Over the Water (1975) User Reviews (2)

Trouble in New Jersey for Kojak

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 January 2013]

Theo Kojak is the kind of man who can't stand a bully. So while on a nice dinner date with a nice female companion, he sees some tough guy who it turns out owns the restaurant harassing this young couple who are also on a date. The tough guy is Michael Cristofer whose old man Tito Vandis owns the small Jersey town that the place is located. And Telly Savalas and Vandis have history.

Vandis is an old school guy who knows he's raised a punk and tries to make amends. But Cristofer who has chafed under the old man's thumb just wants to make his bounds and a big splash in the Mafia world by hitting a cop who insulted him and getting away with it. And if it means stepping over his old man, so be it.

When a hit goes out on Kojak, the Manhattan South Squad goes into action officially and unofficially. The guys rally around their lieutenant and they have the orders and blessings of Dan Frazer to do just that.

There's also a nice performance by Roy Poole as the police chief of the small Jersey town where all this started. A most conflicted and corrupt man who does not like what he's become, Poole has the best role in the story.

Good Suspense As Theo Is A Target Of A Hit

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 7 May 2012]

Frankly, I don't get the meaning of the title to this episode, but the story is another good one about a gangster family, one in which the father stays true to the "code" but his young son is out-of-control.

What's a papa going to do? Does he help a cop or let his son murder the cop (whom he knows: a guy named "Theo Kojak."

The hot-headed kid "Michael Viggers Jr." (Michael Cristoper) has just had his world blow up on him and, as a last act of revenge, is planning a hit job on "Theo." It doesn't take long for word to get out into the street and into police headquarters. Everyone knows it is going to happen.....but when, and how? As you can tell, this winds up to be a good suspensor.