Jesse Stone: Night Passage shows how the title detective first arrived in Paradise – which is anything but. Tom Selleck is best known for playing the main role in CBS series Magnum P.I. It’s now an infamous piece of trivia that he was offered the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders Of The Lost Ark around the same time, but due to schedule conflicts was forced to pass. Magnum P.I. followed the adventures of Selleck’s P.I. in Hawaii and was a huge ratings winner, and came to an end in 1988 after eight seasons.
While Tom Selleck has mainly made his home on television, he’s had a notable film career too. This includes 1983 adventure High Road To China, comedy hit Three Men And A Baby and western Quigley Down Under. In the years that followed he made more TV westerns such as Last Stand At Saber River, had a recurring role on Friends and is currently part of the cast of cop drama Blues Bloods.
Another Tom Selleck franchise is the Jesse Stone TV movie series, which is based on the novels by Robert B. Parker. The first movie was 2005’s Jesse Stone: Stone Cold, with Selleck set to return for an upcoming tenth movie. Despite being the second entry, 2006’s Jesse Stone: Night Passage is a prequel, detailing how Jesse first moved to Paradise and got drawn into its seedy underbelly.
Jesse Stone: Night Passage opens with Jesse, an alcoholic cop who was forced out of his old job in California, traveling to Paradise. He’s still in love with his actress ex-wife, and they’re in regular contact via telephone despite their marriage ending due to her having an affair. Jesse is invited to Paradise to become its new police chief by a shady businessman named “Hasty” Hathaway (Saul Rubinek, Unforgiven), who bribed the old chief to retire after he discovered his money-laundering scheme. Jesse gets the job despite his drink problem being obvious, which makes him suspicious of Hasty’s motives.
Jesse Stone: Night Passage also sees the titular character befriending fellow officers – including Viola Davis (Widows) as Molly Crane – starting a relationship with lawyer Abby (Polly Shannon) and making an enemy of local thug Joe Genest (Stephen Baldwin). The Jesse Stone movies have always been more interested in character and mood than plot twists or surprises, which holds true for Night Passage. Nothing particularly shocking happens, but it’s held together by a great cast – especially Selleck’s commanding turn – and noirish direction by Robert Harmon.
It’s a little confusing to have the second entry actually be the first chronologically, so firstcomers may want to check out Jesse Stone: Night Passage first – especially considering the fate of a key character. For fans of noir thrillers or Tom Selleck, the movies are essential viewing.