Dragnet (1954) (Amazon.com Exclusive)
by Jack Webb
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DVD details
Actor: Ann Robinson, Ben Alexander, Jack Webb, Richard BooneDirector: Jack Webb
Writer: Jack Webb
Producer: Stanley D. Meyer
Writer: Richard L. Breen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-01-11
Studio: Universal Pictures
DVD Reviews of Dragnet (1954) (Amazon.com Exclusive)
DVD Review: Solving a Gangland Murder
Summary: 5 Stars
Dragnet, 1954 film
On a Friday afternoon Sgt. Joe Friday and the police talk about the recent daylight murder in a park. The physical evidence tells what happened. Two men walked into a park and one was shot in ambush. The police check the suspects. The Intelligence Department keeps track of criminals. Suspects are brought in to a hotel for questioning in privacy. These rooms are bugged. A note from the victim has a telephone number for a suspect, Max Troy. He is uncooperative. Sgt. Friday questions him. Troy suggests the victim was involved with the wrong woman. The conversation is interesting, and unusual these days. Suspects were kept and questioned for unlimited times without a lawyer present. They hear about an eyewitness, he looks at pictures and picks out the man he saw leaving that field. The detectives visit the "Red Spot" café to check on alibis. Writs of Habeas Corpus are issued to free the suspects.
A policewoman will work undercover with a miniature wire recorder. Its about the size of a paperback novel. The murder scene is searched with test equipment. "Why does the law always work for the guilty?" "The innocent don't need it." Friday and Smith visit a restaurant. The murder victim used to collect debts for Las Vegas gamblers. He was beaten up a month ago, a warning? They talk to Miller Starkie's wife, she doesn't say much except to mention "Max Troy". She hands them a notebook, then walks them to the door. Friday and Smith begin to check out those names. One is a theatrical producer. "But she can't sing." They get a clue that Miller Starkie was holding out. The telephone company gives up a list of long-distance calls made by the suspects. [No court order?] That recording provides information. They learn that Chester Davit has been found. He walks out of his home to the police. His right shoe matched the exemplar.
Friday and Smith visit the museum. The eyewitness is now hesitant about his identification. The Grand Jury meets. Sgt. Friday testifies about the telephone calls. What do they know about the conversations? There was no indictment; not enough evidence without that eyewitness. The suspects are followed around the clock. We see this technique working. People stop to watch. [Note the pack of Chesterfields cigarettes.] "Goodnight Max." Friday and Smith visit a social club. There is a fist fight; blood flows. The police put a bug in the "Red Spot" office. They find a box of discarded 12-gauge shells. Four shells missing! Later they listen to a "Red Spot" telephone call and learn about Davit. This recording is played for a witness, who gives information about the missing shotgun, and where it was bought. The District Attorney now says "you got him". Will the suspect be arrested now? A technicality prevents the arrest for an ironic ending.
"Dragnet", first a radio show then a TV show, was a big hit in the early 1950s. It pioneered the programs which produced details about police procedures. There was not much dramatic action, rarely shooting and violence. "Just the facts, ma'am." Jack Webb was a lab technician in the movie "He Walked by Night" which was based on a true crime. It was unlike the earlier "film noir" movies which were based on personal emotion. The series of "CSI" TV shows show the audience the work behind the scenes. Some say the techniques shown on "CSI" are very dramatic and do not represent actual reality. That is also true about the profiling (an educated guess) shown on TV ("Criminal Minds"). Whatever happened to graphology?
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