Title: Movie: Part 2
Directed by: Noam Pitlik
Written by: Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein
Air Date: January 29, 1981
Previous: Movie: Part 1
Next: The Psychic
Guest Starring: James Gregory, Jay Gerber, Ralph Manza, J.J. Barry, Norman Bartold
"Movie: Part 2" is the 10th episode of the seventh season of Barney Miller.
It's the return of recurring character Leon Roth, a blind man, who once again is victim of a mugging. As it turns out, the mugger is specifically targeting the disabled—the blind, wheelchair users, and the like. Eventually the 12th arrests one Arthur Duncan, who confesses that he's been preying on the disabled because regular people are too dangerous: ordinary New Yorkers are all carrying guns or Mace or know kung-fu.
The second wacky case has Dietrich and Wojo bringing in Howard Fuller, who committed armed robbery at an accounting firm. Mr. Fuller wasn't committing armed robbery for himself, not quite—he is a professional fundraiser who was collecting for a charity called The Giving Hand, and he was having problems meeting his quota.
Meanwhile, Harris is busy completing his pornographic film, part of an NYPD infiltration of the pornography industry, a job that he started in previous episode "Movie: Part 1". The film is finally ready, and Harris screens it for his coworkers. It turns out to be an absurdly long and verbose porn film, as Harris, who got completely carried away, basically decided to make a hardcore porn art movie. And in other events, Inspector Luger has stopped by to complain about his life again, this time telling Barney that he's tired of working with the Media Relations department.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: This was a running gag with Inspector Luger, usually to Levitt, but sometimes with others. In this one for some reason he calls Mr. Roth "Mr. Shearing."note
- All for Nothing: Right after Harris screens his porno, Barney gets a call from NYPD brass. He's told that for pretty obvious reasons—concerns about entrapment and the possibility of blowback on the NYPD—the department has canceled the operation and ordered the film destroyed. Harris, at least, is going to make a copy for himself before he hands over the negative. (Dietrich asks for one too.)
- As You Know: For the second straight episode, Barney complaining to Harris about going wildly over budget (Harris had a $3000 budget but spent $22,000 of NYPD money) also doubles as an explanation to the audience that Harris is making a porn film as part of a police operation to infiltrate the underground porn industry in New York.
- Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Mr. Roth wears his usual dark sunglasses.
- Brick Joke: For a brick tossed the previous episode: In the first part of the two-parter, Harris calls a stock-footage licensing company for stock shots of Manhattan as well as... um... interesting visual metaphors... for the climax of the movie. Along with the expected volcano (and the firm apparently can get him footage of the then-recent Mount Saint Helens eruption) and fireworks, he also asks for footage of "that cereal they shoot out of guns"note . In this episode, the squad watches the finished film. As the movie ends, Luger out of nowhere remarks "hey, I use'ta eat that cereal as a kid!" They were able to get Harris the footage he asked for!
- Creator Cameo: In-Universe. Barney is horrified to see that Harris wrote himself a cameo in the film as a character called "Black Stallion" (apparently he's just serving drinks).Harris: Hitchcock does it!
- Insane Troll Logic: Mr. Roth, asked to tell anything he can tell about his mugger, says "he smelled short."
- Mathematician's Answer: Barney sees Mr. Roth, a blind man, flipping through mug books. He asks why, and Dietrich says "He got mugged!"
- Multi-Part Episode: Second part of a two-parter in which Harris writes, directs, and produces a porno as part of an NYPD operation.
- Noodle Implements: The 12th has good coffee for once as Mr. Roth makes a pot. As Barney enjoys it Mr. Roth says he always puts in some salt with the grounds to cut the acidity.Barney: I didn't know we had salt in here.
Mr. Roth: Felt like salt. - Porn with Plot: What Harris made, basically a very long movie that's mostly a Speech-Centric Work with some hardcore sex scenes thrown in.
- Purple Prose: In-Universe, the porno that Harris plays for his coworkers has ridiculously verbose, wordy dialogue that sounds like it comes from a bad art film, which of course is what Harris made. "Starry Night Productions", indeed.
- Shout-Out: Wojo says he'll go out on a call with Dietrich because "Fellini's busy."
- Something Else Also Rises: An audio example. It certainly isn't an accident that Harris's porno ends with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", namely the bit where the cannons are firing off.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Mr. Bernie, the head of the Giving Hand, who happens to be in the audience for Harris' movie's debut asks "Who wrote this?" Harris replies proudly "I did." Mr. Bernie then asks "Why?"
