Dragnet (Jack Webb cop show), any fans?

Thanks so much Myke! That's the one. I plan to buy this immediately!

 

Always count on IMDB !

 

The brief transition shots when Joe and Bill drive somewhere provide interesting glimpses of L.A. at that time.

I always enjoyed jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon appearances("I analyze systems"). Jazz aficionado Jack Webb was no square: Married to Julie London for awhile!

 

He walked by night is a great little film, the sewer system chase is incredible.

 

I love Dragnet.

 

It was done for continuity rather than being cheap.

 

My favorite cop show too. I've only seen a handful of the 50's shows (as well as the radio show) but I really liked them. I really love the 60's version. The show works on so many levels. The stories are interesting. I actually care about "how it ends". Then there is the unintentional humor that is great too. Plus, I like checking out late 60's Los Angeles too. I recently showed my wife the Blue Boy episode. She hates old tv shows and had never watched Dragnet before. It didn't change her mind. She said, "I never want to hear you complain about the acting on CSI Miami again". I remember my Great Grandmother watching Dragnet (and Perry Mason) when I was a kid. I got innto it when Nick-At-Nite was showing it and was hooked.

 

Gotta hand it to him there, Julie was ridiculously hot:

 

Heather Menzies, for example (IMDB shows several more):

Dragnet 1967 (TV Series)
Lisa Bogart / Nora Chatterton / Ann Flynn / ...
- Juvenile: DR-35 (1969) ... Lisa Bogart (as Heather Menzies)
- The Joy Riders (1969) ... Nora Chatterton (as Heather Menzies)
- Narcotics: DR-16 (1968) ... Ann Flynn (as Heather Menzies)
- The Grenade (1967) ... Lorean Harper (as Heather Menzies)
- The LSD Story (1967) ... Edna Mae Dixon (as Heather Menzies)

 

The entire run of the color 1960's series is on DVD and I've been having a lot of fun re-watching it lately. I grew up watching re-runs of it on Nick At Nite back in the 1980's.

I wish the 1950's black and white series would get an official DVD release.

 

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They shot exteriors in one set of clothes so shots would always match, thus saving money.

All shows did this to some degree (Bonanza would shoot a bunch of exteriors of Hoss riding his horse on the trail, up a hill, by a lake, etc... to use for stock shots. Since he was almost always in his Hoss outfit in exteriors, shots would always match). It's just more obvious on Dragnet b/c supposedly on the color series Webb was only "out of uniform" seven times.

 

Webb and Morgan made two films together: Alan Ladd's Appointment with Danger, where they are both villains, and Charlton Heston's Hollywood debut Dark City, where Webb is a heavy again but Morgan is sort of a pathetic flunky.

Webb is credited with appearing as a child actor in Three On A Match (1932). Can you imagine what a 12 year old Jack Webb sounded like?

"OK Miss Crabtree, you run this sixth grade class your way, but someday you'll learn you're not the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, the rootie patootie. You know what you are?"

"What?"

"A dumb dora"

[Dumb-de-dumb-dumb]

 

FF to 10:28:

 

I agree, I prefer his radio shows like Jeff Regan and the often over-the-top Pat Novak to his mostly static TV work (even if he did invent a new visual style). My favorite Webb work from any medium is the radio version of Pete Kelly's Blues.

Curious, as Webb with Conrad many times on radio and in the film -30-.

There's an OTR thread on the OT board:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/old-time-radio.6065/

 

I like the fifties Dragnet (call me The Big Fan) because the show had a cutting edge feel and authenticity for the era. But I can't watch the ten year later reboot without my gag reflex taking over. What worked so well in the fifties (style-wise) became a broad satirical cliche by the late 60's.

The 50's show, inspite of understandably dated rhetoric and B&W photography, never digresses into the campy or disingenuous. There was also quite a bit of location shooting and it's easier to suspend disbelief in the acting. What I remember most about the late 60's show are the cheesy sets which makes Webb's "just the facts, mam" interviews seem even more wooden and unrealistic.

FTR, I'd love to see is a remastered DVD set of the entire 50's run instead of the random third generation PD tripe that's out there. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.


Cat

 

Me too! I'm going to email Shout Factory ([email protected]) and see if they'd be interested in releasing it. You should, too!

Here are some Nick At Nite Dragnet promos:



Man, I could sure go for a Garlic Nut Butter Sandwich right about now!

Did you know that Jack Webb/Sgt. Friday never (quite...) said "Just the fact, ma'am"?

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/dragnet.asp

The color Dragnet episodes are kind of cheesy and stilted but that's part of their charm to me.

 

There's a nice Dragnet site here with an episode guide, a FAQ, and more.

http://www.badge714.org

 

For years I thought the Carson appearance was the only time Webb spoofed the Joe Friday character. But as we've seen he did the Jerry Lewis Show in 1968, and there was also this radio program in 1953:



As you might expect Hope is given the lion's share of the punchlines, but Webb gets in a few zingers himself.

I know of two other times Webb lampooned Joe Friday: with Morgan on a Jack Benny special in 1974 (which I have not seen), and The Milton Berle Show in 1953, which is on YouTube but not really that great.

 

I still watch it. It's obvious that Jack Webb was a big fan of second (3rd/10th . . . ) chances, given the way he employed aging actors who'd basically drunk themselves out of careers. They rewarded his faith with solid performances.

 

I've seen him in different color jackets. Back in 1968, the vast majority of conservative/moderate men who wore dress shirts wore white.

 

Gannon said, "I don't know how you stay alive on what you eat."
Friday replied, "I was thinking the same thing about you."

 

When Ch. 56 in Boston began rerunning the 60s DRAGNET, I didn't understand why the 50s episodes weren't in the package. I think they're under different ownership, I'm not sure.

 

Harry was in a LOT of radio programs. I listen to old time radio, and found that just a relatively few actors and actresses must have got all the work. John Dehner, Virginia Gregg, John Stevenson, Vic Perrin, and Howard McNair were all undoubtedly on Dragnet numerous times but they were on Suspense! and the others as well constantly.

In Novak For Hire, (Or was it Jeff Regan?) Webb's character is constantly saying things like "Nervous as a cat at a Rocking chair convention", to the point of parody. It's so bad, it's good.

 

Seems appropriate here. Three Stooges Dragnet Spoof.