Walking Shadow
                   
Director: Leung Po-chi
Year: 2001
Rating: 7.0
Coming across this was a bit of a surprise. It is a Spenser TV movie with Joe Mantegna as the private eye. He starred in three of these that I was unaware of.  I have long been a fan of the Robert Parker series though it has probably been 20 years since I read one. Not really a fan of the TV series though. Robert Ulrich puts me to sleep faster than a couple of Ambien. The main issue though that I have with the series is the Susan Silverman character and how often she is brought into the shows for some warm fuzzy feelings. I like my noir or detective shows distilled, hard-boiled like a 5-minute egg and having a meaningful relationship throws it off kilter. Velda with Mike Hammer was ok - she was just the loyal secretary that he loved platonically. This suffers a bit from the same malady. Whenever Spenser is having those intimate flirty conversations with her the tense narrative comes to a dead stop like a hit and run. On the whole though I thought this was pretty good. Mantegna is such a good actor and he gets some solid support. And of course it deals with triads. I can't get away from them. Even in Boston.




But the more interesting aspect for me was the director. Leung Po-chi. One of the New Wave directors of Hong Kong with Jumping Ash, He Lives by Night and The Island. How the hell did he end up directing a TV movie for A&E? Admittedly, by 2001 his career in Hong Kong had come to a halt - his last directing gig had been the 1991 Shanghai 1920. He has made one film in Hong Kong since this film - the obscure Baby Blues but in America he has directed a few other movies - ones with Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson, Jude Law, F. Murray Abraham and Steven Seagal. He was born in England so I expect his English is fine. He does a good job here with some good camera work and short fantasy episodes in which Spenser sees himself dead. And when a dead man smiles.



Spenser is called into a case by Susan. A director of a theater group in Port Town thinks he is being stalked. Spenser brings in Hawk (Ernie Hudson) to keep tabs on him. It gets more complicated of course when an actor on the stage is shot through the heart with an arrow while performing. Spenser questions one of the other actors - Rikki Wu (Tamlyn Tomita) and gets the wrath of her husband (Ronin Wong) - a triad who brings a couple Vietnamese hitmen with him to warn Spenser.



 In pure noir fashion Spenser tells him he can't be scared off because that would ruin his business. Your business or your life Spenser. I have a dozen more like this. The triads are smuggling in immigrants. The police chief is played by Eric Roberts in an unusual low key performance but because it is Roberts you figure the chief is squirrely somehow. Spenser digs deep and in noir fashion finds a femme fatale at the end of the string.