I don't mind the same story being told over and over as long as it's well done and well acted.I do mind when it's something like "First Degree," which is just draggy, filled with swearing to spice it up, and has pretentious music. There was one other problem -- some of the actors thought speaking in almost a whisper would be effective. Yes, you effectively can't hear them with the television up to full volume.This had a few redeeming qualities having nothing whatsoever to do with the story. The first is that, looking at Rob Lowe, 31 at the time, the movie could have been made last week. I swear this guy bathes in the blood of virgins or something. The second was getting to see Don Francks, an old TV actor, playing a role in this. And the third was seeing another old TV and movie actor, Bret Halsey, in another role.And that's about it. The story goes like this: A wealthy, prominent New Yorker, Andrew Pyne, is found dead in an alley. The head of the investigation, Rick Mallory (Lowe), believes it to be a mob hit, specifically from the Galeno family.I'll make this short. Though it looks for all the world like a mob hit, some people aren't convinced. Meanwhile, Mallory and the widow (Leslie Hope) begin an affair. So professional.The dead man's mother hires an ex-cop to investigate. He finds the hit man, who claims that the widow paid him to kill her husband. Mallory of course is now under suspicion and is taken off the case and out of homicide. But he is convinced that the widow didn't do it, nor did the mobster Galeno (Bret Halsey).This went right to video, for good reason. I will concede that the ending was good. If you have supersonic ears and you like this sort of film, you may like this.

Looking all of 29 years old, Rob Lowe is a detective in charge of a murder investigation.When the husband of a society woman (Leslie Hope) is found dead, police suspect the rich chick might have something to do with it. Enter Rob who immediately falls for the pretty widow even though he claims that he's just trying to be 'helpful'. Rob is such a good cop, he is able to sneak some of her incriminating love letters into his coat pocket before he accidentally throws them into the fireplace. Monotonous murky drama with an endless drone of background music.This is a good substitute sleeping remedy if you've run out of Sominex.

This movie is exactly the same as Ridley Scott's, "Someone To Watch Over Me", which is a classic. It stars Tom Berenger and Mimi Rogers and the bad guy from the Fugitive. It's a quality movie, with good direction and great acting. This movie is the polar opposite. It's the same plot, just minus any good acting and adding TV movie direction. I do have to say I like the interaction between Lowe and the woman. She's hot and their romance is believable on many levels. Unfortunately, that alone cannot save this carbon copy of the classic Ridley Scott film.Usually crappy TV movies have some redeeming quality that makes them watchable at the very least. I think for me, this film's redeeming value is that Rob Lowe and the lead female have chemistry. That and I was able to watch and compare the plot to another quality film.

There was absolutely nothing in this film that hadn't been done better in a hundred other films. It was barely worth the trouble of watching through to the end. Even the bad language sounded tired. Tom McCamus, a very fine actor, was particularly disappointing here.