Dragnet went color in 1967 and this had a weird softening effect on the series; it seemed grittier in the 50's and Webb's social conservatism was on a rampage against dope, hippies and unruly teens. Here we have a gang of oddly well-groomed teens running amock in L.A. stealing what Jack describes as "sports cars." The well heeled mom-in-denial is Mark VII's stock trooper, Peggy Webber (good looking dame, here about 43, stretching her acting chops with a Texas accent) whose son Harold (Michael Burns, then about 22) is the gang's instigator. He gets caught after boosting a car with a Phillips screwdriver (genius!) and is given a straight n' narrow lecture by Joe. It doesn't take and soon Harold & Co. are stealing a '68 Mustang (gasp in awe at the unscathed car crash scene--- hey, Webb knew those Mustang's cost $3200 a pop) and swipes an upland bird 12 gauge over & under. Let the rampage begin! Look for Heather Menzies as a wet, irate teen (father here is another Mark VII regular: Dee Carroll) and Mickey Sholdar as one of Harold's creepy minion. Along with "The Grenade" (also featuring Sholdar and Menzies) this is one of the more ambitious episodes of the '68-'69 season. Michael Burns certainly had feature film break out potential---he'd been acting since 1959--- but quit in '77 and chose academics and became a respected historian/author and college professor. I hear he's living in relaxed early retirement breeding horses in Kentucky. As color Dragnets go, this is close to the best of the bunch.
3 Reviews
Watch this one just for the epilogue
planktonrules22 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Friday and Gannon are working the juvenile division and this episode concerns one particular obnoxious teen, Harold Rustin. Rustin is 17 and up until then hadn't been in any legal trouble. But, suddenly, he was stealing cars and acting like a little maniac. No matter what the detectives did, Rustin seemed intent on destroying himself--and taking others with him.
Overall, it's a very good and sobering episode. If the intent of the show was to horrify viewers, it did a good job. A clean-cut kid like Rustin being so out of control and indifferent to others is pretty shocking. It's funny, but often old farts love to talk about the good ol' days--how things were more conservative and tough and how kids these days have it soft. Well, if the old fart remembers the 1960s, then they can't possibly think things are any softer today--and this episode of "Dragnet" is a great example. In it, there is a punk 17 year-old who quickly graduates from stealing cars to murder. And, at the end of the show, the little darling is sentenced as a juvenile--and being committed to the juvenile system. At most, he probably stayed in jail until 21. Four years for a murder!? Today, any 15 or 16 year-old committing a similar crime would most likely be charged as an adult--particularly if they have various other serious charges against them.
Overall, it's a very good and sobering episode. If the intent of the show was to horrify viewers, it did a good job. A clean-cut kid like Rustin being so out of control and indifferent to others is pretty shocking. It's funny, but often old farts love to talk about the good ol' days--how things were more conservative and tough and how kids these days have it soft. Well, if the old fart remembers the 1960s, then they can't possibly think things are any softer today--and this episode of "Dragnet" is a great example. In it, there is a punk 17 year-old who quickly graduates from stealing cars to murder. And, at the end of the show, the little darling is sentenced as a juvenile--and being committed to the juvenile system. At most, he probably stayed in jail until 21. Four years for a murder!? Today, any 15 or 16 year-old committing a similar crime would most likely be charged as an adult--particularly if they have various other serious charges against them.
These Kids Nowadays!
rmax30482318 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
It's a decent episode that seems to stick more closely to what we may call -- as long as we're smiling broadly -- ordinary life. Nobody steals ladies' shoes or paints his face red.
A clean-cut high school boy used to be well behaved but he's been picked up for joy riding in a stolen car. His mother just washed him and now can't do a thing with him. Friday and Gannon talk some man-talk to the kid, who sloughs it off. Even a tour of the LAPD's facilities doesn't seem to do more than affect him momentarily.
On a later occasion his mother visits Friday and Gannon again. The kid is worse than ever, staying out all line, hanging with the wrong kinds of friends, wearing white after Labor Day, and who knows what all. The detective are sympathetic but are hobbled by the law, which assumes that this is a family matter.
And so it is, until one fateful night the kid steals still another car and totals both it and himself. After what we've seen of the youthful miscreant, it hard to feel heartbroken. He'd have probably grown up to be a politician anyway.
A clean-cut high school boy used to be well behaved but he's been picked up for joy riding in a stolen car. His mother just washed him and now can't do a thing with him. Friday and Gannon talk some man-talk to the kid, who sloughs it off. Even a tour of the LAPD's facilities doesn't seem to do more than affect him momentarily.
On a later occasion his mother visits Friday and Gannon again. The kid is worse than ever, staying out all line, hanging with the wrong kinds of friends, wearing white after Labor Day, and who knows what all. The detective are sympathetic but are hobbled by the law, which assumes that this is a family matter.
And so it is, until one fateful night the kid steals still another car and totals both it and himself. After what we've seen of the youthful miscreant, it hard to feel heartbroken. He'd have probably grown up to be a politician anyway.
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