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Cops: Caught in the Act
Fox // Unrated // March 23, 2004
List Price: $14.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
THE MOVIE
Ever get the feeling that you're not living up to your potential? That you're just not smart enough or pretty enough or slick enough to make it in today's world? Then throw Cops: Caught In The Act into your DVD player and you'll start to feel a whole lot better about yourself. If there's anything I've learned from watching this show, it's that the phrase "criminal mastermind" is a contradiction in terms.
This roughly 49-minute program was a special one-hour (minus the commercials of course) episode that aired on television. The theme of this volume is that we get to see the criminals actually performing the crime (or part of it) on video.
We start off at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, haven for the rowdy, the intoxicated, and the topless! Filming from the top of another building, the Cops camera catches a bunch of guys getting into a fight with the owners of a restaurant. They start bashing the doors in, and the police have to come in to calm thing down, arresting a few guys in the process.
Another segment has a female cop pulling over a man for a minor traffic violation (not yielding to an emergency vehicle). But while she's talking to the guy, another car comes out of nowhere and slams into her police cruiser and the pulled-over vehicle. It's one of those moments that literally make you gasp, because even though you are watching it on TV, you are both shocked and immediately concerned for the safety of the officer.
In the "I'm with stupid" portion of the main presentation, a pair of guys try to lift four cartons of cigarettes from a grocery store – only to be caught on tape by management and held at the store until the police arrive. There's also a bit about a guy who is so hopped up on drugs that he just jumps into another man's car, takes off in it and proceeds to hit a few other cars before he is finally stopped.
My favorite segment on this DVD takes us to New York City, where we get to watch the NYPD set up a sting operation to trap potential thieves in the New York Subway system. They load up one of their detectives with some expensive jewelry and other items, have him act like he is drunk and then wait for someone to take the bait. Is this police entrapment? I'm not sure…but it is great TV!
THE DVD
Video:
The video is about what one would expect from a television show which is shot by hand held camera. The video isn't particularly sharp or full of color, but it's decent enough – and about the same quality of what you'd see on TV when the show airs.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, which is more than good enough for this kind of presentation. No, it doesn't stand out in any way, but it's good enough not to be distracting – about as much as one would hope for on this kind of release.
Extras:
Aside from a chapter selection and a subtitle option, the only extra here is a 16-minute Too Hot For TV featurette that shows us some footage of stuff that you can't see on network television…most notably some very attractive women flashing their breasts at Mardi Gras. (Incidentally, if anyone knows the cute blonde in the red sweater, I'm educated, employed and available!) Is this Cops or Girls Gone Wild?! Once the segment leaves Mardi Gras, most of the rest of this extra is filled with drunks and druggies calling the police every name in the book.
THE BOTTOM LINE
These DVD releases (and there are several being released on DVD) of Cops special episodes probably don't warrant a purchase, but they are worth a rental – especially if you're a fan of the show and haven't seen these particular ones. It would be nice to see a DVD with nothing but "Too Hot For TV" material (instead of just teasing us with a little less than 20-minutes per DVD), but if they did that, they couldn't release a bunch of different ones, now could they?
Ever get the feeling that you're not living up to your potential? That you're just not smart enough or pretty enough or slick enough to make it in today's world? Then throw Cops: Caught In The Act into your DVD player and you'll start to feel a whole lot better about yourself. If there's anything I've learned from watching this show, it's that the phrase "criminal mastermind" is a contradiction in terms.
This roughly 49-minute program was a special one-hour (minus the commercials of course) episode that aired on television. The theme of this volume is that we get to see the criminals actually performing the crime (or part of it) on video.
We start off at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, haven for the rowdy, the intoxicated, and the topless! Filming from the top of another building, the Cops camera catches a bunch of guys getting into a fight with the owners of a restaurant. They start bashing the doors in, and the police have to come in to calm thing down, arresting a few guys in the process.
Another segment has a female cop pulling over a man for a minor traffic violation (not yielding to an emergency vehicle). But while she's talking to the guy, another car comes out of nowhere and slams into her police cruiser and the pulled-over vehicle. It's one of those moments that literally make you gasp, because even though you are watching it on TV, you are both shocked and immediately concerned for the safety of the officer.
In the "I'm with stupid" portion of the main presentation, a pair of guys try to lift four cartons of cigarettes from a grocery store – only to be caught on tape by management and held at the store until the police arrive. There's also a bit about a guy who is so hopped up on drugs that he just jumps into another man's car, takes off in it and proceeds to hit a few other cars before he is finally stopped.
My favorite segment on this DVD takes us to New York City, where we get to watch the NYPD set up a sting operation to trap potential thieves in the New York Subway system. They load up one of their detectives with some expensive jewelry and other items, have him act like he is drunk and then wait for someone to take the bait. Is this police entrapment? I'm not sure…but it is great TV!
THE DVD
Video:
The video is about what one would expect from a television show which is shot by hand held camera. The video isn't particularly sharp or full of color, but it's decent enough – and about the same quality of what you'd see on TV when the show airs.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, which is more than good enough for this kind of presentation. No, it doesn't stand out in any way, but it's good enough not to be distracting – about as much as one would hope for on this kind of release.
Extras:
Aside from a chapter selection and a subtitle option, the only extra here is a 16-minute Too Hot For TV featurette that shows us some footage of stuff that you can't see on network television…most notably some very attractive women flashing their breasts at Mardi Gras. (Incidentally, if anyone knows the cute blonde in the red sweater, I'm educated, employed and available!) Is this Cops or Girls Gone Wild?! Once the segment leaves Mardi Gras, most of the rest of this extra is filled with drunks and druggies calling the police every name in the book.
THE BOTTOM LINE
These DVD releases (and there are several being released on DVD) of Cops special episodes probably don't warrant a purchase, but they are worth a rental – especially if you're a fan of the show and haven't seen these particular ones. It would be nice to see a DVD with nothing but "Too Hot For TV" material (instead of just teasing us with a little less than 20-minutes per DVD), but if they did that, they couldn't release a bunch of different ones, now could they?
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