The City (1977 film)

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The City
GenreCrime
Drama
Written by John Wilder
Directed by Harvey Hart
Starring Robert Forster
Don Johnson
Ward Costello
Jimmy Dean
Mark Hamill
Theme music composer John Elizalde
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producer Quinn Martin
ProducerJohn Wilder
Cinematography Jacques R. Marquette
Editors Ray Daniels
Jim Gross
Running time78 minutes
Production company Quinn Martin Productions
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseJanuary 12, 1977 (1977-01-12)

The City is a 1977 American made-for-television crime drama film starring Robert Forster, Ward Costello, Don Johnson, Jimmy Dean, and Mark Hamill.

Contents

Background

The City was produced as a pilot for a proposed television series, which was picked up by NBC. It was originally broadcast on January 12, 1977, and was the original pilot for Quinn Martin's "Tales of the Unexpected" which premiered a few weeks later on February 2, 1977.

Plot

Los Angeles Police Department Homicide Lieutenant Matt Lewis and Sergeant Brian Scott are assigned to investigate a puzzling murder: a man is apparently killed at random, with no obvious motive. As Lewis and Scott dig deeper into the case, they uncover a far more troubling pattern at work.

The murder victim is linked to the charismatic country-music star Wes Collins, whose public persona masks a less-secure private life. Collins performs for adoring fans and lives in a handsome suburban home with his young son Donnie, but his past contains shadows that become relevant to the case. Collins is confronted by Collins’s business associates and his manager about the mounting strain of the investigation that seems to target someone in his orbit.

The detectives trace the crimes to Eugene Banks, a disturbed young man whose behaviour grows increasingly erratic and dangerous. Banks is haunted by the belief that Wes Collins is his biological father — a conviction stemming from the dying statements of his mother, who, on her deathbed, insisted that Collins abandoned her and the child years ago. This alleged abandonment fuels Banks’s deep-seated rage and desire for vengeance.

As Banks prepares his revenge, Lt. Lewis and Sgt. Scott race against time to protect Collins and his family. Banks begins by stalking and terrorising people close to Collins, killing one of the detectives who tries to intervene, and issuing threats that blur the line between celebrity target and former parent figure.

Throughout the investigation, Lewis and Scott uncover the traumatic background that shaped Banks’s psyche: his early years included abandonment, confusion, and the unresolved question of his father’s identity. Collins’s past — including a fleeting relationship with Banks’s mother and an on-stage punching incident when Banks was a child — becomes central to the case.

In the climax, Banks confronts Collins at his home, triggering a violent encounter in which the detectives intervene. A tense showdown ensues, forcing Collins to face the consequences of his past and forcing Banks to confront the destructiveness of his revenge. The detectives secure Banks before more lives are lost, and the case closes. Collins, shaken by his ordeal, reflects on the cost of fame and the responsibilities of fatherhood, while Lewis and Scott prepare to return to the city’s daily grind — having averted major tragedy, but at the expense of unsettling truths about family, identity, and vengeance.

Cast