Customer Reviews
Stone Cold: Moderately faithful to the book 
2008-09-01
Tom Selleck does a very creditable job as Jesse Stone. For fans of the books by Robert B. Parker, he fits the image of the very human and somewhat flawed former LA homicide detective turned small-town police chief. The story follows the book pretty well, until the ending, which is quite different from the book yet still satisfying. I enjoyed seeing the characters from the book come to life, but as an avid reader I almost always prefer a book to a movie. I like using my own imagination instead of seeing the action through someone else's interpretation. But I would highly recommend this series, both book and movie.
Stone Cold - Tom Selleck 
2008-08-15
Enjoy the character. The author has created a marvelous character. Hope to see more opportunities to view future episodes. Will search for new DVDs.
Entertaining plot with two storylines 2008-08-06
Stone Cold
I have never read any of Robert B. Parker's novels, but I must admit that this movie was entertaining enough that I will try. The main character is Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck), the Chief of Police of Paradise, Massachusetts, population 55,000. (I believe the book takes place in Maine, not Mass.) As the movie begins, one of his deputies, "Suit", comes across a murdered man on the rocks of the coast. Soon, there are other bodies piling up, as a pair of serial killers randomly choose their victims from the town's tiny population. At the same time, Jesse and his deputy Molly are investigating the gang rape of a local sixteen year-old named Candace by three of the town's football players.
While I enjoyed the two storylines, I wasn't enamored of the main character. He's dating the town's lawyer, Abby Taylor, while pining away for his ex-wife Jen (who is a nasty reporter) and talking to her almost every day, and then halfway through the film, he's dating a third woman, the defense attorney for one of the rapists. Oh, and by the way, he's an alcoholic. Fortunately, you don't have like his personal life to appreciate that Chief Stone gets his man. The way he gets them is particularly clever and his sense of justice makes you wonder how it is that he spends so much time with lawyers and reporters (who seem to consistently interfere with justice ever being done).
If you like surprise endings, this has one. If you like neat tidy endings, you won't like the end to the rape prosecution, but I must admit that it's pretty realistic. If I had my druthers, I'd make the Chief more likeable, but I think the appeal of the books is to men, not women.
I would ignore the order the movies were released in and watch them in chronological order: Night Passage, Stone Cold, and Death in Paradise.
Tom Selleck at his best... 2008-07-13
Stone Cold is a great find because Tom Selleck is one of our favorite actors and we own the entire Magnum PI collection. In this series a more mature but still incredibly handsome Tom Selleck plays the character of the Chief of Police of a small New England town called Paradise, Massachusetts.
Jesse Stone is a former Los Angeles homicide detective who left life in the big city and is now underemployed, but still doing service to the community, which he loves. He divorced the "only woman he is able to love" and in each of the movies, for we now own three, he has relationships with rather sophisticated and interesting women, such as the attorney played here by Mimi Rogers.
While life in Paradise is slow and for the most part the Chief of Police only gives out traffic or parking tickets, a series of murders take place, and in this episode a high school girl is raped and we see the Chief of Police solving murders, and protecting the young girl, allowing her father to "extract" vengeance in ways that we simply cheered.
Don't miss it, the pace is slow but introspective, the plot is deep and intelligent, and you are left with feeling admiration for a man that has done wrong things while always attempting to do what is right!
GREAT SELLECK 2008-07-11
This is the 2nd movie in the series of 4 made for TV movies. Night Passage being the first, Death In Paradise the third, and Sea Change the fourth. All the movies will stand alone but if you want to really get into it buy all 4 movies. Selleck is at his best in these. The stories are about Jesse Stone, an ex LAPD detective who drowns his sorrows in scotch on the rocks, as the new chief of police in a small town in New England. Jesse is a nice guy with a very stong sense of right and wrong even if it means being unconventional. Great movies and great plots. Buy them and curl up in a chair like you are reading a good book.
My grandmother loved this movie 2008-05-29
Tom Selleck is Jesse Stone, a former L.A. homicide detective who left behind the big city and an ex-wife to become the police chief of the quiet New England fishing town of Paradise, Massachusetts. Stone's old habits die hard as he continues to indulge in his two favorite things - scotch and women. 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.
stone cold 2008-05-06
stone cold shows tom selleck at his best. aa good whodunit mystery. tom selleck is made for this role. i would say that u should get the other movies where tom selleck plays the small town sheriff.i hope we see more movies with him playing this character based on robert parkers books about jesse stone.stone cold is a movie where it held u on the edge of seat wondering what was going to happen next. i give 4 stars rating.
Stone Cold review 2008-04-23
Stone Cold episode and Tom Selleck both excellent. Three other episodes of Jesse Stone also excellent. Hope series continues with additional episodes.
Jesse Stone is the Best! 2008-04-15
The original in the Jesse Stone movie series. The best of all. It is gripping drama. Tom Selleck is at his best in this story about a tormented cop.
Great Adaptation of the Classic Robert B. Parker Character 2008-04-07
Tom Selleck may very well have found his new niche since becoming famous for playing Magnum on Magnum P.I. It's rare that a television actor fits so easily into two roles in their career, but Tom Selleck is perfect as Chief Jesse Stone in the adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel, "Stone Cold."
I've been a fan of Parker's novels for a long time which also include his more famous character, Spenser. However, in many ways I found myself liking Jesse Stone even more. I think I like him more because he's fallible. While Stone is very smart, he's got personal problems that people can relate to.
This film brings a beautiful sense of style to it. The small seaside town of Paradise is exactly how I envisioned it to be when I read the novels. It's a place where everyone knows everyone, and I've always had a soft spot for the New England coast anyway.
Jesse Stone is the chief of a police force of four people. He's a lonely man who finds more pleasure in a bottle of booze than in those people around him. After losing his job and wife in Los Angeles, he moves to this small town in an attempt to start something over...or, is it an attempt to get away from his previous life? One can argue both ways.
Jesse quickly finds himself in the middle of two cases. The first involves tracking down a serial killer(s). The second involves helping a young 16-year-old girl who was gang-raped by some boys at the local high school. The film balances both storylines wonderfully and makes the viewer keenly interested in both.
The dialogue in the film is as sharp as the dialogue of the novels. Parker is one of the best writers of dialogue, and it translates beautifully here in the film with quick, witty answers and lines being exchanged, especially by Stone. Selleck taps perfectly into the character. While Jesse is a somber character, Selleck is careful to make sure that the audience sees the light wittiness of the character as well. It's a tougher balance to achieve as an actor than most people realize.
The supporting cast of characters rounds things out nicely as each becomes a believeable person that we come to care about, especially that of Alexis Dziena who plays the rape victim.
The film is simple which is why it works so well. There isn't a lot of violence. Instead it is both character and plot driven, and the film excels at both.
Quite simply, this is one of the best made-for-TV films made that I've seen in a long time. I've already seen some of the others, and they are just as good as this one.
Whether you're a fan of the novels or not, you will find yourself enjoying cracking cases with Jesse Stone as well as the immense satisfaction of having such a seasoned actor as Tom Selleck portraying him.
