Crime Shows on small screen part 2

II-Lawyers, Private Eyes & Spies

Celebrated lawyers, cool spies and private eyes show another side of crime on screen.  Over the decades there have been many lawyers approaching the bench to make a point, but only a few are remembered as classics.

The first powerhouse lawyer was Perry Mason (1957-1966), based on the Erle Stanley Gardner series of  novels.  Gardner was disappointed the way by his character was portrayed in early films in the late 1930s and the radio series (1940s-50s), and thought the new media of TV would be right.  Gardner created a production company to produce Perry Mason, and cast Raymond Burr in the title role.  Just like Dragnet, audiences stayed home to watch as Mason uncovered the true villain(s) in court.  Out of 271 episodes, Mason lost only three cases, which were a shock to the viewers.

Other lawyers followed in the footsteps of Perry Mason over the years, from the father and son team of The Defenders (1961-1965), Judd for the Defense (1967-1969), Owen Marshall (1971-1974), Petrocelli (1974-1976), Matlock (1986-1995) to ensemble cast shows like L.A. Law (1986-1994) , The Practice (1997-2004) and Boston Legal (2004-2008).

Arrest and Trial (1963-1964) was one of the most interesting series which combined the police work & the legal follow up, one of the early 90 minutes series.  It showed for the first time how the two systems worked together.  Followed more recently by Law & Order (1990-2010).

The world of the P.I. was born in the classic novels of Chandler and Hammett, from film and radio to the small screen, come the coolest guys in town, often with cooler theme tunes.  Dick Powell played Richard Diamond on the radio; just like Jack Webb, Powell saw the new media of television engaging with an all new audience.  Powell’s company Four Star produced Richard Diamond (1957-1960), starring David Janssen.  Richard Diamond was made in Hollywood, with season one set in New York, then season two moved to L.A.  Famously, Diamond’s secretary Sam was only seen from the waist down, basically a voice and a pair of legs in a tight skirt and stilettos.  She was played by two actresses, Mary Tyler Moore and Roxane Brooks.  Janssen played Diamond as deadpan serious.  Janssen’s first role on TV was a PI, and also his last, playing the PI in Harry O (1974-1976).

Television kept many away from the big screen so in the 1950s the movie studios followed the money, and began productions for the small screen using their back lots.  Universal in 1950, MGM, 20^th Century Fox and Warner Bros in 1955, and Paramount joined in 1967.  During the late fifties, Warner Bros produced the coolest four PI series, all with catchy tunes, starting with 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964).  Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. played Stu Bailey, and one of the first secondary characters to take off with the audience was car hop Kookie, who was always combing his hair in the fashion of teenagers of the time.  Others followed in the PI line up, Hawaiian Eye (1959-1963) with Robert Conrad, Bourbon Street Beat (1959-1960) with Richard Long, set in New Orleans, and finally Surfside Six (1960-1962) with Troy Donahue and Van Williams, set in Miami Beach. After a while the scripts, the characters and plots were much the same, just different locales.

Another PI with one of the most memorable themes ever was Peter Gunn (1958-1961) with Craig Stevens as Gunn, written and created by Blake Edwards, and music by the legendary Henry Mancini. Gunn charmed his way through the 30 minute format, solving his client’s problems.

The three other PI shows that made significant impacts were: Mannix (1967-1975), played by Mike Connors, The Rockford Files (1974-1980) with James Garner as Jim Rockford and Magnum P.I. (1980-1988) starring Tom Selleck, along with Dobermans Zeus & Apollo.

Jim Rockford rarely used his gun, avoided fistfights, used his wits and intelligence to work out the solution to the case, shades of Brett Maverick.  Each episode would open with someone leaving a message on his answering machine, mostly just to make the audience laugh: “Hey, I saw your ad in the classifieds.  Three African goats for sale.  I keep calling and all I get is a machine.  Is this a typo in the paper, or what?”

During the mid-sixties, the James Bond films were at their height and television jumped on the band wagon: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968), I Spy (1965-1968), The Wild Wild West (1965-1969), Mission Impossible (1966-1973) and Get Smart (1965-1970).

Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin were the “Men from U.N.C.L.E.”, an international organisation fighting the secret evil menace of THRUSH, a world-wide group plotting world domination.  UNCLE had overseas locations (MGM backlot), gun fights, scientific devices and an international mix of agents and enemies.

The origin of THRUSH is interesting, according to one of the UNCLE books, “…dates back to the year 1895, when the first council met in London.  The first council was made up of the survivors of the unnamed organization which had been built entirely from nothing by one of the most brilliant men the world has ever known.  The Professor was a genius in two slightly related fields-mathematics and crime.”(4)

Just as popular as The Man from UNCLE, I Spy dealt with spies in the real world.  Kelly Robinson, played by Robert Culp, and Alexander Scott by Bill Cosby, travel under the disguise of a tennis pro and his trainer.  I Spy was ground breaking and is still outstanding for the fact that it was filmed on location in Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Italy, and Philadelphia.  The other half was filmed in the studio.  The two leads did most of their own stunts.  Many southern USA TV stations would not take the show because a black actor had equal star billing, for the first time in TV.  Robert Culp states in the commentary on the DVD set that he and Cosby agreed early on: ”Our statement with regard to race should be a non-statement, that’s what’s going to knock people out, if they stick with the show long enough.”(5)

The Wild Wild West had a different setting, post civil war U.S.A.  The series blended Western with Crime with Science Fiction.  Two Secret Service agents, answering directly to President Grant, travel the country in their private train.  Jim West, played by Robert Conrad is the action man, and Artemus Gordon played by Ross Martin, the inventor of their gadgets and master of disguise.  They fought against enemy agents, madmen & women wanting to destroy or take over the USA.  The most famous villain in the series was Dr. Miguelito Loveless, played by the brilliant Michael Dunn, who wants the government to return “his family’s half of California”.  Loveless invents many things, including television, penicillin and the car.

The Wild Wild West featured more stunts by Conrad than any other series he had made, and also many injures!  An attempt for a similar series was made in the mid-seventies, Barbary Coast (1975-1976), starring William Shatner.  Shatner was expected to play both roles of West and Gordon.

Mission Impossible had an ensemble cast of first rate actors, fiendish scenarios and roller coaster action.  Get Smart was an intelligent and funny spoof on the spy genre, and on many shows at the time, co-created and written by Mel Brooks.

What makes these shows work is the chemistry between the actors, some of the ultimate buddy shows, watching Vaughn and McCallum, Culp and Cosby, Conrad and Martin, they infuse the shows with their solid friendships on and off the screen.  These men were close friends having a great time and acting with rare wit and talent.

Notes

(1)      The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV (1988)- Collins, Max Allan & Javna John, p.62.

(2)      TV Detectives (1981)- Meyers, Richard, p.68

(3)      Television (1988)- Winship, Michael, p.111

(4)      The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  No.6: The Dagger Affair (1965)-McDaniel, David, p.79

(5)      I Spy DVD  Season One (2000) ep.16 The Tiger written by Robert Culp

(6)      Rogerebert.suntimes.com. February 17, 1995.

References

Collins, Max Allan & Javna, John., The Critics’ Choice: The Best of Crime & Detective TV, New York: Harmony Books, 1988.

Cushman, Marc and LaRosa, Linda J., I Spy: a history and episode guide to the groundbreaking television series, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007.

Gianakos, Larry James, Television Drama Series Programming: a comprehensive chronicle, (1959-1975), NJ: Screcrow, 1978.

Heitland, Jon, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Book: the behind the scenes story of a television classic, New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1987.

Kesler, Susan E, The Wild Wild Wild West: the series, California: Arnett Press, 1988

Lewis Joe E.& Stempel Penny, Cult TV: The Detectives, London: Pavilion, 1999

Meyers, Richard, TV Detectives, San Diego:  A.S.Barnes, 1981.

The Television Crimebusters Omnibus, Ed: Peter Haining, London: Bounty, 1994.

Winship, Michael, Television, New York: Random House, 1988.