When I lived there, my story may have been the most boring of the 8 million: "The Naked City"

Yeah, there actually was a movie behind that overused saying. Who knew?

I'd like to think I heard this movie from the late '40s was decent before it popped up on TCM. But while I knew the famous line -- all together now ... "There are 8 million stories in the naked city, and this is one of them" -- I can't say for sure I knew from whence it came. As it turns out, the eponymous film -- Am I using that right? Probably not -- is generally well-acclaimed, mainly for being filmed entirely on location in New York City. Yes, you can practically smell the urine-soaked sidewalks from your own sofa.

Our story is a fairly straightforward murder-mystery with some rather unusual narration. First, it's the producer doing the voiceovers. Second, he frequently channels the thoughts of various characters or serves as some kind of advisor-from-on-high, i.e. "Don't panic now!" It's a little jarring. Not just the script, but the timing. We get a lot of the narration up front, then forget about it until it awkwardly rears up as the plot unfolds. Hard to describe, I guess, but trust me, it doesn't hold up all that well nearly 60 years later.

Other stuff also is dated, but not horribly so. Our lead is a veteran homicide detective -- an Irish guy, to boot. His would-be protege is a fresh-faced guy with a wife and young son out in Queens. The other cops also seem like stand-up guys, which is pretty damn weird in this day and age. Where's Mel Gibson sticking a pistol in his own mouth when you need him?

The police are investigating the murder of a blonde model/actress/something, and we're treated to an inside look at their detective work and a bunch of outside looks at New York, which was kind of cool back then. Still plenty of tall buildings, but more stone, brick and concrete than steel and glass. And no Naked Cowboy in the naked city! Thank god.

As for the plot, the first half of the movie requires a good deal of patience. Between the character set-up -- the cast and the city itself, which is definitely a character here -- I found myself thinking, "OK, get on with it already."

But the movie is only a shade over 90 minutes long picks up pretty well in the second half, as clues start coming more frequently and various bad guys start cracking. Before long we're on the Williamsburg Bridge, and let's say one guy ain't coming back. One story down, 7,999,999 to go ...