Cool Crime Shows

I've watched episodes of both. I've seen more episodes of Peter Gunn, thus a stronger preference for it.

I've been thinking of re-watching "Peter Gunn". It's an excellent series, but I think it lasted as long as it should have. After all it did last over 100 episodes.

Nothing says “cool” like Peter Gunn. He wore his suits impeccably and his hair was expensively styled. I always had uncontrollable fly-every-which-way hair and really envied Gunn’s close cut coiffure with never a strand sticking out.

There was a nice discussion once on the old boards about ‘50s and ‘60s series that only lasted a few years yet are among the titles we most remember, e.g. The Munsters (2 seasons), Gilligan’s Island (3), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (4). Peter Gunn, as has been pointed out, ran 3 seasons with some changes in the third.

The reason for this is that NBC had cancelled Gunn at the end of 2. For season 3, the show moved to ABC who tinkered with the format. The nightclub was now Edie’s and new regulars were added. Mother was gone but Herschel Bernardi came along as Lt. Jacoby.

6 years after the final episode aired, producer Blake Edwards directed a theatrical film based on the series: Gunn (1967). Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this film except to those whose nostalgia for the show is pretty extreme. Craig Stevens is the only actor from TV to reprise his role. The episodes on the TV show were never exactly what anyone would call tightly plotted, but as they were only 30 minutes long counting commercials, the black and white nighttime noir atmosphere went a long way. And, as the MAD Magazine parody had one character complaining, “Wet streets. All the time, wet streets.” But a full-length movie has to have Gunn running all over the place, not getting much done except being attacked by mysterious thugs when he is not finding dead bodies. He goes to question a gangster’s alibi but she has been killed when he gets there. He searches a murder scene for clues and is attacked by a thug. He goes to see an informant, but the man has been killed when he gets there. And so on. The entire solving of the case takes place in the last 10 minutes. The final fight with the killer – perhaps influenced by the Bond/Grant train fight - surprised me by its brutality for that time. There should be that amount of energy from the start.

It seems to be the common story with mid-century TV: Bigger in re-runs than during the original run. Even "Leave it to Beaver" was more popular in re-runs than during its original run.

telegonus




I've only seen a handful of PGs, but I must say I've been generally disappointed by them. I much prefer Johnny Staccato w/John Cassavetes, Mike Hammer w/Darren McGavin, and Richard Diamond w/ David Janssen. Those familiar only with DJ as the glum Fugitive will be surprised at how effective his light comedy touch is in RD.

I've also seen two episodes of the Philip Marlowe series, with the miscast Phil Carey in the title role (William Schallert was also wrong as his police contact). Both Janssen and McGavin would have been preferable in the role.

These shows were part of the "Video Noir" movement, as the Noir form transitioned from movies to TV. VN has started with Hitchcock in '55 and was mostly in the crime genre, but also popped up in sci-fi like The Twilight Zone and even westerns like Rawhide, the only TV oater I know of to do stories w/supernatural undertones.