Story Another one who was never really a headliner, but who was a solid performer who was always working.
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Story Another one who was never really a headliner, but who was a solid performer who was always working.
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A long, long time ago, Paul Sorvino guest starred on The Streets of San Francisco as NYPD Detective Sgt. Bert D'Angelo, one of a long line of "The Maverick Who Doesn't Play By The Rules" types. For some reason or another, Bert D'Angelo found himself on the Left Coast in pursuit of some miscreant and decided to stay out there, leading to the short-lived spinoff Bert D'Angelo/Superstar!
The continuity freak in my lizard brain always thought they missed a bet when Paul Sorvino joined Law & Order in its second season and played another character instead playing Bert D'Angelo back home in the Big Apple 15 years later.
The Washington Post's obituary noted that, between Goodfellas and Law & Order, Paul Sorvino played lots of characters on both sides of the law. One of his little known and long forgotten efforts was The Oldest Rookie, a one-season wonder on CBS back in 1987.
The Oldest Rookie was thematically similar to The Rookie, currently on ABC. That show features Nathan Fillion as a sad sack from a small town in Pennsylvania who has a midlife crisis when his wife divorces him. In the pilot, he is at the bank about to put his wedding ring into his safety deposit box when some bandits rob the place. He distracts one of them with his tale of woe to allow a teller to hit the panic alarm, and just when one of the goons figures out what he's doing, the cops show up and blow the goon away. With this incident behind him, our sad sack decides to follow a long-deferred dream and joins the LAPD, despite being in his mid-40s.
On The Oldest Rookie, Sorvino is Ike Porter, who was assigned to office duties upon graduating from the police academy and worked his way up to deputy chief. But when one of his fellow academy classmates is killed on The Job, Porter regrets being a desk jockey for his whole career and decides to be a street cop, putting himself through the academy all over again. Once back in the bag, as they say, he is partnered with a younger rookie who complains about being on patrol because it's the detectives who get to do all the cool stuff. So Porter pulls a few strings and gets them promoted to detective!
Here's a clip of the opening credits. You may be forgiven for thinking this is a product of the Steven Cannell Factory, with music by Mike Post, but neither man had anything to do with this:
Of course, we mustn't forget Paul Sorvino's turn as mobster Eddie Valentine in The Rocketeer. As noted by Slash/Film, "Paul Sorvino's Key The Rocketeer Scene Is One of the Great Movie Moments of All Time"
Sorvino's memorable line: "I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American. And I don't work for no two-bit Nazi."
Better yet: The moment when the mobsters and the FBI team up to fight the Nazis: