THE DETECTIVES – Power Failure - 1961
This one is episode 49 of the 97 episode run of, THE DETECTIVES. This series starred Robert Taylor and ran between 1959 and 1962. The first two seasons ran at a half hour and the last season had a runtime of an hour. The series followed the detective squad in a big city precinct. Cast regulars included, Mark Goddard, Russell Thorson, Tige Andrews, Lee Farr and Adam West. Robert Taylor headlines as Police Captain, Matt Holbrook.
There has been a massive power failure in the warehouse area of the city. A car ran off the road and smashed a huge power transformer station. The power outage is affecting Police response time etc. Detective Russell Thorson is sent out to have a look at the scene. City repairmen are pulling a wrecked car from the mess. There is no driver which strikes the Detective as strange. The City workers tell the Detective that the driver should have been fried in the crash.
Thorson roots around the scene and finds some rubber attached to parts of the auto. He calls in to Captain of Detectives, Robert Taylor that he believes the crash was a set-up to take out power in the area. The area is full of warehouses and jewellery wholesalers. Taylor has as many cars as he can spare drive through the area. He has nowhere the manpower to do the job right.
Inside one of the warehouses, a group of break and enter types are doing a spot of safe cracking. Inside the safe is a half million in top end furs. The group, led by Joe Turkel and Art Batanides, have been planning this caper for a year. They have Police times down pat as well as how long it will take to repair the damage to the power grid. They even have a Police scanner with then to be kept up to date on Police responses.
The Police of course figure that the target for any possible heist would be the jewel merchant area. They concentrate most of their meager resources there. Captain Taylor though has a hunch, and heads a group over to the fur wholesaler warehouse area.
Turkel and his men have opened the safe and removed the best furs etc. They load up their truck and prepare to drive off. This does not happen as planned, as Taylor and Detectives Tige Andrews and Thorson ruin the get-away. The perfect plan was not so perfect.
This is a pretty tense episode with a real nice look to it. The men behind the camera would explain this.
Big screen film noir veterans handle the direction and cinematography. Lewis Allen was the director of the noir, DESERT FURY, CHICAGO DEADLINE, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER, ILLEGAL, A BULLET FOR JOEY and SUDDENLY.
Director of photography was noir favourite, George Diskant. His noir resume includes, RIFFRAFF, DESPERATE, THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, PORT OF NEW YORK, BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN, THE RACKET, ON DANGEROUS GROUND, THE NARROW MARGIN, BEWARE MY LOVELY and KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL.
This one is episode 49 of the 97 episode run of, THE DETECTIVES. This series starred Robert Taylor and ran between 1959 and 1962. The first two seasons ran at a half hour and the last season had a runtime of an hour. The series followed the detective squad in a big city precinct. Cast regulars included, Mark Goddard, Russell Thorson, Tige Andrews, Lee Farr and Adam West. Robert Taylor headlines as Police Captain, Matt Holbrook.
There has been a massive power failure in the warehouse area of the city. A car ran off the road and smashed a huge power transformer station. The power outage is affecting Police response time etc. Detective Russell Thorson is sent out to have a look at the scene. City repairmen are pulling a wrecked car from the mess. There is no driver which strikes the Detective as strange. The City workers tell the Detective that the driver should have been fried in the crash.
Thorson roots around the scene and finds some rubber attached to parts of the auto. He calls in to Captain of Detectives, Robert Taylor that he believes the crash was a set-up to take out power in the area. The area is full of warehouses and jewellery wholesalers. Taylor has as many cars as he can spare drive through the area. He has nowhere the manpower to do the job right.
Inside one of the warehouses, a group of break and enter types are doing a spot of safe cracking. Inside the safe is a half million in top end furs. The group, led by Joe Turkel and Art Batanides, have been planning this caper for a year. They have Police times down pat as well as how long it will take to repair the damage to the power grid. They even have a Police scanner with then to be kept up to date on Police responses.
The Police of course figure that the target for any possible heist would be the jewel merchant area. They concentrate most of their meager resources there. Captain Taylor though has a hunch, and heads a group over to the fur wholesaler warehouse area.
Turkel and his men have opened the safe and removed the best furs etc. They load up their truck and prepare to drive off. This does not happen as planned, as Taylor and Detectives Tige Andrews and Thorson ruin the get-away. The perfect plan was not so perfect.
This is a pretty tense episode with a real nice look to it. The men behind the camera would explain this.
Big screen film noir veterans handle the direction and cinematography. Lewis Allen was the director of the noir, DESERT FURY, CHICAGO DEADLINE, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER, ILLEGAL, A BULLET FOR JOEY and SUDDENLY.
Director of photography was noir favourite, George Diskant. His noir resume includes, RIFFRAFF, DESPERATE, THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, PORT OF NEW YORK, BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN, THE RACKET, ON DANGEROUS GROUND, THE NARROW MARGIN, BEWARE MY LOVELY and KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL.