User Reviews

DRAGNET – "The Big Girl" –1954 Detectives Jack Webb and Ben Alexander are working out of Robbery Division this time. There has been a string of 16 robberies with violence. The deal here is that the perpetrator is always reported as a tall woman. The description is that she sometimes has long blonde hair, and sometimes is a redhead.

Webb and Alexander interview the latest victim, Harry Bartell, in hospital. He had picked up a blonde hitchhiker. Once she got in the car, she had pulled a gun and robbed him. Then the blonde had shot him at close range before hotfooting it away.

The boys hit the files to look up any possible leads. This goes nowhere fast. Then the Detectives think they have caught a break. A blonde, Carolyn Jones, is brought in. She had been caught on the street carrying a Colt .38 just like the one they are looking for.

A round of 3rd degree soon shows that this is not their shooter. It is back to the files for another look. While all this is going on, there has been another robbery with the victim also being shot. The description is again a tall blonde.

A cabbie now calls in a report of a blonde with a gun. The detectives race over for a talk with said cabbie. He explains that he had dropped off a tall blonde at the "only women allowed" hotel across the street. As he had pulled away, he had heard a gunshot. He then circled the block and returned. He now shows the Detectives some blood on the sidewalk.

The Detectives thank the cabbie, pull their guns and follow the blood trail. It leads to a side door of the "women only" hotel. They follow the trail inside to a room. Boots are quickly applied to the door and the Detectives rush inside. Shots ring out from behind an inside door. This door is also booted and the suspect corralled. The "tall woman" suspect turns out to be a man. The man, Maurice Hill, had been using the dress like a woman gag to attract easy targets. He had dropped his gun when getting out of the cab and wounded himself in the leg.

Sometimes it is just plain luck that helps solves a case.

Directed by Jack Webb. (B/W)

This is Sargeant Friday chasing a robber through LA in 1953 or so. In this case a tall "woman" is hitchhiking and shooting and then beating "her" victims. So far there were nine victims. Friday and his partner interview the last victim in the hospital. His spine was severed by the gunshot and his face had been savagely beaten.

Then a woman is captured trying to rob a motorist after he picked her up. It quickly develops that she is a copycat criminal. The police the compare notes and discover that some of the victims say "she" was a redhead, and some say blonde, and some say brunet. They conclude that she may have been using wigs.

Then they get a report the the theft of a number of wigs and dresses from the wardrobe department of a studio. At this robbery the criminal left a foot print of a male shoe. What could this mean? Then they get a call from a member of the public who reports that he saw a big woman who met the description who had been shot. They follow the trail of blood to a hotel for women where they arrest the criminal. Was the criminal a boy or a girl? I guess you will just have to watch the episode to find out.

The reason I think the episode is weak is because generally the clue which leads Friday to his prey is the result of some effort by the police. In this case it is just a report from the public.

Review Season 3 Episode 31 The Big Girl 4-1-54 It might be robbery division being worked, but there is plenty of blood from beatings and gunshots to coincide with the crimes, started with a hitchhiking perpetrator.

Friday's narration concerning the work of the detective and the work of the support staff, all make solving crimes non-magical, just hard work on everyone's part. Joe's point is well taken, these cases are solved after a long process of good policework, and catching a break once in a while when the criminal accidently shoots himself.

The word gets out about the crimes committed, where cab drivers are on the lookout for any thing suspicious beyond the obvious. When the trail of blood leads to the hotel rear-entryway, and the locked room where the blood drips stop, Friday, Smith are close. After kicking down the hotel room door, somehow able to avoid being shot by the criminal behind a closet door, the cuffs are applied, ambulance called, showing disguises on the vanity consisting of the stolen wigs.

Good episode used later on in more cop shows where the suspect is a man dressed as a woman. This episode is well done by guest actors, some easily recognized, from early in their respective careers. The story never gets old with one gender disguised as the other, committing crimes, until finally caught.