Most would be forgiven to not have known about this one off Bronson made for TV movie because originally it was a TV pilot, but it was not picked up as a series after it aired, and was shelved very quickly to be forgotten. Its IMDB rating of 5.7 is generous as there was good reason why it wasn't picked up. This would be the first of Bronson's LAST 5 movies made as his health we failing and he would die in 2003.
A typical TV series of the day but unfortunately an ageing 72 year old Bronson (3 years out from the death of his wife Jill Ireland from breast Cancer, and 6 years out from his last movie & 10 years out from his death)) looked very tired, sluggish, and more like a robot going through the motions and an actor on his last legs.
Dana Delany taking a quick pickup gig between Wild Palms and Tombstone roles played the feminist (a masculine role) of the Lieutenant in charge of the investigation.
This was Delany's worst rated roll in years and it showed. The audience never liked her role nor her relationship with Bronson. It would have been way better to just have Bronson as the main character and call the TV series Donato. Adding Delany as the Feminist Daughter Lieutenant was the mistake that got this TV series CANNED and put on the shelf forever.
This was NOT vintage Bronson as we had all come to love and know. It was sloppy, sluggish, poorly written and didn't do any of the two main actors any justice at all. Many times the lines and edits just didn't make any sense. The story line was common and well worn through many other TV series so there was nothing ORIGINAL.
Bronson would go on the following year to make his final Death Wish: The face of Fear movie, which was by far the worst of the series and an utter flop!
A year after that he would try and repeat the same failed pairing from Donato, this time with Angela Featherstone, of a father and doughtier in the "Family of Cops" trilogy, which were just as bad as this one and would be his last hurrah.
