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I remember watching this again years later, maybe as a VHS rental, and being absolutely astonished at how badly edited and directed it was. And I'm not one to be typically critical of that sort of thing.
If it was also the syndication edit, the added scenes would have been the culprit. They were nothing but filler, and badly assembled from repurposed footage. It probably viewed a lot leaner and meaner in its original form.
Leaving behind as in abandoning or leaving behind as in to man a base? This sounds like something that would have been ripe for a follow up later in the series.
Who the hell could tell? He seemed to be getting back on his lander and waving goodbye to another astronaut who was just standing there...assuming the one getting into the lander was Steve. There was no base in sight. I have to assume that this was taken from its original context in another episode or from something else altogether.
The Moon landing flashbacks seem superfluous, since he was hurt in an experimental plane crash. Did they change that in the series to him being hurt returning from the Moon?
I came across where Elizabeth Baur complained about the limited nature of the material she was given on Ironside. The difference between her and Anderson was that Baur actually managed to project some character through that material, whereas Anderson just seemed wooden. Her performance in TSMDM reinforced that takeaway.
Not much room in the cell for that, but just a bionic leap is the best way of head-fixing it...though that still seems like his legs would just be hardware thrown against the door.
A prolific character actor for the better part of a century-- most recently in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Yes, I have seen a handful of movies made in the 21st century.
I came across where Elizabeth Baur complained about the limited nature of the material she was given on Ironside. The difference between her and Anderson was that Baur actually managed to project some character through that material, whereas Anderson just seemed wooden. Her performance in TSMDM reinforced that takeaway.
This comes from "The Complete 'Mission: Impossible' Dossier" - Lynda (Day George's) first replacement was Barbara Anderson, three-time Emmy nominee and one time winner for her role as Policewoman Eve Whitfield in Ironside (1967-71). Barbara left the series and the business for marriage and family. "The only reason why I went back to work," she explains, "was because we didn't have kids right away. So I said, 'I'll just free-lance until we have kids.' I hired an agent and two weeks later I was called in for Mission: Impossible." After a quick interview, Crane hired her for episode 151, "Break!" as ex-con turned IMF operative Mimi Davis. "I looked right," she feels. "There was a special look for that show, and you had to go a lot of ways with the look you had. I think I had an edginess, a toughness that would work. For Mission, the women has to have something inherently strong about her, because she gets into these situations, and you've got to believe that she can get out of them! Lynda was wonderful and Barbara Bain was just perfectly cast."
Barbara was called back for another segment (episode 155, "TOD-5") and another, eventually guesting in seven of the ten episodes sans Lynda. "Barbara was good," says Peter Graves, "and she had that wonderfully classy look." She found Mission much more challenging than the previous series. "If I had started in that series I never would have left, because you had a different role every week. You never get stale like you do in the other series. My character in Ironside never grew, she stayed a policewoman for four years and that was boring, unfortunately. The only change they made was my hair."
If it was also the syndication edit, the added scenes would have been the culprit. They were nothing but filler, and badly assembled from repurposed footage. It probably viewed a lot leaner and meaner in its original form.
It had to be the syndication edit. I remember Rudy poking his head in over and over.
Who the hell could tell? He seemed to be getting back on his lander and waving goodbye to another astronaut who was just standing there...assuming the one getting into the lander was Steve. There was no base in sight. I have to assume that this was taken from its original context in another episode or from something else altogether.
No, I mean later in the series. There's a lot of possibilities in this Moon stuff. Maybe there was a secret Lunar landing program parallel to Apollo, and maybe the US had a secret Moonbase for some secret reason. Or something.
Today the kids would be giggling about the low-tech wires dangling out.
Really, the things that mainly stick in my head from the show are his crisis points: The attempted suicide, throwing his arm over his face, the woman's reaction, and him sitting alone in the room not talking to anyone.
I came across where Elizabeth Baur complained about the limited nature of the material she was given on Ironside. The difference between her and Anderson was that Baur actually managed to project some character through that material, whereas Anderson just seemed wooden. Her performance in TSMDM reinforced that takeaway.
I'll bet Oscar knew Guy on Tape. They probably had lunch once a week or so.
Not much room in the cell for that, but just a bionic leap is the best way of head-fixing it...though that still seems like his legs would just be hardware thrown against the door.
Don McCafferty, 53, head coach of the Detroit Lions and former head coach of the Baltimore Colts, died of a heart attack at his home shortly after the opening of training camp in preparation for the 1974 NFL season.
July 29
In the U.S., the "Philadelphia Eleven", all deacons in their own churches became the first women to be ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church.
Cass Elliot (stage name for Ellen Naomi Cohen), 32, U.S. singer for The Mamas & the Papas, known as "Mama Cass", died of a heart attack linked to obesity. The death was originally attributed, incorrectly, to choking on food.
July 30
The Foreign Ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom signed a peace agreement in Geneva, after mediation by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, providing for the immediate end of fighting on the island of Cyprus.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee adjourned its proceedings for impeachment after passing three articles of impeachment in three days. A proposed Article IV, regarding illegal use of power in the 1970 invasion of Cambodia, was rejected, with 12 votes for and 26 against. Debate in the full House on whether to impeach was scheduled for August 19, but Nixon's resignation on August 9 made the point moot.
July 31
In Canada, the Official Language Act (Quebec) (also known as "Bill 22") was passed, making French the official language of government and business in the province of Quebec.
August 1
White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig came to the home of U.S. Vice President Gerald Ford at 514 Crown View Drive in Alexandria, Virginia, and told him to prepare to assume the presidency. Ford would write later in his 1979 memoir, A Time to Heal, "Al Haig asked to come over and see me, to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"
The leadership of the United States House of Representatives tentatively scheduled debate on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon to run from August 19 to August 31 and approved gavel-to-gavel television coverage.
Former astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space and fifth man on the Moon, retired from the United States Navy after 30 years at the rank of Rear Admiral.
Died: Ross Parker, 59, English songwriter known for the lyrics to "We'll Meet Again" and "There'll Always Be an England"
August 2
John Dean, former legal counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon, was sentenced to a minimum of one year in prison and a maximum of four years for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal.
American comedian and actor Shelley Berman was robbed at gunpoint of $60 and a watch and left bound and gagged on the floor of his hotel room in Queens, New York City.
August 3
The 10-day Huntsville Prison siege ended with an escape attempt by drug baron Fred Gómez Carrasco and his two accomplices, during which two women hostages and one of Carrasco's cohorts were shot and killed and Carrasco committed suicide. Two other hostages were wounded.
The original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Little Night Music closed after 601 performances.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
SAME DICK-TIME!
NEW JERRY-CHANNEL!
1. "Annie's Song," John Denver
2. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Elton John
3. "Feel Like Makin' Love," Roberta Flack
4. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," Steely Dan
5. "The Night Chicago Died," Paper Lace
6. "The Air That I Breathe," The Hollies
7. "Rock and Roll Heaven," The Righteous Brothers
8. "Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins
9. "Call on Me," Chicago
10. "Sideshow," Blue Magic
11. "Waterloo," ABBA
12. "Rock Your Baby," George McCrae
13. "Rock the Boat," Hues Corporation
14. "Wildwood Weed," Jim Stafford
15. "Keep on Smilin'," Wet Willie
16. "Takin' Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive
17. "If You Talk in Your Sleep," Elvis Presley
18. "Radar Love," Golden Earring
19. "Tell Me Something Good," Rufus
20. "On and On," Gladys Knight & The Pips
21. "Sure as I'm Sittin' Here," Three Dog Night
22. "Shinin' On," Grand Funk
23. "(You're) Having My Baby," Paul Anka
24. "Rock Me Gently," Andy Kim
25. "You and Me Against the World," Helen Reddy
26. "I'm Leaving It (All) Up to You," Donny & Marie Osmond
27. "One Hell of a Woman," Mac Davis
29. "Hang On in There Baby," Johnny Bristol
30. "Rub It In," Billy "Crash" Craddock
31. "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm a Changed Man)," The Impressions
32. "Wild Thing," Fancy
34. "I Shot the Sheriff," Eric Clapton
37. "My Thang," James Brown
38. "Then Came You," Dionne Warwick & The Spinners
39. "Nothing from Nothing," Billy Preston
42. "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)," Olivia Newton-John
44. "You Won't See Me," Anne Murray
45. "Come Monday," Jimmy Buffett
47. "Clap for the Wolfman," The Guess Who
48. "Hollywood Swinging," Kool & The Gang
49. "Billy, Don't Be a Hero," Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
50. "Be Thankful for What You Got," William DeVaughn 51. "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," Barry White
52. "Time for Livin'," Sly & The Family Stone
55. "Midnight at the Oasis," Maria Muldaur
57. "Let's Put It All Together," The Stylistics
59. "Dancing Machine," Jackson 5
60. "Band on the Run," Paul McCartney & Wings
65. "Beach Baby," The First Class
66. "Sundown," Gordon Lightfoot
68. "You Make Me Feel Brand New," The Stylistics
72. "Sweet Home Alabama," Lynyrd Skynyrd
73. "I'm Coming Home," The Spinners
75. "Already Gone," Eagles
76. "Who Do You Think You Are," Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
77. "Free Man in Paris," Joni Mitchell
80. "The Streak," Ray Stevens
87. "Train of Thought," Cher
92. "La Grange," ZZ Top 93. "You Haven't Done Nothin'," Stevie Wonder
94. "It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)," The Rolling Stones
This comes from "The Complete 'Mission: Impossible' Dossier" - Lynda (Day George's) first replacement was Barbara Anderson, three-time Emmy nominee and one time winner for her role as Policewoman Eve Whitfield in Ironside (1967-71). Barbara left the series and the business for marriage and family. "The only reason why I went back to work," she explains, "was because we didn't have kids right away. So I said, 'I'll just free-lance until we have kids.' I hired an agent and two weeks later I was called in for Mission: Impossible." After a quick interview, Crane hired her for episode 151, "Break!" as ex-con turned IMF operative Mimi Davis. "I looked right," she feels. "There was a special look for that show, and you had to go a lot of ways with the look you had. I think I had an edginess, a toughness that would work. For Mission, the women has to have something inherently strong about her, because she gets into these situations, and you've got to believe that she can get out of them! Lynda was wonderful and Barbara Bain was just perfectly cast."
Barbara was called back for another segment (episode 155, "TOD-5") and another, eventually guesting in seven of the ten episodes sans Lynda. "Barbara was good," says Peter Graves, "and she had that wonderfully classy look." She found Mission much more challenging than the previous series. "If I had started in that series I never would have left, because you had a different role every week. You never get stale like you do in the other series. My character in Ironside never grew, she stayed a policewoman for four years and that was boring, unfortunately. The only change they made was my hair."
I plum forgot that she was on M:I. As I recall, they did give her a bit more to do for at least one episode with the reformed criminal background or whatever it was.
No, I mean later in the series. There's a lot of possibilities in this Moon stuff. Maybe there was a secret Lunar landing program parallel to Apollo, and maybe the US had a secret Moonbase for some secret reason. Or something.
Cass Elliot (stage name for Ellen Naomi Cohen), 32, U.S. singer for The Mamas & the Papas, known as "Mama Cass", died of a heart attack linked to obesity. The death was originally attributed, incorrectly, to choking on food.
Today's morbid fact. Cass died in the top floor apartment flat at 9 Curzon Place in Mayfair owned by Harry Nilsson. Nilsson had purchased the flat a few years earlier while in London recording his 'Nilsson Schmilsson' album and he asked Ringo Starr to help decorate/furnish the flat.
Ringo had formed an interior decorating company called 'RoR' in 1968 as part of Apple Corp. 'RoR' stood for 'Ringo or Robin' the Robin in question being Robin Cruikshank an interior designer.
In the bathroom of the flat Robin had two etched glass mirrors, one of an oak tree and the other of a hangman's noose. This disturbed Nilsson who asked for it to be replaced.
Because of this, Nilsson would find himself spending less and less time in the flat, and he would rent the unit out to other celebrities who would need a place to stay while in London on overseas trips; one of them being Cass Elliot, who was in London where she was to begin two weeks of shows at the London Palladium.
After the first night where she received a standing ovation, Cass went on a 24-hour celebration tour, first attending Mick Jagger's 31st birthday party, followed by an appearance at a brunch held by British actress Georgia Brown. While there, according to biographer Eddi Fiegel, Elliot was blowing her nose frequently, coughing and having trouble breathing. Next, she attended a cocktail party hosted by American entertainment journalist Jack Martin. She seemed in high spirits but also appeared physically exhausted and sick. Elliot left that party at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 28, saying she was tired and needed to get some sleep.
She returned to Nilsson's apartment, where she went to bed and died in her sleep.
The flat would sit vacant until mid-1978 when Keith Moon offered to rent the unit. Nilsson was reluctant to do so, thinking the flat was cursed. Pete Townshend disagreed, assuring him that "lightning wouldn't strike the same place twice". Keith Moon would pass away on September 6th, 1978, from an overdose caused by the drug clomethiazole.
Upon hearing of Keith Moon's death, Nilsson immediately sold the flat.
Cass Elliot (stage name for Ellen Naomi Cohen), 32, U.S. singer for The Mamas & the Papas, known as "Mama Cass", died of a heart attack linked to obesity. The death was originally attributed, incorrectly, to choking on food.
He must have been surprised that it was happening so fast, because there's no way he couldn't have known where he was headed.
American comedian and actor Shelley Berman was robbed at gunpoint of $60 and a watch and left bound and gagged on the floor of his hotel room in Queens, New York City.
Yikes. I wonder who he sold it to. I wonder who owns it now. I don't believe in the supernatural by any means, but it would still be weird knowing the history of the place.
@RJDiogenes I don't know who Nilsson sold the flat to. I'm sure the biography said, but I don't have it, it went back to the library, and I typed that mostly from memory. I'm sure that there are people out there that would purchase a property like that for their own morbid curiosity. I'm not one of them. Or if I did, I would ask for it dirt cheap, then completely renovate it.
The Chief is at the bank consulting Walter Eustis (Whit Bissell) about his investments when a trio of robbers--Bolton (Frank Marth), Travers (Don Stroud), and Quinto (Rafael Campos, whose character name I didn't catch being dropped in the episode)--make their move. While the thieves are corralling the staff and customers and trying to make things look normal to the outside--which includes Bolton donning a guard's uniform--the Chief and Eustis come out. The robbers being unaware of what they've got on their hands, the Chief has a chance to consult with Eustis to make a play at setting off an alarm, but Travers sees through their charade. Figuring that Ironside is the brains, Travers allows the Chief, who's trying to pass himself off as a businessman, to make a call. While Fran doesn't catch on, he manages to keep her from saying anything to blow his cover and requests she deliver an innocuous-sounding message to Lt. Reese. Meanwhile, a pair of patrol cops names Burt and Marco (Brent Davis and Nate Esformes), after debating whether it would be better to ticket or not to ticket the Chief's overparked van, come back around the block and stop again. Burt goes to the door to ask Bolton (who's claiming that the bank is closed) for the Chief, blowing Ironside's cover.
It becomes clear that the robbers are waiting pensively for something rather than just getting away with the small branch bank's relatively modest hard cash. The Chief and the bank teller who's being forced to field phone calls (Kathleen Gackle) both try to get in the robbers' heads, scoping out their motivations and how far they're willing to go; and something that Quinto tells the teller indicates that they're waiting for a much larger sum of money, which causes Ironside to realize that they're in it for a payroll delivery, and are planning to hit the armored truck itself, which is carrying $750,000. Back at the Cave, Reese is mulling over the meaning of the Chief's message when he realizes that a name the Chief dropped is that of someone whom the lieutenant sent up three years prior for bank robbery--which perks everyone's ears up. At the bank, Eustis gets a call that the truck has been delayed, giving the Chief leverage to put more pressure on the robbers.
Reese learns from Burt and Marco that the van is still outside the bank. Soon Fran goes to the front door, claiming to be from the main office and needing Eustis to sign papers. While she maintains her cover, Travers becomes suspicious of what the manager is writing; but the real trick is that Fran's purse contains a mic, which remains operational long enough before being accidentally damaged (by Travers tossing it to her) for the Chief to slip out some intel about the situation inside the bank, including the number of armed robbers and timetable, in seemingly casual conversation. He proceeds to continue pressuring the robbers, giving them the notion that the truck won't show.
Ironside: Me, I can stay here all night.
Outside the bank, Reese, Ed, and Mark set up a number of plainclothes detectives in the vicinity, including have a couple take the places of a shoeshine vendor and florist. Inside, Travers refuses to go along with the others' increasing desire to get out with the money that they have, and the Chief uses this to fan the flames of dissent within their ranks. Reese and the guys are trying to figure out their next move when the bank truck arrives at a roadblock. Inside, Bolton and Quinto become insistent enough that Travers decides to have them relieved of their guns, which the Chief is happy to accommodate. Once they're down to one armed robber, Fran, who wasn't just carrying a mic in her purse, gets the kind of moment we couldn't even dream of with Julie:
*CLICK*
"Don't move. Don't even breathe."
The Chief takes Travers's gun, just in time for Ed and Mark to arrive at the door dressed as the armored truck crew, find that they're late for the party, and take the robbers away. In the Cave coda, the Chief is arguing with Reese over a one-dollar bet that he lost at a game that they went to, which ties in with the message that the Chief left him.
Ironside
"A Game of Showdown"
Originally aired March 22, 1973
Season 6 finale
IMDb and Wiki mashed up said:
While staying at a remote lodge during a fishing trip with Ed, Ironside plays poker with a card-sharp murder suspect.
Having made bad time trying to find their lake in Nevada, the Chief and Ed decide to secure accommodations for the night. Ed goes to a house where Carrie Thomas (Mary Murphy) directs him to the Wheel of Fortune Lodge. After Ed leaves, this sparks trouble in the home, as enraged guest Woody Owens (Don Hanmer) heads there to confront Carrie's husband, Burt (John Carter), who's playing poker at the lodge with proprietor Del Hogan (Robert Webber), despite the efforts of Woody's fiancée, Marylou Beacon (Virginia Vincent), to stop him.
Ed and the Chief arrive at the lodge to find the desk unmanned because the attractive clerk, Bev (Suzanne Charny), is at the bar watching the game.
Ed (reading brochure): "Welcome to the Wheel of Fortune Lodge. It's your luck to be here and our pleasure to serve you." They're missing the pleasure of serving us.
Del and Bev are accommodating once their guests make their presence known. Then Woody storms in and Bev takes him outside; following which the off-duty detectives watch as Del coolly cleans Burt out, leaving him sore. As E & TC are settling into their room, they hear three shots and run/roll outside. Bev and Del also come out to find Burt's body, and Ed catches Woody in the brush. The detectives liaise with Sheriff Mallory (Scott Brady) after he arrives to have Woody taken into custody. The sheriff has to calm Carrie down when she arrives and blames Del, though he's not the official suspect.
Despite the Chief's resolve to continue with the fishing trip, his professional curiosity is aroused by only two bullets having been found in Burt, so he and Ed locate the other bullet and share it with the sheriff...noting that the angle doesn't match with where Woody was found. A discarded matchbook indicates that someone had been smoking nervously while waiting outside. Inside, Bev looks on with obvious disdain as Del works his latest pigeons, young couple Johnny and Gwen (William Tepper and The Angel Then Known as Cheryl Stoppelmoor).
Bev watches as Del splits his attention between wooing Gwen and giving Johnny the usual business. After the Chief informs Bev that he and Ed plan to stick around, the duo talk to Woody at prison, learning that he was Del's business partner until the money started becoming short despite good business; and that he'd hired Burt--his prospective brother-in-law, Marylou and Carrie being sisters--as his lawyer, but Thomas had been stalling while engaged in regular games with Del. Woody also indicates that Del's not a cheater, he's just really good. Carrie subsequently tells the duo how Burt kept getting deeper and deeper into debt with Del...while the Chief notices her nervous smoking using matchbooks from the lodge. Outside the house, Ed inspects Carrie's car at the Chief's direction to find a dripping oil pan. They find an oil spot on the road to the lodge and take a sample.
Back at the lodge, Gwen tries to persuade Johnny to leave, but he wants another crack at Del. Bev confides in the Chief that she was a former Gwen who stayed behind while the guy she was with moved on. The Chief makes the obligatory call to Frisco so the rest of the team can get some screentime, sending Mark on an errand to the bank. After the Chief receives an envelope of wired money, Del takes Johnny to the cleaners again, making the young man so desperate that he announces his intention to withdraw money that he'd put aside for starting a business. When Gwen asks Del why he does it, he boils it down to a "winners and losers" philosophy. As Johnny returns with his money, the Chief rolls up to the table and puts down a roll of bills.
Over the game, the subject of Burt's murder comes up and Del dismisses himself as a suspect because Burt was in debt to him. Meanwhile, Ed has a deputy let him into Burt's office to find that the lawyer had dug up some dirt, but was keeping it from his client. Del gets distracted when the sheriff arrives and confers with the Chief out of earshot. After a little more playing, Hogan objects when Ed arrives with info from Burt's records, which he shows to the Chief. Bev expresses an interest to Ed in the detectives having gotten something on Del, and he tells her that they'll need a witness to come forward.
At the table, the Chief gets Del to fold on a hand for the whole pot, then declares that Johnny's beat him without showing his hand. The Chief and Gwen convince Johnny to quit while he's even; following which the Chief gets Del to agree to one more hand. The Chief demonstrates some insert-shot card legerdemain, then presses Del to keep raising the stakes of the hand while methodically revealing what he's put together as the sheriff arrives--that Del killed Burt because the lawyer was blackmailing him, and Carrie went to the lodge while Woody was distracting everyone to get Burt's IOUs, which could have been used as evidence against her husband. The final piece falls into place when Bev comes forward by revealing that a safe deposit in her name has Del's skim money in it. Del too easily shows his figurative hand, dismissing Burt and Woody as "two dumb losers" before being taken away by the deputy. As usual, a coda gag about Ed wanting to see the Chief's hand is cut off by the recording.
I was wondering that myself. Wiki and IMDb identify some footage from The Andromeda Strain and Colossus: The Forbin Project having been used, but not that. Though it's possible that it was shot for the syndicated edit and whoever was responsible was so clueless that they thought the Moon had an atmosphere that just happened to evoke Mars, despite multiple RL Moon landings to the contrary...but that still doesn't cover the odd business with the other astronaut.
OTOH, they seem to have gotten some new footage of Majors in the space suit (with his hair loose in the helmet), which puts it more likely at late in the series's run.
@RJDiogenes I don't know who Nilsson sold the flat to. I'm sure the biography said, but I don't have it, it went back to the library, and I typed that mostly from memory. I'm sure that there are people out there that would purchase a property like that for their own morbid curiosity. I'm not one of them. Or if I did, I would ask for it dirt cheap, then completely renovate it.
I think it all depends on which version you heard first. I remember hearing the Cat Stevens version before the Sam Cooke version and both versions still get airplay on the oldie's stations here in the Puget Sound.
@RJDiogenes I don't know who Nilsson sold the flat to. I'm sure the biography said, but I don't have it, it went back to the library, and I typed that mostly from memory. I'm sure that there are people out there that would purchase a property like that for their own morbid curiosity. I'm not one of them. Or if I did, I would ask for it dirt cheap, then completely renovate it.
That's a nice little moment for a supernumerary who's never heard from again.
the Chief to slip out some intel about the situation inside the bank, including the number of armed robbers and timetable, in seemingly casual conversation.
Once they're down to one armed robber, Fran, who wasn't just carrying a mic in her purse, gets the kind of moment we couldn't even dream of with Julie:
The old blatantly-set-him-up-as-the-bad-guy-so-we-won't-think-he's-the-bad-guy trick.
Outside the house, Ed inspects Carrie's car at the Chief's direction to find a dripping oil pan. They find an oil spot on the road to the lodge and take a sample.
The Chief gets to end the season with a Good Samaritan moment.
The Chief demonstrates some insert-shot card legerdemain, then presses Del to keep raising the stakes of the hand while methodically revealing what he's put together as the sheriff arrives
I guess the Chief gets to keep the pot. Not a bad finale, with the Chief getting his Good Samaritan moment and beating the bad guy at his own game. It's just too bad the whole cast didn't get to participate.
I'd have to disagree about the Cat Stevens cover; give me the Sam Cooke original any day of the week; doubly so on Saturday night.
Me neither, since I don't remember the episode that well.
Though it's possible that it was shot for the syndicated edit and whoever was responsible was so clueless that they thought the Moon had an atmosphere that just happened to evoke Mars, despite multiple RL Moon landings to the contrary...but that still doesn't cover the odd business with the other astronaut.
Seems like an expensive shot to pad the episode, but I don't remember Capricorn One well enough to be sure. I'm not even sure if I've seen Capricorn One all the way through.
OTOH, they seem to have gotten some new footage of Majors in the space suit (with his hair loose in the helmet), which puts it more likely at late in the series's run.
For perspective, this was two episodes before the finale. Jason rides into Spade City as they're welcoming with banners the arrival by stage of Greeley and his entourage. The publisher is running for mayor of Gotham in '66 president in '72.
As Greeley's posing for a picture with the mayor, Jason notices what appears to be one of several Apache in the crowd pulling a gun and shoots him just as the flash is going off. The would-be assassin is promptly unwigged to reveal a white imposter. (And he would have gotten away with it, too, if not for that meddlesome coward!) Greeley's secretary, Laureen Macklin (Carol Ohmart), takes him to see her boss at his accommodations, where the newspaperman confesses to his own prominent role in spreading Jason's bad name over Bitter Creek; and impressed that such a man would still save his life, offers him a temporary position as a "social secretary," a.k.a. undercover bodyguard, as Greeley attempts to improve relations with the Indian peoples as part of his campaign for brotherhood with them. (Continuity point: Jason mentions that he's on his way to a job in Panamint.)
Soon after, a cattle baron named Satterfield (Robert Q. Lewis), who was watching the assassination attempt with interest, approaches Jason offering a year's wages for some survey work on a cattle drive, but Jason turns him down. This makes Jason late, causing the punctuality-obsessed Greeley to miss a stage...which they quickly learn was ambushed just outside of town by more "Apache" who were likely imposters. Smelling Satterfield's involvement, Jason finds him at the livery, where Macklin, having followed, pulls a derringer on McCord.
The captive Jason takes one of Satterfield's two henchmen by surprise and proceeds with pummeling aplenty that spills outside, but doesn't have any onlookers.
After alerting a deputy (Lou Cordileone), Jason rides out to the scenic location where Greeley is having a peace-pipe photo op meeting with Chief Satanta of the Kiowa (uncredited). Macklin is already there, overseeing things as an underling (Mike Masters, I think) prepares to snipe Greeley with a bow and arrow. Jason catches Macklin by surprise, and after tricking her into revealing where her assassin is perched, disarms her. Then, noting that "there's a first time for everything"...
Jason promptly dispatches with the would-be assassin, using his broken saber to parry the bow. He then goes to Greeley and ribs him with the revelation that the newspaperman had the bad judgment to hire a female assassin.
Jason: Mr. Greeley, I'll still read your newspaper...but if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna vote for Grant.
And that finally closes the loop with Branded, if in a drawn-out and disorderly fashion.
Next up: Now it can be revealed--The Amazing Untold Origin of the Chief!
Yet he was already overparked at the beginning of the episode. One of the first things we saw in the opening was the flag popping up. Thus the officers' predicament--they weren't sure if the Chief would be more wrathful for being ticketed or for not being ticketed.
Nabbing the uniformed cop who came to the door while his partner was outside would've given the whole game away. This wasn't a standard hostage situation, they were making an effort not to alert the outside world.
He's a master detective! Also, she indicated to him afterword that her compact was broken, suggesting that it was a standard piece of equipment she was known to carry.
They were really playing up the addictive nature of gambling without preaching about it. Everyone who went up against Del was motivated to break his streak...except for the Chief, of course, who proved to be a bigger fish.
It was a pleasant change that the local law enforcement were cooperative with their big-city experts, rather than trying to hide the town's dark secret.
Seems like an expensive shot to pad the episode, but I don't remember Capricorn One well enough to be sure. I'm not even sure if I've seen Capricorn One all the way through.
I once read a book on celebrity deaths and there was a chapter re. Cass Elliot and the pressure both from external forces and herself to lose weight was enormous and her health suffered because of it; with her 'yo-yo' dieting eventually causing her heart to give out.
Probably not a real historical figure. I doubt if the show would take such liberties with a real person.
the newspaperman confesses to his own prominent role in spreading Jason's bad name over Bitter Creek; and impressed that such a man would still save his life, offers him a temporary position as a "social secretary,"
Good twist. But it makes me wonder what their motivations are. I have no idea off the top of my head what Greeley was like or what his platform was, but it implies that the assassins must be pro-Grant (though not necessarily). Did they get into the politics of the evildoers at all?
Then, noting that "there's a first time for everything"...
Oh, I got the impression that the truck was late because of Reese.
Yet he was already overparked at the beginning of the episode. One of the first things we saw in the opening was the flag popping up. Thus the officers' predicament--they weren't sure if the Chief would be more wrathful for being ticketed or for not being ticketed.
Interesting. I'd expect the Chief to be fussy about that sort of thing. I'm sure he'd be wrathfully respectful of the cops who dared to ticket him.
Nabbing the uniformed cop who came to the door while his partner was outside would've given the whole game away. This wasn't a standard hostage situation, they were making an effort not to alert the outside world.
He's a master detective! Also, she indicated to him afterword that her compact was broken, suggesting that it was a standard piece of equipment she was known to carry.
I like it. This definitely would have been a better finale.
They were really playing up the addictive nature of gambling without preaching about it. Everyone who went up against Del was motivated to break his streak...except for the Chief, of course, who proved to be a bigger fish.
The Chief probably saw it but didn't say anything.
It was a pleasant change that the local law enforcement were cooperative with their big-city experts, rather than trying to hide the town's dark secret.
Googling Capricorn One, I don't think that's the source. The scene from Six-Million Dollar Man has those Lost in Space-style boulders in the background and the lander looks huge-- CO just has a rocky plain and a regular LEM.
I once read a book on celebrity deaths and there was a chapter re. Cass Elliot and the pressure both from external forces and herself to lose weight was enormous and her health suffered because of it; with her 'yo-yo' dieting eventually causing her heart to give out.
Ironside
Series pilot movie
Originally aired March 28, 1967
1968 Emmy nominee for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama (Raymond Burr) and Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama (Don Mankiewicz)
IMDb said:
Paralyzed by a sniper's bullet, Robert T. Ironside continues investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Ironside sets out to find his would-be assassin.
This pilot, by contrast, is being aired in its original TV movie format--Hallelujah! (Wiki gives its title as A Man Called Ironside, but that's not what we see on the screen.) It opens with Raymond Burr on his feet as San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside, who's irritably feeding chickens by night while taking some imposed time off at Commissioner Dennis Randall's country home. Clearly unable to relax, he's starting to make a call on the porch as those fateful shots are fired from offscreen.
Note that this conflicts with what I recall of an episode flashback to his shooting, which I assumed at the time was from the pilot. AIR, it showed him being shot while smoking on an apartment terrace in a jogging suit. While the series credits seem to depict him walking on the street in a suit, they also show him smoking at the time. There's no smoking by the Chief here or in the rest of the story. A delivery truck driver (possibly there to pick up eggs; uncredited Harry Basch, who was Dr. Korby's assistant in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") finds him lying on the porch the next morning; identifying him while calling an ambulance as "the Ironside".
The Quincy Jones theme plays over the movie credits as Ironside's being rushed to the hospital. The shooting is announced on the news by Terrence O'Flaherty as himself, with Randall (frequently recurring series guest Gene Lyons) making a statement for reporters. In the locker room at HQ, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown (series regular Don Galloway) is taking the news hard.
Ed: You know what he used to tell me? "The only excuse for an officer taking a day off is death." His own! [Slams locker.]
Reporters also interview a stripper who credits Ironside with having turned her around from a career in shoplifting (uncredited Grace Lee Whitney)...
...and another protegee on the force, Officer Eve Whitfield (series regular Barbara Anderson), who tells them how, despite admiring her powers of observation as a witness in a trial, he'd tried to talk her out of police work for her own good. A couple of news show types preparing an anticipated obituary special (one of them an uncredited Stuart Margolin) screen a speech that the Chief gave at a 1959 academy graduation--never before aired because of his extreme bluntness, which includes a couple of uses of the word "flaming" and describing to the newly minted cops how they'll end up killed in the line of duty. Then the TV newsmen are informed that Ironside is going to make it.
When the Chief comes to at St. Mary's, the first thing he asks Sister Agatha (Lilia Skala) is who blasted him, only to be informed that the police don't know yet. The Chief demonstrates more affinity for his TV-friendly F-word as Ed visits, smuggling a bottle of whiskey in a basket of flowers. (Ironside sports a prominent finger bandage here and for the rest of the story from an injury that Burr reportedly sustained while filming the opening scene.) Taking to the bedside phone, the Chief tracks down Randall at a steam room.
Ironside: Commissioner, I am an irate taxpayer and I demand to know what is being done in the investigation of the dastardly attack on a splendid American, Chief Robert Ironside!
The Chief insists on taking over the investigation when he's released. When he tries to find out when that will be, the doctor (David Sheiner)--accompanied by Sister Agatha--hesitantly breaks the news that the bullet shattered a nerve junction in his spine.
Doctor: It means that there's no reason that you can't live a full and productive life. It means that when you leave here, you can do anything you like...anything except walk.
[Dramatic music cue pause]
Ironside: Is that all? Well, don't you two have anything else to do? [Starts dialing phone.] Alright, you've told me! I've had guys confess to murder quicker! [Shouting as they leave] Whaddya do when you have real bad news, bring in a flamin' fiddler to play "Hearts and Flowers"!?!
As the Chief's later being wheeled out by Ed and Eve (almost typed "Fran" there), the staff gathers to present him with a gift:
The Chief's parting words for his chief caretaker: "Sister, if you ever decide to get out of your business, you'd make a great cop."
On the drive across the bridge and back into town, the Chief makes Ed stop the car to have him and Eve, who've been avoiding the subject, each plainly acknowledge that he's a cripple. He then wastes no time in establishing the series premise by proceeding to a bar that Randall's at--which just happens to be filled with a throng of reporters. (It's not clear if the Chief set this up, as the reporters seem surprised to see him roll in.) While the recorders roll and cameras flash, he maneuvers Randall into giving him a job as an unpaid consultant (so that he'll keep his pension) to investigate his own shooting. (You'd think that Randall could have easily gotten out of this by citing conflict of interest.) The Chief then throws in for himself Ed and Eve as his staff and a third-floor storeroom at HQ.
Inside, Ironside's stationary seat of choice is a barber chair in which a gangster was killed in the '30s; and the kitchen shelves are stocked with canned chili. The Chief dismisses a likely recent escapee as a suspect, accusing his assistants of watching too many movies and noting how the person of disinterest would lay low to avoid being recaptured. Randall arrives at the police garage to find an antique paddy wagon being spraypainted, and learns that "he's" authorized it to be assigned to Chief Ironside. Visiting the Cave as Ironside is ruling out more suspects and the officers are burning some chili, Randall notes that there's an ordinance against cooking in the rooms that the Chief has commandeered.
Ironside: Commissioner, I'm gonna forget you ever mentioned that.
The Chief's alone in the Cave trying to pick up his gun from the floor with a cane when Ed calls him about another potential suspect--a kid the Chief sent up twice who won't answer about his whereabouts on the night of the shooting. The Chief has Mark Sanger (series regular Don Mitchell, here credited as Donald) brought up unescorted.
As the Chief, who clearly doesn't consider Mark a suspect either, questions him about his current activities, education, and the source of his attitude, a brief but surprisingly frank discussion of race ensues.
Ironside: There you are standing on your own feet in front of a man who can't, and you're sorry for yourself because you're black? Well, paint me black and let me walk outta here!
Mark: You have never been black! If you were, you'd be hollering, "Make me white and stick me in an iron lung!"
After getting Mark to admit his hatred for him, the Chief offers him the chance to use the gun on the floor--and Mark is surprised to find that it's loaded, with the Chief promptly charging him $8.35 for the window glass he shoots and setting a strict next-day deadline for payment.
The next day, police mechanic Wheels Montana (Eddie Firestone) shows the Chief the Ironsidemobile and its souped-up V8 engine. Unlike outdoor shots used in the series, this mockup (I assume) has a practical interior visible from the exterior, including a functioning chair lift. The van is also painted black here, but will be light gray in the series.
Mark drops in on schedule to report that he hasn't been able to come up with the money, and the Chief offers him a job as a driver and assistant.
Mark: Well now, you lookin' for a boy!
The Chief: No, just legs. You've got 'em and I need 'em, it's that simple.
The Chief notes that this will involve a paltry wage of $20 a week, and Mark objects to the condition that he go back to school at night, as the Chief doesn't want ignorant people working for him; but Mark ultimately entertains the offer. (The way Randall is portrayed here as being under Ironside's thumb, the Chief probably could have gotten him a detective's salary plus tuition if he'd wanted.) As the Chief inspects the back of the van, he gives us a silent tour of its crimefighting gear, which includes a whiskey cabinet. Mark's first assignment is to take the Chief to a service station to question Baby Peggy Marvel (Ayllene Gibbons), whom Ironside also dismisses as a suspect when she tries to attack him, assuming that she'd be satisfied if she'd crippled him...though she disputes this.
The team assembles as the Chief inspects the porch where he was shot--which includes hurling himself from the chair to get a better idea of the shooter's line of sight. Reviewing evidence gathered from the sycamore grove from which the shots were likely fired, the Chief chews Ed out for having classified as "some miscellaneous nuts" exactly six acorns, which don't drop from sycamore trees. He enlists a scout troop mastered by Wally Cox to inspect the area into the night for what Eve eventually stumbles over in fright--a packrat's nest. The occupant isn't present, but, noting the critter of interest's habit of replacing objects that it gathers, the Chief finds a wealth of new evidence--including six shell casings, which are identified as WWII-vintage military surplus, which narrows the Chief's focus to ROTC colleges and military schools. This causes him to dismiss all the suspects they've considered so far and to present the team with a new one--Anthony Emmons, whom, the Chief notes, was put away while Ed was a Marine. Anthony's a juvenile offender who was a brilliant poet but was expelled from a military academy for shooting a cigarette out of a fellow student's mouth and arrested for subsequently sniping at property, including street lights...and who was released days before the shooting. The rifle having never been recovered, the Chief displays slides of a bullet taken at the time against one taken from his own spine, noting that they match.
Anthony's shrink at the rehab facility, Dr. Schley (Joel Fabiani), indicates parental issues; tells the Chief of a girlfriend named Ellen Wells who was released months before; and shows signs of investment in Anthony, such that the Chief has to remind him that coming forward should he hear from the lad is in Anthony's best interest. Ironside then visits Anthony's parents. The father (uncredited future Boston bartender-who-knows-your-name Nicholas Colasanto) tells of an industrial arts teacher at the military academy whom Anthony was into. An officer at the academy identifies her as Honor Thompson, who's no longer with the school and left no contact information. (In each of these scenes, Mark is shown waiting outside, which I have to assume was intended to make a point.) Eve visits a gallery, where she finds examples of Thompson's work, which leads to the artist's present whereabouts.
Back at the Cave, the Chief chews Ed out again for not being able to find Wells. Ed gets a good moment in which he gives the Chief a piece of his mind about how he treats the team and storms out. Eve, who returns right after this and is being played up as having been a society girl before she joined the force, also expresses her displeasure with the Chief's behavior in a more polite manner. After the Chief looks contemplatively at an old football photo (I can't tell if it's actually Burr), Mark, who seems to be settling into his role, helps him into bed.
The Chief: You missed your chance again, Mark. You could've dropped me on my head.
Mark: The day before payday?
The Chief pays a visit to Thompson's (Geraldine Brooks) waterfront studio in Sausalito. She refuses to help put Anthony in a cage, so the Chief paints a likely scenario in which, the boy having been reported as armed and dangerous, someone else brings him in the hard way. She then takes the team to some likely hangouts, the first being a beatnik cafe where the uncredited emcee is...well, this you just gotta see for yourself.
(Keep in mind that this is a good year before he broke out with "Tiptoe" and his appearances on Laugh-In.) Other hangouts include a park where folk singers play and an underground movie house. (The Haight would have just been breaking out into the public awareness around the time that this movie aired.) When the Chief gets back to the Cave, Ellen Wells (Kim Darby) is waiting for him in the garage. She tells Ironside that she knows where Anthony is, and sounds Ironside out about his intentions before agreeing to arrange a rendezvous at the reception room of a clinic on the condition that the Chief goes alone. When Anthony sees Ironside at the clinic, he starts to split, so the Chief ditches his chair to ride down closer to him on an escalator, propping himself up on the railings with his arms and falling on his face at the bottom while calling out to Anthony. Mark, who'd been waiting nervously out of sight, rushes down to his aid. (Given that IMDb misbilled the father as "Mr. Matling," I'm assuming that Anthony is uncredited Bruce Garrick, who's billed as Billy Matling. And the fact that the story's chief suspect isn't billed should be a clue...)
At the Cave, the Chief wakes up Mark in the middle of the night with a siren to beat himself up about having made Anthony run when he was seeking help, and announces his intention to give up the whole operation over it, which motivates Mark to give him an earful about being a quitter. (The room where Mark sleeps is here doubling as Ironside's gym rather than a pool room.) The next day, the Chief puts his life in his aide's hands again by letting Mark shave him with a straight razor. Eve arrives on this scene to make a joking inquiry about the Chief's blood type before reporting that Anthony has seen Thompson, who can arrange another rendezvous. To set this up, the trio meet Thompson at a Japanese garden, where they foil anticipated surveillance by Anthony by having Eve and Thompson switch places at the Chief's side while wearing the same outfit, which includes a head scarf.
Mark (while pushing the Chief): You know, if there was a meter on this chair, I'd be a rich man.
Ironside tells Thompson to have Tony go to her studio and to indirectly signal him when the lad arrives by making calls to the Chief every half hour until he shows. The Chief whiles away hours at an Arabic-themed club (presumably near the studio) tended by an uncredited Theo Marcuse, where Thompson calls every half hour asking if Ironside's still there. The Chief leaves when no call comes in at 11:00.
While the team surveils from a distance, the Chief experiences some harrowing difficulty getting to the studio under his own power, having to traverse a road that's on a steep incline--ultimately regaining control of the chair by grabbing onto the sides of parked vehicles. Inside he finds Anthony dead with his lightly wounded head on a table, a gun lying on the floor and a suicide note that he'd curiously barely started beside him. Thompson rises from her loft like a vampire to dramatically tell of how she watched the suicide helplessly, but the Chief confronts her with various clues pointing to Anthony having been shot by someone sitting across the table...and throws in his deduction that Thompson, not Anthony, is the shooter who crippled him, Tony having left the rifle with her. (Another clue that Anthony was a red herring would be that the Chief was still alive, because when the team was looking into him, it was played up what a skilled marksman he was.) As she attempts get to the Chief with a blowtorch, which includes bringing down a hanging sculpture to block his path, Thompson blames the Chief for having destroyed the Anthony she knew because when he came out of the facility, he was actually rehabilitated and wanted to put his past behind him. The Chief, while also using the art objects as obstacles and cover, counters that it's really about Anthony having ditched her for a girl closer to his own age. (Thompson is said to be 33; Brooks was 41 at the time.) After Thompson accidentally severs the torch's cord, she futilely tosses a lantern only to find herself surrounded by the ensuing blaze and catching fire. She bursts outside and jumps in the drink, Eve diving in after her.
After the team helps Ironside to safety while firefighters arrive, the Chief tells them off for following him against his orders (getting in a final "flaming"). Eve congratulates him for finding out who shot him.
Ironside: I found out on Friday. If I'd found out on Wednesday, that boy in there would still be alive.
Unfortunately, the Frndly recording cuts off there, robbing us of whatever the final coda beat was.
This was really interesting and engaging, chock full of nifty bits of series-establishing business. It occurred to me as I was watching that all these years I've been watching the series, I never put much thought into who shot Ironside. The bit of EIW that took me aback was the Chief's overly brash and faux-foul-mouthed manner while he was Chief of Detectives; though he mostly settled into a more series-familiar mode as the story developed.
Something that struck me about this pilot is that it easily could have been split into two parts for syndication, and may have been shot with that in mind. The first hour concentrates on the origin/premise-establishing beats, while the second one focuses on the investigation. And there are scenes that easily could have been chopped out (as typically happens with two-hour pilots that get split for syndication, to make room for the extra credits sequences) without affecting the story. The scene with the suspect at the gas station stands out as one of them, as well as some of the bits about the publicity surrounding Ironside's shooting toward the beginning.
Good twist. But it makes me wonder what their motivations are. I have no idea off the top of my head what Greeley was like or what his platform was, but it implies that the assassins must be pro-Grant (though not necessarily). Did they get into the politics of the evildoers at all?
I do remember that title, but the memory has no context-- it could be from fifty years ago or it could be from earlier in this thread.
Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside, who's irritably feeding chickens by night while taking some imposed time off at Commissioner Dennis Randall's country home.
Do they say why? Unfortunately, it seems to have nothing to do with the main plot, so he's feeding Chekhov's Chickens.
Note that this conflicts with what I recall of an episode flashback to his shooting, which I assumed at the time was from the pilot. AIR, it showed him being shot while smoking on an apartment terrace in a jogging suit.
a speech that the Chief gave at a 1959 academy graduation--never before aired because of his extreme bluntness, which includes a couple of uses of the word "flaming" and describing to the newly minted cops how they'll end up killed in the line of duty.
The water of life. That explains the Chief's rapid recovery from death's door.
(Ironside sports a prominent finger bandage here and for the rest of the story from an injury that Burr reportedly sustained while filming the opening scene.)
Kind of a happy accident, since it adds a nice touch.
Ironside: Commissioner, I am an irate taxpayer and I demand to know what is being done in the investigation of the dastardly attack on a splendid American, Chief Robert Ironside!
Ironside: Is that all? Well, don't you two have anything else to do? [Starts dialing phone.] Alright, you've told me! I've had guys confess to murder quicker! [Shouting as they leave] Whaddya do when you have real bad news, bring in a flamin' fiddler to play "Hearts and Flowers"!?!
Let's see: He got himself a gig as a special consultant for the police, set up a hero HQ, finagled a couple of sidekicks, sits on a chair in which a gangster was killed, and uses a modified antique paddy wagon for transportation-- I think the Chief is the one who watches old movies!
Ironside: Commissioner, I'm gonna forget you ever mentioned that.
He dropped his loaded gun on the floor? Who needs assassins?
Ironside: There you are standing on your own feet in front of a man who can't, and you're sorry for yourself because you're black? Well, paint me black and let me walk outta here! Mark: You have never been black! If you were, you'd be hollering, "Make me white and stick me in an iron lung!"
Never would I have guessed when I was a kid what society would come to. But in reference to the dialogue, it's interesting that Ironside is being more honest with Mark than he was with the doctor and the sister.
Wheels Montana! I wonder if they intended him to be a regular.
(The way Randall is portrayed here as being under Ironside's thumb, the Chief probably could have gotten him a detective's salary plus tuition if he'd wanted.)
Anthony's a juvenile offender who was a brilliant poet but was expelled from a military academy for shooting a cigarette out of a fellow student's mouth and arrested for subsequently sniping at property, including street lights
That's cool. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything else.
Ed gets a good moment in which he gives the Chief a piece of his mind about how he treats the team and storms out. Eve, who returns right after this and is being played up as having been a society girl before she joined the force, also expresses her displeasure with the Chief's behavior in a more polite manner.
so the Chief ditches his chair to ride down closer to him on an escalator, propping himself up on the railings with his arms and falling on his face at the bottom while calling out to Anthony.
That must have been a great scene, but I can't help thinking that it only seems like a couple of weeks since he was shot. He'd be right back in the hospital after this.
Mark, who'd been waiting nervously out of sight, rushes down to his aid.
It's kinda irritating how many people go uncredited.
the Chief experiences some harrowing difficulty getting to the studio under his own power, having to traverse a road that's on a steep incline--ultimately regaining control of the chair by grabbing onto the sides of parked vehicles.
(Another clue that Anthony was a red herring would be that the Chief was still alive, because when the team was looking into him, it was played up what a skilled marksman he was.)
I wonder what she was originally incarcerated for.
After Thompson accidentally severs the torch's cord, she futilely tosses a lantern only to find herself surrounded by the ensuing blaze and catching fire. She bursts outside and jumps in the drink, Eve diving in after her.
It was really very good, with a good mystery and good detective work and an exciting climax. Also a really nice variety of characters and settings to keep things interesting. And quite a few Film Noir, Pulpish touches. I could nitpick a couple of things, like what the Chief was doing at the farm and how Thompson knew he was there, and his amazing recovery from his crippling injury, with no sign of medical follow up, pain, or physical therapy, but overall this was a top quality story.
An odd thing that they didn't deal with was the Chief not noticing he was paralyzed prior to being told. One can rationalize that he was led to believe it might be temporary, but there was no "I can't feel my legs" moment.
It see that Firestone appeared in a couple of episodes, but as different characters. Also, we saw Geraldine Brooks recently in the two-part "Buddy Can You Spare a Life?" And another clue, also setting up a regular feature of the series, is that Brooks was the second-billed actor in the movie credits, after Burr.
Kind of fitting, though, that the Chief enlisted experts who helped him find what unseen professional detectives couldn't. (The Randall's Chicken Farm Irregulars...?)
That must have been a great scene, but I can't help thinking that it only seems like a couple of weeks since he was shot. He'd be right back in the hospital after this.
He came to two days after being shot; and when the doctor broke the news, he said that Ironside could leave in as little as a week. Not sure how long he'd been out at that point in the investigation.
I meant to re-edit that the club definitely was within line of sight of Thompson's studio. He was leaving it after a commercial break and looked down at the studio before making his way to it.
I wondered about that. It's possible that he was forced to start the note, or was writing it for another purpose. All he got down was "To whom it may concern".
She wasn't incarcerated to our knowledge; she was a teacher at the academy. She was kind of whackadoodle, but in a way that was easy to dismiss as eccentricity when she wasn't being treated as a suspect.
It seemed to me a nice reminder that he had been recently hurt, in a way that just being in the wheelchair didn't. Come to think of it, it could also be a clue as to how long ago the shooting happened. Did he have it through the whole episode?
An odd thing that they didn't deal with was the Chief not noticing he was paralyzed prior to being told. One can rationalize that he was led to believe it might be temporary, but there was no "I can't feel my legs" moment.
True, I thought of that the first time I read it through. I was thinking of rationalizing it that he was waiting for someone to tell him he was wrong.
Kind of fitting, though, that the Chief enlisted experts who helped him find what unseen professional detectives couldn't. (The Randall's Chicken Farm Irregulars...?)
They might have come in handy in some of those Evil Small Town episodes.
He came to two days after being shot; and when the doctor broke the news, he said that Ironside could leave in as little as a week. Not sure how long he'd been out at that point in the investigation.
There was really no timetable for finding the shooter, so no reason to hurry his recovery. A couple of montages of medical care and physical therapy would have worked well for the story.
I certainly didn't expect that their relationship started as antagonistically as it did--Mark being brought in as a suspect in the Chief's shooting!
Yeah, it seems like zero of that antagonism carried over into the show.
I meant to re-edit that the club definitely was within line of sight of Thompson's studio. He was leaving it after a commercial break and looked down at the studio before making his way to it.
So near and yet so far. A great way to show how his life has been upended by that bullet.
I wondered about that. It's possible that he was forced to start the note, or was writing it for another purpose. All he got down was "To whom it may concern".
She wasn't incarcerated to our knowledge; she was a teacher at the academy. She was kind of whackadoodle, but in a way that was easy to dismiss as eccentricity when she wasn't being treated as a suspect.
The First Indochina War ends with the Vietnam People's Army in North Vietnam, the Vietnamese National Army in South Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Laos emerging victorious against the French Army.
August 4
In the United Kingdom, the Independent Television Authority officially begins operations.
Also on August 4, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr, premieres in New York.
August 6
Died: Emilie Dionne, 20, one of the Dionne quintuplets, of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure. She is the first of the five to perish, and three of them survive into the 21st century.
August 7
The last streetcars operate on the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway in Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Air Force School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field, Texas, receives the first specifically built space cabin simulator.
Also on August 7, "Sh-Boom" as covered by the Crew-Cuts tops the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.
August 8
The final episode of the comic strip Jungle Jim is published.
August 10
First use of the 24-second shot-clock in competitive basketball.
August 16
The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published in the United States.
Born: James Cameron, Canadian film director, in Kapuskasing, Ontario.
On August 21, "Shake, Rattle and Roll" as covered by Bill Haley & His Comets charts (#7 US; #4 UK).
August 23
A United States Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, flew its first flight at Burbank, California.
August 24
Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, 72, commits suicide after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder his chief political opponent, Carlos Lacerda, shooting himself in the chest at the Catete Palace with a Colt Police Positive Special.
August 25
Born: Elvis Costello, English singer, songwriter, and musician, in London
Died: U.S. Air Force Captain Joseph C. McConnell, 32, the top-scoring American jet ace in history, in the crash of an F-86H Sabre fighter-bomber when its controls malfunction during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, as well as the year in film, music, television, and comics, with minor editing as needed. Sections separated from timeline entries are mine.
I went back to make sure I didn't miss anything. His awareness of his condition prior to the news wasn't dealt with at all; not even a handwave. The hospital scenes were really very perfunctory.
There was really no timetable for finding the shooter, so no reason to hurry his recovery. A couple of montages of medical care and physical therapy would have worked well for the story.
"We'll solve cases together, or separately if need be!"
I learned something new about the creation of Wolverine--the initial concept for the character came from Roy Thomas (then editor-in-chief); he enlisted Len Wein and John Romita to create the character. Reportedly Herb Trimpe denied having any part in the creation. Apparently Thomas and Romita are now included in his creator credits for the films.
Given that he's established to be a mutant in the first story--even though his healing factor and senses haven't been introduced, and his claws are presumed to be artificial at this point--I have to wonder if a consideration in his conception was making him part of the X-Men revival...which has at least been conceived by this point, as they've been tossing hints about it in the text pages. The X-Men were near and dear to Thomas, and Wein would write GSXM #1.
I miss Guy on Tape...
