La cover-girl a disparu

I'd never heard of this made-for-TV film and was fortunate enough to catch a broadcast on TV and I must say, it was very well done! I've been a fan of the 60s/70s series with Webb and Morgan and this is very much along the same vein, but better in that it's expanded and more in depth than the usual 30 minute episodes could ever be. I'd definitely say if you were or are a fan of the 60s/70s series, this is a film you'd enjoy. Many of the usual familiar faces are included in this film and it's a lot like revisiting old friends. Worth a look-see!

This powerful 1966 "Dragnet" flick marked the return of Sgt. Joe Friday to the screen (though Friday was a Lieutenant in the last black-and-white episode). This time Friday is teamed with Officer Bill Gannon played by Harry Morgan. The episode, involving young ladies murdered by a photographer, is tense and gut-wrenching. It is finely directed and features the best, most realistic performances of any 1960s episode. It received very high ratings when it was finally broadcast in 1969, after a very successful season in which the show returned to the top twenty in the Nielsen ratings for the first time since the 1950s.

Fans of this new version of "Dragnet" may be very interested to know that Jack Webb and Harry Morgan had appeared together in two film-noir movies before doing this show. The first was "Appointment with Danger," filmed in 1949, in which the two play killers and Jack Webb's character, coincidentally named Joe, kills Harry Morgan's character by smashing his head with bronze shoes. The other movie was "Dark City," filmed in 1950, in which the two play gambling cronies and constantly get on each other's nerves.

In this "Dragnet" show they don't get on each other's nerves, and, with some of the most clever investigation Joe Friday ever does (the candy bar wrapper scene and the lured confession), the two get their guy.

Although it's written by the same writer as "Dragnet" (1954), this film is the antidote to the theatrical production, and the best "Dragnet" Jack Webb ever did.

The actual case had occurred in the late 1950's, and had been worked by then-Sgt. Pierce Brooks, who served as technical consultant. (Wambaugh's "The Onion Field" was also a Brooks case.) A sex deviant photographs young, inexperienced models before raping and murdering them. Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon try to find the killer pervert, and in the process they solve ANOTHER murder; that of a jewelry salesman from France who bears a striking resemblance to their suspect. The plot is gripping and (of course) well acted and directed. A great moment comes when Friday consoles the young son of the murdered jewelry salesman. It's a rare display of emotion for the "cop's cop." The dialogue is true-to-life, and so are the supporting characters - even the ones clearly played for laughs.

For anyone who wants to know why Webb's "Dragnet" was so successful, THIS is the film to see.

FACTOID: The film aired in 1969, but was actually shot in 1966. It wasn't intended as a pilot for a new series, but when NBC saw it, they wanted Webb back as Friday full time.

Seven years had elapsed since the end of the original incarnation of Dragnet, and the show's popularity in syndication helped persuade Jack Webb to film this 1966 telemovie, which became the basis for the full-time return of Joe Friday to duty as telefilmdom's most famous working detective for the LAPD, this despite the fact the actual Richard Breen-scripted telefilm was kept in the can until 1969.

Dragnet 1966 alludes to the 1950s series when Joe mentions having a previous partner named Smith. This is a nice touch that helps bridge the two decades of Joe's detective duty together, though it does raise the question of why Friday, who'd been promoted to lieutenant, was reassigned as a sergeant. In any event, Joe's return to duty is welcome, and his interplay with new partner Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) and the other detectives of LAPD's Homicide Division (later merged into the Robbery Division) remains engaging.

Friday is recalled to duty from a vacation by the visit of Russian VIPs, but that lasts all of two minutes before Homicide chief Captain Hugh Brown (a miscast Gene Evans; Art Balinger normally played Hugh Brown but is curiously cast as another officer here) assigns Friday and Gannon to help with the tracking of three missing young models.

As with Breen's previous Dragnet film, we see in the prologue the actual commission of the crime - the three girls are bound and gagged, their suffering filmed and photographed by the perp responsible. Unlike the 1954 Dragnet, however, here we do not see the face of the killer, though his rear profile gives us an indelible image nonetheless. Friday and Gannon get a name - J. Johnson - who'd been dating one of the missing models and had seen her at a ritzy dating service run by a sometimes-intemperate woman, Eve Kruger (veteran Dragnet actress Virginia Gregg), whose description of the man is at variance with that given by the missing woman's brother.

Friday and Gannon get what looks like a break when a body matching J. Johnson's description is found in a rundown out of the way area, brutalized and shot. A book of matches on the body helps identify the body and leads the two officers to the man's brother and the man's young son - this is among the most gut-wrenching scenes in the entire Dragnet series; making it all the more powerful, the dead man's young son sings Way Down Upon The Swanee River - in French! Such mildly comedic touches are common to the color Dragnets and help humanize the characters more.

Joe and Bill find the two men responsible - one is played by Herb Ellis, the original Officer Frank Smith of the Dragnet series in 1952 before being replaced by Ben Alexander in 1953; Friday also "pulls dropsy" in a sense; he tricks the perps into copping out to the crime - but after apprehending the two perps the original J. Johnson strikes again.

But as Friday laments the lack of a good clue to J. Johnson's identity, he promptly finds a good clue - one so good it leads to a cliffside confrontation amid driving rain between a small batallion of LAPD squad cars and the real killer, who has his latest victim hostage in a trailer he intends to push over the cliff - which can give way any minute in the downpour - if the cops don't amscray in five minutes.

Another link between Dragnets 1950s and '60s comes near the end - as in the 1954 movie, a toolbox proves instrumental in wrapping up the murder case, containing as it does all the evidence needed to pin the crime on the right man.

I have always been a big "Dragnet" fan and this was filmed in 1966 as a television movie but did not air until 1969. The reason was that the network liked it so much that instead of airing it they decided to just make another series with Jack Webb. This is a story that was filmed before in an earlier film and its based on a true story (Of course). Some lunatic (Vic Perrin) has been kidnapping women and as the investigation continues another case was solved. This film starts out with Joe Friday being called off of vacation and being teamed for the first time with Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan). They follow some clues and when a body pops up in a hotel they think it might be connected to the case. Well it isn't, but they track down the two lowlifes who did it and solve that one along the way. This was a more serious case than some of the usual episodes that the TV show aired. At one point in the film Friday actually has to use force to subdue the man they have been tracking down. As far as I know and remember, its the only time I have seen Joe Friday use physical force. The usual "Dragnet" performers that Webb likes to use are on hand here. Along with Perrin they're is Virginia Gregg and in a small role future "Adam 12" star Kent McCord plays a hotel clerk. For those who like trivia, at one point in this film Friday mentions that he had a partner named Smith. And later on the actor Herb Ellis has a small role and he actually played Frank Smith in the first "Dragnet". Also, Webb and Morgan had acted with each other before in two other films so this was the third time they had worked together. Obviously they had become friends because Webb liked working with the same people as it made him comfortable. I personally like the way Webb plays Friday. He is so by the book that he becomes a cliche' and thats part of the fun and charm of these shows. You might want to notice that when Friday walks he doesn't move his arms! I can't get enough of it! Webb milked this character for his entire career and he was right. To bad he didn't make more "Dragnet" films. This was enjoyable.