is about up to Durning, as an IA officer, and that's about it. It isn't an insulting film, nor an especially bad one. It's just has a kind of recycled feel to it. I remember an episode of Pepper Adams (the last one, or maybe the only one, I bothered watching) in which Angie Dickenson and Earl Holliman, playing police officers, discussed what "the crooks" had done. They actually used that term in the dialogue -- "the crooks." That's pretty amateurish writing. I had the same feeling about this entire film. Don't bother with it if anything else is on.