User Reviews

DRAGNET – The Big Rod – 1954

This is the 104th episode of the 283 episode run of the Police Detective series, DRAGNET. This series ran from 1951 to 59. This series set the mark as far as depicting how everyday Police work closes cases. It is a solid Police procedural that still stands up today.

Sgt Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) are working the day watch out of Felony Motor Vehicle Division. A woman has been nailed at a crosswalk by a hit and run driver. The woman has been taken to hospital with multiple injuries.

The Detectives visit the hospital to see how the woman is doing. The attending doctor, Vic Perrin, tells them it could go either way. Also at the hospital is the injured woman's husband, Michael Ansara. Ansara is furious with the Police for not catching the hit and run driver. He tells the Detectives he will kill the man if he finds him.

Webb and Alexander pay a call on witness, Diane Jergens. Jergens describes the car as a hot-rod Ford with twin tail-pipes. She also saw a hot-rod club emblem on the rear of the car. The Detectives thank Jergens for her help. They track down the distinctive emblem and pay the club a visit. The club manager is most helpful and supplies info on the emblem. It seems that a club emblem has been stolen.

The car is soon found by some uniform types parked in front of a rundown boarding house. The plate is run by the license records boys, and a suspect is soon named. The kid, Jan Merlin, is a boarder at the rooming house where the damaged rod was found. A quick talk with the manager discloses that Merlin had moved out in a hurry that morning. The manager suggests they try a local tavern where Merlin hung out. Webb calls in the info and learns that the hit and run victim has died. It is now a murder beef.

Webb and Alexander pepper the bar's owner, Nesdon Booth with questions about Merlin. Nesdon is somewhat reluctant to answer till Webb tells him that it now a case of murder. Nesdon informs the Detectives that Merlin is crashing at Nesdon's apartment. "I knew nothing about any hit and run, I was doing a good customer a favour." Webb and Alexander soon pull Merlin and take him to the station. Waiting at the station is Ansara, who has to be restrained from throttling the kid.

Merlin is tossed Into a cell to wait for his date with the judge. A long vacation on the State's nickel is in his future.

Detectives Friday and Smith are investigating a hit and run. Apparently, a guy in a beat up old jalopy ran over a woman...and it appeared that the car didn't try in the least to avoid hitting her. So, using lots of bits and pieces of information, the pair are able to piece together what occurred. However, as an added incentive, they want to find the guy before the dead woman's husband, as he's vowed to kill the driver if he catches him.

This is a very sad episode...especially since the woman was pregnant. It was surprising, then, that the killer was only convicted of one count of manslaughter....perhaps laws were different back then. Well made...and worth seeing the killer's reaction to all this.

Season 4 Episode 18 Review - The Big Rod 12-30-54 The story involves a woman struck down by a hit-and-run driver, later dying at a hospital, pregnant carrying a seven month fetus. Clues are scant but sufficient for Friday, Smith to nail the perpetrator. Friday closes the program with a lecture to the killer that makes the episode worth watch all on its own.

Four notable actors in this episode make the show worth watching, the suspect is identified, and caught, on to Q where he belonged. Manslaughter is a real crime, but the punishment is low for all the suffering caused.

In order of appearance, the doctor was played by Vic Perrin. It was refreshing to see Vic portraying a good-guy rather than a scumbag. Michael Ansara, played the grieving and vengeful husband of the victim of the hit-and-run driver. His six-three frame is pleasantly towing over Friday, Smith in the scenes in the hospital and squad room. Well played, Cochise, we miss the acting as well as your presence. Jimmy Ogg is the president of the hot rod association club, offering help to the police in capturing the suspect, because it is the right to do and take the blame away from his members. Nesdon Booth was recognizable portraying western characters, and had several credits before he died of a heart attack at forty-five; he is the bar-owner in this episode.

Friday, Smith have the zany witness identifying the suspect enough to give them a start, and adding an item of interest hanging on the beat-up car's bumper, an additional name plate with the word wheel on it. It turns out there is a Square Wheels Club in LA, as noted by the NHRA president, and this fact brings the officers closer to identifying the suspect. The accident scene investigators lab police identified the broken glass from a 1940 Ford. Pictures of the accident scene help the guys ascertain the bumper had likely been marked hitting the woman. Sure enough, when they found the car parked, the busted headlight and skin-laden bumper were enough for the crime lab to confirm the car hit the woman.

Friday, Smith track the crumb down by ripping into a reluctant bar-owner who served the killer the night he killed the pregnant lady. More times than not is a tavern-owner not cooperating until he is threatened. The suspect is brought into HQ, identified by the original witness, and given the lecture by Friday before being hauled to jail. He ended up at Q for his crime, but the manslaughter sentence is not nearly enough for this toad. Watch the entire episode for the actors playing characters so necessary to the story; no wasted scenes in this one.