‘Small Vices,’ Big Plans for ‘Spenser’

Robert B. Parker admits he didn’t watch many episodes of “Spenser for Hire,” the 1985-88 ABC series based on his best-selling mystery novels about a principled Boston detective.

“I had an ongoing involvement as a consultant,” says Parker of the show which starred Robert Urich as Spenser and Avery Brooks as his streetwise friend, Hawk.

“The job of the consultant, of course, is every Monday to take the check down to the bank to deposit it,” Parker says, laughing. “I read scripts and offered comments which no one paid attention to.”

After the series was canceled, Lifetime made a few Spencer movies. “I wrote a couple of drafts for what I thought was the shooting script,” Parker recalls. “But when it got to the air, I didn’t recognize it. Joan [Parker’s wife] and I finally took our names off of them. We were not happy with the whole thing.”

But he couldn’t be happier with the new Spenser TV movie, “Small Vices,” which premieres Sunday on Arts & Entertainment. This time around, Joe Mantegna (“The Rat Pack,” “The Last Don”) stars as the wry, quotation-spouting detective who also is a fantastic cook. Marcia Gay Harden (“Miller’s Crossing”) plays his psychologist girlfriend, Susan Silverman; and Shiek Mahmud-Bey co-stars as Hawk.

Though there is plenty of action in the thriller in which Spenser is hired to clear a man falsely accused of murder, the movie concentrates more on Parker’s rich and witty language and the relationship between Spenser and Silverman.

Not only did Parker pen the screenplay, he had control over the project with his partner, executive producer Michael Brandman.

“No one can make a change in the script except me,” Parker says. “If I decline, it doesn’t get made. If I don’t want an actor, we don’t hire him. I have a say in the director. The only person who can insist on anything besides me is A&E--it; is their network.”

And, adds Parker, the cable network has treated him with respect. “Good to work with in my view as they leave me the hell alone,” says Parker.

A&E; is scheduled to make five Spenser films, and five more mysteries featuring Parker’s detective hero, Jesse Stone. “If ‘Small Vices’ goes into the tank, it doesn’t mean we’ll do five,” says Parker. “But that’s the current plan.”

He’s already written the script for the second Spenser movie, “Thin Air,” which goes into production in October with Mantegna and Harden reprising their roles.

A big fan of Parker’s novels, Brandman believes one of the reasons why the novelist is so popular is his eloquent use of language. “He got his masters degree in the works of Raymond Chandler and he writes in a kind of Chandlerlesque American style,” says Brandman.

“The work appears effortless, yet he manages to take us into a universe and create it and spin his yarn in that universe in a way that gives you total access to it.”

Then too, Brandman has built a reputation as a writer-friendly producer, having brought the works of Arthur Miller (“The American Clock”), Neil Simon (“Broadway Bound”), David Mamet (“The Water Engine”) and John Guare (“House of Blue Leaves”), among others, to television.

“Words are the signature of this film,” says director Robert Markowitz (“Afterburn”). “It is in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett. There is this love of words and using words not only as weapons, but using words as sources of humor and characterization.”

Parker, Brandman and Markowitz were thrilled to get the Tony Award-winning Mantegna to play Spenser. “He is one of our national treasures,” says Markowitz. “Joe nailed the character,” adds Parker. “He is not the big guy Spenser is, but he understands the character fine. When people say he’s not big enough, I say, ‘Neither was Bogart.’ ”

Playing the wry, tough and tender Spenser was a dream come true for Mantegna who has been a fan of Parker’s books for the past decade.

“I don’t doubt there is a little boy in me that is attracted to those books in the same way that little girls are attracted to Nancy Drew mysteries or boys to the Hardy Boys,” says Mantegna.

Because he came on the project early, Mantegna was able to have some input into the casting of Susan Silverman. “The first name out of my mouth was Marcia Gay. From day one, I always thought it was Marcia. Spenser and Susan have an important relationship. It cements the whole thing together.”

The love affair between Spenser and Sullivan, adds Markowitz, is a refreshingly mature one. “It’s not in the old-fashioned way where she is just there to get the coffee,” he says. “She is a psychologist who has a practice.”

Fans of Parker will recognize the author in the small role of an ex-CIA agent. His son, Daniel, also appears as a detective guarding Silverman.

“Michael thought it would be fun to do,” says Parker, laughing. “He was wrong. It was a pain. I had to remember all of those lines.”

“Small Vices” airs Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m. and repeats Saturday at 6 and 10 p.m. on A&E.; The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).