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Jon Polito just wasn't made for these times.

See, there used to be an era -- back in the days of The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and Peter Lorre in M -- that Hollywood valued the weasel, the slippery rat, and the rotund double-crosser. Unfortunately for Jon Polito, those times are not these times, and we're all the poorer for it.

If you need proof, just look at what happened to him in 1994. Polito -- an actor who, with his spherical stature and shifty, sweaty demeanor, often comes across like a Crisco snowman -- had finally procured a featured role on a smart new series: that of Detective Steve Crosetti on the critically-lauded Homicide: Life on the Street. This was good news for fans of Polito's memorable turns in Barton Fink (as sniveling movie producer Lou Breeze), and Miller's Crossing (as sputtering gangster Johnny "You're giving me the high hat!" Caspar). Pre-Homicide, Polito had established himself as an arthouse Joe Pesci, a thinking man's Danny DeVito. Now, it seemed, he'd have a weekly national platform from which we could all indulge in his particular talents.

But Homicide's ratings flatlined, and in an effort to jumpstart them, the producers engineered a kind of Pretty Person Putsch. Out went Polito, and in came the hunky and unfortunately named Reed Diamond, and, to our mind, the show was never quite the same.

Not that Polito hasn't found work since: 2001 alone will see him in no fewer than six films, one of which, The Tailor of Panama, opened this week. Hollywood will always have room for double-crossers, cheats, slimeballs, and liars -- not to mention actors who can play those parts well. But there's a way in which Jon Polito will always seem like a throwback to another era, when the sweaty-of-brow and shifty-of-eye were just as valued as the square-of-jaw and sparkly-of-smile.