Cannon

Cannon was an excellent tv movie and resulted in a successful series that ran for 5yrs.

William Conrad was brilliant as the overweight Private Eye Frank Cannon.

He proved that you didn't have to be good looking or a super hero to be a good detective.

So he was fat, so what, he was an everyman detective and an ordinary guy that you might see in the street who happened to be overweight.

Despite this he proved he was intelligent, quick witted and he had a number of smarts to outwit his opponents, but he was also capable of looking after himself physically when the situation arose (he was an expert in karate, being overweight does not mean you can't handle the rough stuff when you need to, my judo instructor was 19st, the same weight as Cannon, but boy could he move fast when performing various judo throws and moves).

I am 19st myself, but I know that I can look after myself when need be, with my experience of judo.

Remember Cannon was cunning and knew that his size might get in the way of the physical rough stuff, so he planned his moves carefully and used short swift karate & judo moves to gain the upper hand of his opponents.

He proved that a fat man could look after himself and that he was more than capable when it was needed to deal with violent crooks.

If he was ever attacked and beaten up, he usually got his revenge at the end of the story one way or another.

Also it has to be remembered that Cannon carried a gun. He was an expert with firearms and an excellent marksman (as was William Conrad in real life)and was a competent driver in his Lincoln Continental.

All in all Cannon was another good tv detective series of the 70's, which sadly has given way to the over violent and over done crime films & television series of today, which to my mind lack story content of these old tv detective series of yesterday, which had good story content without the need for over the top violence.

I hope to see video releases of this series soon.

I agree with the others about the quality and the care that each episode of Cannon had. A memorable TV show that only ended because William Conrad grew tired of doing it and wanted to end it on a high note. There was a "reunion" TV movie called "The return of Frank Cannon" done around 1980 as I recall. Perhaps it will see the light of day again in reruns.

"Cannon" was developed by Arthur Hume for Quinn Martin Productions, the same company whose leadership gave us also "The Untouchables" and "Barnaby Jones". This was also one of a bizarre series of what I at the time nominated as "defective detectives". Fortunately for viewers, instead of these series' central characters being ethically defective, like most other compulsives central characters on TV shows they all had a physical or experiential infirmity. One was too young, one was blind, one had a deaf daughter, one had crabgrass, another had an obnoxious girlfriend, Barnaby Jones was old and Frank Cannon, retired ace police detective, carried a lot of weight. He solved cases, worked with aid from and occasionally worked for his old police pals, and used the money he earned so he could buy and eat gourmet food and cook it for his friends in a posh Sunset Strip tower apartment This very-well-made and intelligently scripted series was not devoid of humor either; but William Conrad as "Cannon" was a considerable presence both as actor and large human being. His conviction and strength gave the series a solid boost in quality over other series Also, the employing of several fine guest stars a week added to that quality even more. The scripts for the series were overseen by David Moessinger, Stephen Kandel and Earl Booth. Among the thirty-four credited directors who toiled for the series between 1971-1976 were many first-rate talents, including Richard Donner, Marvin Chomsky, Robert Douglas, E. Arthur Keane, Michael O'Herlihy, Alec MacCowan, Leslie H. Martinson, David Lowell Rich, Jimmy Sangster, Virgil Vogel, David Whorf and Don Taylor. Writers among the nearly six dozen who created episodes for the series included Albert Aley, Margaret Armen, Bill S. Ballinger, Calvin Clements Jr., Harold Gast, Robert Hamner, Leonard Kantor, Robert Lenski, Ken Pettus, Paul Playdon, Jimmy Sangster, Karl Tunberg, Robert Van Scoyk, Phyllis White, Collier Young and Carey Wilber. Arthur Fellows was credited as supervising producer as was Russell Stoneham, with Winston Miller and Paul Playdon contributing also; an unusual feature of the show was how many of its producers and head writers contributed scripts to the series. Music for the series was seldom more than serviceable under seven contributers; Jack Swain did the good straightforward cinematography. The art directors were George B. Chan and Bill Kenney; the very varied set decorations were provided by Carl Biddiscombe and Frank Lombardo. Howard P. Alston was the executive production manager, with Fred Ahern in charge of production, and fine director Kurt Neumann and Lou Place having charge of active production units. John Elizalde was the show's musical supervisor. In one year, 1972, Charles Bateman was regularly featured as a police contact; and the series also used some actors five or more times, including Simon Scott, Arthur Adams, Patrick Culliton and Tom Pittman. Some of the most memorable guest stars on the series included Keith Andes as a charismatic cult leader who had no lines, Charlene Polite as a gorgeous flirtatious woman, and Katherine Justice as a suspicious woman investigating Pernell Roberts. The worst moment of the series? Perhaps it was putting William Conrad into a wetsuit to go scuba diving for evidence. The best? It might have been the brilliant episode "Death is a Doublecross", and much of Alec MacCowan's innovative direction. This is a well-remembered series; its mature star was twice as powerful as an actor and a character because he was not looking for romantic one-nighters everywhere, and because of the show's sheer narrative quality. The best of all private eye shows in TV history, by miles, I assert.

The great memories of childhood included playing sports and watching television (it was ALWAYS on when I was in the house!!). For my money, the 70's produced the best shows, detective/cop series in particular: Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, Kojak, S.W.A.T. Barnaby Jones, The Rookies etc... And of course "Cannon".The plot has been described already: William Conrad starred as Frank Cannon, a heavyset private detective who took (and invariably solved) cases of interest. Aside from occasional help from his police contacts in gathering information from time to time, Cannon worked alone and relied on intelligence and the occasional gunplay to get things done. Presented in the trademark "Quinn Martin format" of "Acts I, II, III, IV, Cannon was thoroughly enjoyable. The fun in watching today lies in the many great character actors of the day (many of whom appeared on every show of the decade, it seems!), the "sterile" violence and the personal childhood memories the show holds. A great way to spend an hour.

Unlike more recent detective series that are little more than an hour of car chases, graphic bomb scenes and other gratuitous violence, Cannon showed a detective carefully and cleverly going about the business of solving perplexing crimes. Moreover, unlike The Rockford Files and others which strain credibility by portraying a supposedly successful detective as always having trouble paying his bills, Cannon shows a very successful detective surrounded by the trappings of success such as a beautiful Mark IV and an expensive penthouse apartment. All in all a great series.