Key points: Donato and daughter

In the latter stages of his career, Charles Bronson starred in numerous made-for-television movies for CBS. This was at the same time that Chuck Norris was a major piece in the CBS primetime puzzle, thanks to the success of Walker, Texas RangerIf CBS had aired the Michael Dudikoff series, Cobrapeople would probably wonder if CBS stands for Cannon Broadcasting System.

In this edition of Bullet Points I look back at the first of the four films Bronson made for CBS, the 1993 film. Donato and daughter…

• Sister, sister: There is a serial killer in Los Angeles who is targeting nuns… sexually abusing them, killing them, and cutting off their ring fingers. As the film begins, Sgt. Mike Donato (Charles Bronson, Death wish) and his partner arrive at the scene of the latest murder of a nun and begin investigating… it’s not long before Mike’s daughter, Lt. Dena Donato (Dana Delany, Tombstone) and her partner show up and you can feel the immediate tension between father and daughter… When Dena is selected to lead the team investigating the nun murders, the Chief suggests that Dena select her father for the team. Dena responds that her father wasn’t on her list, but she’s smart enough to know that when leadership makes a “suggestion” it’s really an order, so she swallows her pride and asks Mike to join the team and it’s not the most productive conversation the father and daughter have ever had.

• O brother, where are you?: The issues between Dena and her father all stem from her now deceased brother, Tommy. Tommy, like Dena and Mike, was a cop and it’s clear that there’s something about Tommy’s death that Mike doesn’t share… and it’s that secret that’s driven a wedge between Mike and his family. But there’s a killer on the loose and that takes precedence over any family drama… but realizing that this could be an opportunity to break that wedge, when Dena connects the team, she connects herself to her father… which makes sense given the title of the film.
• Mother F#*ck%r: When another nun is found dead in an apartment building elevator, the team begins questioning the building’s residents. As a result, they come up with two possible suspects. While it was pretty clear that Russ Loring (Xander Berkeley, Bulletproof) was the man from the moment he appeared on screen. If it wasn’t obvious to everyone that Russ was the man, there’s a scene just after he’s been interrogated by Dena and Mike where Russ goes to a locker and looks through some pictures of Dena and then pulls out his jar of severed fingers (minus the one he sent to Dena’s young son earlier in the film. Yeah, Russ is a sick bastard!). But it’s one thing for us, the viewers, to know that Russ is the killer, now we need our detectives to gather the evidence necessary to prove it.

• Father Time: Our agents begin digging into Russ Loring’s background, including Mike Donato who takes a trip to the small Arizona town where Russ grew up. Mike talks to the town’s now retired police chief and that’s when he learns that Russ had a girlfriend back then, a girlfriend who decided to join the convent, but before she could follow her calling… she disappeared! The chief was never able to pin the disappearance on Russ, partly because Russ’ mother swore her son was home the night the girl disappeared… The agents also learn that Russ moved to Texas after his days in Arizona. And there were also a string of nuns murdered in Texas and when Russ moved to California, the killings stopped… So now all the agents have to do is get Russ cracking and that means some mind games! Like Donato riding on either side of Russ (in a scene straight out of 10am to midnight) and the Donatos have lunch at the same place Russ has lunch… And it works, Russ plays right into their hands… In 1993, Father Time finally caught up with Charles Bronson. His days of taking down entire street gangs and drug cartels were coming to an end and Donato and daughter was definitely not your typical Bronson movie. But there was still only one way to end this movie right… and that’s with Bronson’s Mike Donato blowing Russ Loring away, which is a typical Bronson movie ending!

Charles Bronson’s screen presence and star power have increased Donato and daughter above your typical made for TV movie and in my opinion even above the Family of agents films that Bronson would later star in for CBS… Bronson had to put on his acting shoes and he did his best, along with Dana Delany, who gave a strong and believable performance.

So if you’re in the mood for a quality TV movie, like the one your grandparents might have enjoyed on September 21, 1993, order a pizza from Donato’s and give Donato and daughter a watch (it’s currently on YouTube). And if you’re in the mood for some Bonus Bullet Points, read on…

• Best scene: My favorite scene in the movie was when Mike and Dena interview Bert Harris, the brother of one of the murdered nuns. Mike Donato gets so frustrated with Bert answering the questions like he’s on a game show… frustrated Bronson is an entertaining Bronson!
• Familiar face: Jenette Goldstein (Aliens And Almost dark) plays a member of Dena’s team and a friend of the Donato family, Detective Judy McCartney. Judy ends up dead after the team follows up on a bad tip.
• Famous place: Russ Loring’s office is located in the famous Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, the same location used for one of my all-time favorite Bronson films, Murphy’s Law.
• Also known as: Donato and daughter is also known as Death for RightsIn Australia it was released as Relative danger and in the UK it was released as Under threat.