Law & Order (TV Series) The Violence of Summer (1991) User Reviews

They're all punks

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 27 October 2017]

A couple of guys who went on to some substantial careers, an Oscar nomination for Samuel L. Jackson and an Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman are in this Law And Order episode. Jackson is a defense attorney and Hoffman is one of a few accused of rape of Megan Gallagher.

This episode opens with charges dismissed against Hoffman and Gil Bellows. But both are afraid that a third defendant Kenny Johnston is going to rat them out and Bellows freaks out so bad he grabs a court officer's gun and tries to shoot Johnston.

That gets the case kicked back to Greevey and Logan to backtrack for evidence. Gallagher is also not the easiest victim to work with.

There's another perpetrator here and Jackson is his lawyer once he's finally identified through some very hard work by George Dzundza and Chris Noth. That's Al Shannon and the other two are rightly scared of him. But they're all punks.

Kudos to Dzundza who really does a great job in getting Hoffman and Bellows to incriminate themselves. You have to see it to believe it.

"I don't care if you were there to buy a nuclear bomb, you're not the one on trial"

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 10 October 2019]

"The Violence of Summer" is quite a fascinating episode. Much of it is down to the supporting cast, which sees a couple of firsts. One is the first credited appearance for Philip Seymour Hoffman. The same goes for Gil Bellows and it was interesting to see Samuel L. Jackson in a relatively early role in a different role to usual. There is also a change of pace regarding the format, with the order of the police investigation and the prosecution reversed meaning we saw the latter first.

As well as being a fascinating episode for those reasons, "The Violence of Summer" is a great one too. One of the best of the very solid if not always completely settled first season, one of the best of the second half of the season (where there up to this point has not been a bad episode, with even the weakest "Everybody's Favourite Bagman" being pretty good if with too much of a pilot episode feel) and one of the best since "Indifference".

Would have liked more development and depth to Monica, the more there is learnt of her the less compelling she becomes and sympathy for her diminishes too.

Everything else in "The Violence of Summer" though works wonders. It was an interesting if risky move breaking away from the usual format 'Law and Order', and the whole franchise in fact, and it is executed very well here. Structurally it is always cohesive and what's more and more essential in my mind is that the police investigation and prosecution elements are equally compelling. Even with the less than sympathetic victim, one does root for the case to be solved as it is one that draws one right in with some nice twists, seeing the methods with how the detectives and lawyers work and that the responsible are suitably loathsome. A big highlight here is how the responsible are incriminated and caught, that was clever and the tension increases here.

Production values are still suitably slick and gritty and the music wisely doesn't intrude or get melodramatic in the more dramatic bits (like the revealing of the truth). The main theme never gets old and is one of the better 'Law and Order' themes in my view. The writing is hard-boiled and thought-provoking, even inserting a reference to the 1964 murder case of Kitty Genovese, while the performances are uniformly good. Usually Michael Moriarty is the standout of the regulars but this time for me it was George Dzundza, especially when Greevey gets the result needed to solve the case which as said was one of the episode's highlight scenes. "The Violence of Summer" similarly features, not one, not two, but three of the first season's guest starring turns in Hoffman, Jackson and Bellows. Hoffman (who would go on to even greater things until his ultimely death that is still felt) is particularly good, and Al Shannon also is worthy of a mention.

Overall, great and an example of what 'Law and Order' is all about. 9/10

Sam Jackson n Phillip Seymour Hoffman

[drpainters · 7/10 · 18 November 2019]

Wow to the random actors in this episode. Episode itself is just okay, one of the weaker so far into the season.

Law and Order and Law

[safenoe · 7/10 · 17 April 2023]

There is an interesting narrative in this episode, which truly starts with the Law aspect, with Paul Robinette in the court room at the beginning, and we wonder why. Then the episode proceeds eventually to the Order aspect, and then wraps up with the law. This is one of the few episodes where the end credits display the fate of the accused.

Meghan Gallagher (who I first saw in the underrated series The Slap Maxwell Story) is the reporter victim in this episode, who has a reputation for reporting sensationalistic stories.

I like the gritty nature of New York City of the early episodes of Law and Order.

The Dismissed Case

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 16 November 2022]

While preparing to a gang rape case against the notorious sensationalist journalist Monica Devries, Stone decides to temporarily dismiss the case since there are not enough evidences to prosecute the three perpetrators and Monica's testimony is flawed and contradictory. Stone and Robinette go to Capt. Cragen's office and Greevey and Logan are assigned to bring new evidences. They suggest to hypnotize Monica and soon they learn that there was a fourth and most dangerous element in the gang rape.

"The Violence of Summer" is another good episode of "Law & Order". The plot is interesting, but maybe the greatest attraction in the present days is Philip Seymour Hoffman in a minor role of a punk rapist. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Violência de Verão" ("Violence of Summer")