Jesse Stone

Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone in Innocents Lost

My mom is a huge Tom Selleck fan, in fact she is the reason we watched our very first Jesse Stone movie. Typically her, Edgar, and I never agreed on what movies to watch, we all like different things. It was different with Jesse Stone we all enjoyed the movie. Now, Sunday May 22 (9pm) CBS will air the latest in the Jesse Stone saga, Jeese Stone: Innocents Lost. I was lucky enough to be allowed to review this newest movie but first I thought I would bring you up to speed.

Jesse Stone is a former LAPD homicide detective who after being fired heads for Paradise, Massachusetts to become the police chief. Jesse knows this is his last chance but he has a few issues he needs to sort through as well. For instance he’s still hung up on his ex-wife Jen, whom he calls every night and then there is the little matter of his drinking. The movies are as follows:

Kathy Baker as Rose Gammon, Selleck, Stephen McHattie as Capt. Healy in No Remorse

Jesse Stone: Stone Cold:  When a series of murders take place, and a high school girl is raped, he’s forced to face his own demons in order to solve the crimes.

Jesse Stone: Night Passage: Co-starring William Devane (TV’s Knot’s Landing), we find Chief Stone  settling into his new life in Paradise when he becomes obsessed with finding the killer of a teenage girl. His quest to solve the murder unearths facts indicating there is more to the girl’s history than originally suspected and the new clues lead him to probe the Boston underworld.

Kathy Baker as Rose Gammon in Innocents Lost

Jesse Stone: Death In Paradise: Jesse Stone: Night Passage is a prequel to 2005’s Stone Cold. Co-starring Stephanie March (TV’s Law & Order: SVU) and Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects), the telefilm depicts Jesse Stone’s  first days as Paradise, Massachusetts’ Chief of Police. He must immediately find the killer of his predecessor, plus investigate a domestic violence situation involving the city’s resident hot head (Baldwin), whose ties to a local bank manager expose a money-laundering scheme.

Jesse Stone: Sea Change: Co-starring William Devane, Kathy Baker (Edward Scissorhands) and Sean Young (Blade Runner), this installment finds Chief Stone  bored with what he perceives as his mundane life, struggling to keep his drinking and his obsession with beautiful women under control. Stone’s restlessness gets the best of him and he re-opens a 12-year-old cold file involving the murder of a bank teller. The inquiry reveals fresh clues and Stone soon finds himself busier than ever as the unsolved case leads to another centered around an alleged rape aboard a yacht during the town’s annual Race Week.

William Devane as Dr. Dix in Thin Ice

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice: Jesse Stone is back! When his friend and fellow cop is shot during a visit to Boston, small town police chief Jesse Stone risks his life and career to solve the crime while also investigating the disappearance of a missing child .

Kohl Sudduth as Luther “Suitcase” Simpson in No Remorse

JESSE STONE: NO REMORSE, Police Chief Jesse Stone, who was suspended by the Paradise, Mass. Town Council, begins moonlighting for his friend, State Homicide Commander Healy, by investigating a series of murders in Boston, leaving Rose and Suitcase to handle a crime spree in Paradise on their own. Jesse pours his energy into his work in an effort to push away his twin demons: booze and women. When his investigation leads to notorious mob boss Gino Fish, Jesse’s pursuit becomes hazardous.­

This brings us to Innocents Lost, Sunday’s movie. Jesse still has no job in fact his job as chief has been given to someone else. He is still drinking and still has issues with women.When a young girl that Jesse helped and
lost touch with is found dead not far from his house Jesse is determined to find out what happened to her and maybe get on the path to getting his job back.

Tom Selleck does such a wonderful job playing Jesse. He has a quiet appeal about him that makes you want to open up. Although I have not read any of the books these movies are based on I have heard they have tried to keep some basic things. Jesse struggles, the way  any person would and I think that is what makes him real.  The interaction with the characters especially that of Rose (Kathy Baker) and Luther (Kohl Sudduth) who Jesse calls Suitcase is moving. Rose and Jesse have a sort of unspoken love for another and Jesse, in my opinion, sees Suitcase as a younger brother. Both Baker and Sudduth are excellent in their roles and the chemistry between them and Selleck is unsurpassed.

For many they will say there isn’t enough action in the movie but there is just the right amount. You never know what Jesse will do or say which adds a mystery  to it. The background music isn’t blaring, the isn’t a million nude scenes. This is what great movies are made of. the movies that will live on forever but the acting was superb not because of special effects and action.

Remember Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost airs Sunday May 22, 2001 at 9pm. Be sure to tune and watch. I promise you won’t be disappointed.