Equals: James Russo
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Welcome to Equals, the ongoing series that takes a frankly unhealthy interest in the guest stars and brief players of '80s television series The Equalizer.
Actor: James Russo (as "Jim Russo")
Role: Police Detective
Episode: 1x02, "China Rain" (1985)
Best known for: James Russo has appeared in 85% of all television shows and movies produced over the last 35 years (generally playing The Last Guy Some Unlucky Loser Tied To A Chair Ever Sees), but viewers may recognize him as the delightfully named Dicky Speck from Django Unchained or Axel Foley's hapless friend Mikey Tandino from Beverly Hills Cop.
Has he appeared on Law & Order?: Astoundingly, no. But he's popped up on modern science-hero investigator franchise CSI as "Sinclair" and its ginger spinoff CSI: MIami as Joey Salucci.
Robert Urich check: Again no. But I'd like to think there's a field in Eternity where Russo is playing endless games of Red Rover with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks (to be clear, Russo and Brooks are not dead, but everything that will happen in Eternity has always been happening, will always happen, is happening now, dissolving the very notions of time and duration dissolve usw).
If you've watched any movie or television show that requires gritty Italian-American cops or criminals, you've seen James Russo. His characters tend to have names like Joey Salucci, Papa Lullo or Vince Hood (really). But in The Equalizer, he appears as Police Detective (sadly not Police Justice). Russo gets a couple of scenes with dialogue, where he mostly functions as a foil to say "Your plan sucks" whenever Robert McCall opens his mouth, but his main role is to provide a sense that Yes, these are police detectives doing police-type things. So he fills in that texture: holding a newspaper with a hint of impatience, lighting a cigarette with a slight Fuck it, might as well grab a smoke note of insouciance, or staring aggressively at whoever's speaking. He's a background character, in the sense that he's in the middle or background of nearly every scene.
Russo only comes to the foreground once or twice, when he has something to say. I'm not going to trouble you with the plot of "China Rain," which revolves around a botched kidnapping, Chinese gang members and a whole lot of Orientalist stereotypes, but Police Detective's lines all seemed geared to point out that The Equalizer's plans are a pile of horse dung.
His IMDb bio claims that Russo is "possessed of a stare that bring shivers down one's back," which makes you wonder who the hell writes those bios, but you can see a trace of it here. His chief character note seems to be I'm Police Detective and I'm putting in for a transfer to a precinct where the lieutenant doesn't hang out with some overdressed vigilante chump who shows up at a kidnap and tells the cops what to do. Does anybody else think this is ridiculous? Anyone? No? Man, what a bunch of crap.
For further reference, here is a rundown of firearms that James Russo has used in film and television.
