Double Trouble

You have here a top quality episode of this series. Strong screenplay, strong acting, the perfect photography and settings. It really looks like an authentic film noir, with a light espionage touch too. Stu is on the spot here, with Kookie as a sidekick, and what a great pleasure to have Bruce Cabot as the bad character, the evil guy. The jazzy atmosphere is still present, as usual in each episode. I won't repeat the topic, that may sound familiar, I admit, and I learned through this episode that contact lenses existed at this time, such as those Stu put on his eyes to impersonate his phony character. One more time, Georges WaGGner was on the job.

10 Stars.

What a story, written by Leonard Lee, long time writer for the series and also LINEUP. This does have the feel of a "Lineup" episode, and may have been an outline for an earlier story. All about the Mob, pre GODFATHER material, with the real bad guys and lots of deadly twists.

Stu is called out of retirement by the CIA to investigate Silk Cipriano, exceptionally played by veteran actor Bruce Cabot. Silk is involved with illegal drug activity, a mob hit and there's a gang war brewing.

So what's the plan. Very cleverly, Stu assumes the identity of the Executioner, a notorious hitman and a long time friend of Silk. In a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE type ploy, Stu has to use contact lenses to change the color of his eyes, apply makeup, tease his hair! -- and even have a fake scar added to his chest, which Silk would recognize.

Great support from Dolores Donlan as Rena, the proverbial gun moll, who takes a liking to Stu, until she accidentally catches him without his contact lenses. More over, the REAL Executioner makes a surprise appearance. What NOW?

An excellent adventure by Leonard Lee, and as always, top direction by George WaGGner, the famous two G's, who gets some terrific performances here, particularly from Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

Donlan, a former New York model, a few years before this episode posed for PLAYBOY magazine and appeared in four additional episodes. Bruce Cabot is spot on in the role of the mob boss, also co-starring Bert Freed as Emory. Look for Max Baer, Jr in a bit role as a young G-Man and popular character actor Jackie Coogan playing a drug lord called Baldy.

I agree with the last reviewer, a must see for 77 fans.

Best of SEASON 3 EPISODE 8 remastered. The series is now available in box sets containing the entire series. Thanks much to METV Plus for running this classic show on Sunday nights.

George WaGGner goes back to the 1940's as a terrific Film Noir Director (among other things), so having all the noir-style films he had done by this point under his belt, giving "Double Trouble" a "Noir-ish" kind of feel was like falling off a log for WaGGner. And this "77" outing is just dripping with: A) Old-School Gangsters - and Warner's built the studio on that sort of thing, and B) The kind of Intrigue (much of which would be "Foreign Intrigue") that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

The U.S. Government has looked high and low to find someone they can slip into an organized-crime outfit, and (of course) it turns out one of the principals of the Bailey and Spencer Detective Agency can easily pass for the Bad Guy In Question - with just a little lightening of his hair color as well as his eye color (with a light-colored set of contact lenses). That's only a little odd, considering when this one was made, the only contacts that were made were the local AS#