The Blue Knight (1973)

 

William Holden, a truly fine actor appeared in the Blue Knight and played Joseph Wambaugh's fictional veteran street cop Bumper Morgan in the 1973 Made for TV movie based on Wambaugh's Novel .In the movie, Morgan is a veteran cop who is close to retirement to begin a new life with a law professor portrayed by Lee Remick. Holden, however did not age well during the last years of his life and looks ten years older than his actual age at the time of the film's release on TV (He was 55). Consequently, his character looked very old. Too old, in fact to continue walking a beat. Bumper Morgan is a hardcore, no nonsense cop of the old school and is often viewed as a dinosauer and he even comes into conflict with other police officers, like Sam Damon's character, a young detective. The one scene I truly detested was Bumper's distasteful interaction with one of his girlfriend's law students, A young african american woman who treated Morgan with a notable lack of courtesy during a party his girlfriend invited him to. Morgan should have told off the ill mannered, condescending young law student, yet he basically tolerated the arrogant young black woman's lack of courtesy, and civility as he related to her his experiences in dealing with law breakers.. I found that rather sickening to watch, and thought that Morgan should have told that arrogant student to go to hell. His girlfriend should have intervened to stop her student from continuing to treat Bumper with contempt, but remained silent. That scene was completely disposable. Otherwise, it was fun to watch Morgan interact with fellow cops played by Joe Santos (Who went on to play Sergeant/Lieutenant Dennis Becker in the Rockford Files), and Vic Tayback (who later played Diner owner Mel in Alice).along with his activities in the field plying his trade and not caring what liberal minded folks thought. As the movie progressed, Holden's character had to give more thought regarding his future with his girlfriend and wondered if he really wanted to step down from the force. Watch it and find out.