Watch Panic in Echo Park For Free

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

PANIC IN ECHO PARK basically features an heroic black doctor (Dorian Harewood) going up against white corruption in Los Angeles when he discovers who was really behind water in a local downtown building becoming polluted leading to a contagion at his hospital. This TV movie also has a "fight the powers that be" theme underlying it. Not bad of its type.

Good showcase for the grievously underappreciated Dorian Harewood as a young doctor fighting entrenched power to uncover and defeat an epidemic in a poor neighborhood. You can guess how most of this goes: the young, handsome doctor is loved by those around him, he realizes there's an epidemic, he has to go around making increasingly impassioned speeches to bureaucrats and older superiors who discount his theories, etc. And don't forget the happy ending with everyone smiling at each other. It's a lot like many episodes of "Quincy" (except for the handsome part) and many other movies from the Seventies, but this one is pretty well done. It beats fishing shows, infomercials, and hicks turning left (aka NASCAR) for Sunday afternoon viewing, at any rate.