Murders Remade for Television
Kojak's original movie, The Marcus-Nelson Murders, aired on March 8, 1973. Directed by Joseph Sargent (who recently directed HBO's Something the Lord Made), the movie was based on the criminal investigation that followed the heinous sexual assault and murders of Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert, two young, white career women, whose deaths were dubbed the Career Girl Murders.
The brutal crimes—the bodies were cut at least 63 times—had occurred on August 28, 1963—the date of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech—and police later claimed that a slim, 19-year-old black man, George Whitmore, Jr., had confessed to the murders. But he had apparently been forced by police to confess.
Due at least partly to the efforts of a newspaper reporter, Selwyn Raab—whose book, Justice in the Back Room, published in 1968, was the basis for both the Kojak movie and the series—suspect Whitmore was exonerated. The real murderer, Richard Robles, a drug addict, was arrested and convicted. He finally admitted to the Career Girl Murders during a parole board hearing in the 1980's. Besides Savalas as Kojak, the movie starred Ned Beatty (Network), Broadway star Chita Rivera and Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac), though the TV movie is not included on the Kojak—Season One DVD.
Reporter Raab, who would figure prominently in the murder charges against boxer Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter and the pre-Oscar controversy over Denzel Washington's The Hurricane, was like a bulldog when he got a hold of a story. As one former colleague told Time magazine in 1974, when Kojak dominated every Sunday night: "He doesn't let go until he gets what he wants." Neither did the bald guy with the lollipops in his drawer, who, while changed from journalist to policeman, captured Raab's tenacious sense of justice.
RELATED ARTICLES
• 3/22 - When 'Kojak' Was King
• DVD REVIEW: 'Kojak' Has Mojo, Baby
RELATED LINKS
• 'Kojak' DVD Official Web Site
• Savalas Family Web Site
• About the Wylie-Hoffert Murders
• Buy 'Kojak' on DVD from Amazon.com
• New USA Network 'Kojak' Series Starring Ving Rhames
The brutal crimes—the bodies were cut at least 63 times—had occurred on August 28, 1963—the date of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech—and police later claimed that a slim, 19-year-old black man, George Whitmore, Jr., had confessed to the murders. But he had apparently been forced by police to confess.
Due at least partly to the efforts of a newspaper reporter, Selwyn Raab—whose book, Justice in the Back Room, published in 1968, was the basis for both the Kojak movie and the series—suspect Whitmore was exonerated. The real murderer, Richard Robles, a drug addict, was arrested and convicted. He finally admitted to the Career Girl Murders during a parole board hearing in the 1980's. Besides Savalas as Kojak, the movie starred Ned Beatty (Network), Broadway star Chita Rivera and Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac), though the TV movie is not included on the Kojak—Season One DVD.
Reporter Raab, who would figure prominently in the murder charges against boxer Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter and the pre-Oscar controversy over Denzel Washington's The Hurricane, was like a bulldog when he got a hold of a story. As one former colleague told Time magazine in 1974, when Kojak dominated every Sunday night: "He doesn't let go until he gets what he wants." Neither did the bald guy with the lollipops in his drawer, who, while changed from journalist to policeman, captured Raab's tenacious sense of justice.
RELATED ARTICLES
• 3/22 - When 'Kojak' Was King
• DVD REVIEW: 'Kojak' Has Mojo, Baby
RELATED LINKS
• 'Kojak' DVD Official Web Site
• Savalas Family Web Site
• About the Wylie-Hoffert Murders
• Buy 'Kojak' on DVD from Amazon.com
• New USA Network 'Kojak' Series Starring Ving Rhames
