This attempt to bring classic detective Nick Carter to the small screen as a series was an enjoyable hodgepodge of familiar fafes given the opportunity to dress up in period clothing and attempt to emulate pre-World War I New York City. Robert Conrad delivers the similar tongue-in-cheek perfornance he gave weekly on "The Wild, Wild West", and is a delight, especially when he deals with hard as nails nightclub Bess Tucker (Shelley Wihters, emulating Texas Guinan, but seeming far too modern) in investigating the murder of a young woman (Deirdre Hall, pre-"Days of Our Lives") and the disappearance of one of his associates.
Every time you turn around, it appears that another face from the past is on screen, over-emoting in roles that indicate that the script had far too many characters. Dean Stockwell, Broderick Crawford, Pat O'Brien, Sorrell Brooke, Neville Brand and Jaye P. Morgan are among familiar places that pop out in a variety of cameos of varying lengths, playing varioua archetypes of personalities of the time but really not creating believable characters. Brooke Bundy, best known for playing murder victim Diana Taylor on "General Hospital", is Conrad's secretary and possible love interest, pretty but bland.
This is a movie where style over substance prevails which probably next the idea of a series coming out of it. Too bad, because it would have been interesting to see a fpre-"Murder She Wrote" style show with a period setting, although this is a 1970's version of what life was like at the beginning of the twentieth century rather than making you feel like you were actually there. As far as the mystery is concerned, it's not really all that intriguing, perhaps because if you were is far too distracted by all the familiar faces popping up one after another.
Every time you turn around, it appears that another face from the past is on screen, over-emoting in roles that indicate that the script had far too many characters. Dean Stockwell, Broderick Crawford, Pat O'Brien, Sorrell Brooke, Neville Brand and Jaye P. Morgan are among familiar places that pop out in a variety of cameos of varying lengths, playing varioua archetypes of personalities of the time but really not creating believable characters. Brooke Bundy, best known for playing murder victim Diana Taylor on "General Hospital", is Conrad's secretary and possible love interest, pretty but bland.
This is a movie where style over substance prevails which probably next the idea of a series coming out of it. Too bad, because it would have been interesting to see a fpre-"Murder She Wrote" style show with a period setting, although this is a 1970's version of what life was like at the beginning of the twentieth century rather than making you feel like you were actually there. As far as the mystery is concerned, it's not really all that intriguing, perhaps because if you were is far too distracted by all the familiar faces popping up one after another.