Squad Car

A shady fellow is killed, but Police Lieutenant Paul Bryar is on the case in his slow way. He goes to see showgirl Vici Raaf, and the trail leads to a counterfeiting scheme....and death!

It's a cheap second feature, with poor line readings, badly mismatched shots and a voice-over that tells you what's going on if you watch this while puttering around the house in the midst of this poorly put together one-hour feature, you may be astonished at the competence of the camerawork. It's Henry Cronjager Jr. -- credited as "Henry Cronjager"; his father hadn't had a screen credit since 1933 --who spent most of his career working in television.

Bryar gives a performance that reminds me of Broderick Crawford in this period, although without the energy. He had made the first of his almost 400 movie and TV performances in the late 1930s. He continued working, mostly uncredited on the big screen, until shortly before his death in 1985 at age 75.

The writer sure is proud of of the name.he came up with for our sexy femme fatale, Cameo Kincaid. Every character says it as often as they can- especially the narrator. Our shlumpy hero played by a capable actor , Don Marlowe (with a jarhead buzz cut) says "Cameo Kincaid : a nightclub tootsie with big eyes and no morals." (He has a weirdly written scene with Cameo where he unfortunately has to shave bare chested. Ouch- not good.). Cameo herself is played by the spectacular Vici Raaf, a Mamie Van Doran double who is introduced singing the jazzy, swinging lounge hit "Break 'Em Up" with hipster lyrics like "shake em up like this ooh ooh wow - no time for old fashioned waltzes just oom pow pow, a one two three Pow." They just don't write em like that anymore. To truly appreciate this show stopper you've got to see her moves that go with the performance. The patrons look slightly alarmed as she writhes through the little cocktail tables. One poor sap tries to light a cig while she sings. She'll have none of that. When we hear her husky speaking voice later it's pretty clear she was lip syncing the song. But listen she's fantastic She seems the most tuned into just what this movie needs inorder make it at least somewhat memorable. Poor Lynne Moore who plays Don Marlowe's infinitely more innocent girlfriend Jeanne. They got someone with a very stiff line reading to dub her voice. Wow- poor Lynne - she must have been terrible. Other people in her scenes aren't dubbed. And she's stuck with a frightening Harpo Marx hairdo. I would love to know the story behind the making of this movie. A group in Scottsdale got some funding? They partnered with local businesses, (hotels and tractor suppliers included) for product placement financial support, raided the local community theater groups, pulled in a couple of Hollywood fringe performers (Raaf.and nominal lead cop Paul Bryan) and made themselves a movie. Whew. But did I enjoy it? Yeah. For what it is, I dug it.

I saw this movie in a theater back in the early sixties. At the time, I remember thinking that it was entertaining in the context of a "B" movie. Sure, it wasn't Oscar material, but it did have a story to tell and at no time did I think that it was a waste of time.

I thought that the the film work was quite good and that the music was also good. It was filmed at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I remember thinking what a great setting.

There was no dearth of talent in the making of this movie. I seem to remember Vicki Raaf as appearing in a movie with Marilyn Monroe.

I remember seeing Paul Bryar in a score of television shows in the 60's and 70's as well as a couple of Hitchcock movies. Jimmy Cross also appeared in several TV shows, a Hitchcock movie, and the original Poseidon Adventure.

These people all gave good performances. The writers Flohr and Parsons also had television writing experience.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this show has a place in our film history. Some would even say that it stands with some of Ed Wood's work, but I leave you to judge that.

I just know that I thoroughly enjoyed it 40 years ago and would love to see it again!

Squad Car is not as bad as some reviewers claim. It is simply a low-budget version of Dragnet/Badge 714. The title has little or no relation to the program episodes as the main storyline is about two detectives for the Beacon County Police Department. Coincidentally, Beacon County looks like Los Angeles.

Don't expect good acting or many locations. However, the program was not ultra low budget as it played on network and/or first-run syndication.

The series is rare and episodes are difficult to obtain. So, I doubt many will have opportunity to pass judgement.

From Roughly 1958-62...There was a "Void" in the Entertainment Business and the Over-All "Arts" Community was Seemingly Suffering Creatively by Real and Abstract Reasons.

As is Often the Case, that "Void" was Rebelling Against Itself and Rumblings Started and Finally Exploded.

The Opening for that Long-Looked-For On-Ramp for Outlets to Revive a Return to Greatness and a Lively Format as Entertainment was Now Offered by What Was Called "The British Invasion"...

All Entertainment as Art Changed Rapidly, Drastically, and a Zeitgeist Happened that Now is a Well-Documented "World Event".

In Context, the Aforementioned "Void" is where this Typical 2nd Feature and Low-Low-Budget Movie Found Itself.

It has All the "Tropes" and Signs of a Pop-Culture Entry in the Drive-In and Grind-House Venues.

Historically Movie-Buffs, Pop-Culture Enthusiasts and Researchers Have Found the Non-Mainstream "Exploitation" Genre/Market was a Wild, Weird-World of "Work-for-Hire" Entertainers that Could Not Really Run-Amok,

but did Manage to Take Chances that No Main-Stream, Established, Respected Movie-Studio would Touch.

"Squad Car" Clocking in at 62 min. Circa 1960 was a Watchable, if Not by Any Stretch Remarkable Police-Procedural.

That by Now was Nothing More than a "Devolving", Done-to Death Offering of Film-Noir (stripped of its cutting-edge), TV's "Dragnet" that Beat that Drum so Loudly and So-Often that it No-Longer was Ground-Breaking, just Anesthetizing and Ready for the "Old-Folks-Home".

It was Time for Something More than this Above-Average of its Type,

but Hardly Nothing to Write-About Cheapie that Gave a Prolific "Back-Ground" Actor with Claims of 4-500 Screen Appearances...

Paul Bryar, to Try His Hand as a Finally 'Credited" Actor in the Lead. Along with a 4th Rate Platinum-Blonde Lounge-Act (Vicci Raaf)...

Belting a Few WoW Songs with as Little Lyrics as Possible and a Fancy of a Jazz-Novelty Delivery of Sultry, Salty Lyrics of Not-so-Subtle Sexual Subtext.

She Steals the Show Revealing, Not in Her Sexy Songs, but in Her Acting Abilities and a Force of Feminine Ferociousness to be Reckoned.

Worth a Watch.