Now this episode of Dragnet 1968 was F-U-N. How's this for a case: Sgt Friday and partner Bill Gannon (Jack Webb and Harry Morgan) are put on the case of, get this, a purse-snatching dog! A reported number of purse snatchings perpetrated by a well trained dog have Friday and Gannon baffled because no one description is the same. There's a reason for this and the twist is a doozy. I even think a closing shot shows a dog winking with a purse in its mouth! Probably not intentional, but I got a kick out of it just the same. A star of 60s low budgeters, Luana Anders, has a hilarious cameo as a hippie with a flower shop whose entire language seems to consist of poetry and "flower child" lingo, questioned by Friday and Gannon over her own purse snatching (the look of frustration on Webb's face is priceless!). The description of Los Angeles (in Friday's customary opening narrative that sets up each episode) of being the "strange character city" certainly seems apt for this case. The number of purse-snatching victims ( a bickering married couple who can't decide what kind of dog snatched the woman's purse, a woman on welfare) questioned provide further colorful demonstrations of how difficult it can be to put together a tangible case, but the reason why such conflicting reports exist to dampen Friday and Gannon's case perfectly sum up the beauty of this particular episode, "The Dog". I imagine the Anders' hippie is Webb's own interpretation of the "flower power" generation, no matter how over-the-top her characterization is, I couldn't help but get a good laugh from it.
8 Reviews
Goofy but entertaining
planktonrules18 November 2009
This is one of the sillier episodes from "Dragnet" and it's far from perfect, but it's still worth watching. My one complaint (and it's not a huge one) is that the lady who played the "live and let live" hippie lady was a bit hard to believe--almost like a caricature instead of a real person. She was funny but not particularly subtle!
The show is about various conflicting reports from around the city of dogs stealing purses. Seriously. While this sounds impossible, Friday and Gannon's meeting with a dog training expert confirms that such tasks COULD be taught...but that he doubted that the dogs went bad and developed the racket on their own (actually, I added this last portion myself). But with no leads, Friday organizes a stakeout until finally the rogue mutts can be nabbed.
Overall, a fluff episode that is still worth seeing and enjoyable. Plus, according to the introduction, these are taken from REAL cases, so apparently the doggy gang really did happen!
The show is about various conflicting reports from around the city of dogs stealing purses. Seriously. While this sounds impossible, Friday and Gannon's meeting with a dog training expert confirms that such tasks COULD be taught...but that he doubted that the dogs went bad and developed the racket on their own (actually, I added this last portion myself). But with no leads, Friday organizes a stakeout until finally the rogue mutts can be nabbed.
Overall, a fluff episode that is still worth seeing and enjoyable. Plus, according to the introduction, these are taken from REAL cases, so apparently the doggy gang really did happen!
That was my name but I changed it this morning
FlushingCaps25 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Bill and Joe are on the trail of a purse-snatcher, one they likely cannot outrun. It's a dog. When talking to the various victims, they are puzzled because the descriptions don't match. After interviewing various victims, most of whom were at or near a bus stop, it is clear that at least one of them saw the dog jump into a car that pulled away, but narrowing down what kind of dog robbed them seems impossible.
They investigate the possibility of a professional dog trainer being involved, interviewing a leading animal agent for Hollywood pictures. He assures them a dog could be trained to snatch purses and run to a car, but he dissuades them from the notion that a pro would do it. He reasons, "A good animal trainer can make $100 a day working in pictures, why stoop to stealing purses." (In 2020, that would be over $700 a day.)
They get their boss, Art Gilmore, this week playing Captain Merton Howe to agree to setting up a stakeout using several teams. Almost every time they have multiple teams on a stakeout in this series, nothing happens the first so-many days and the captain talks to our heroes about cancelling the stakeout earlier than planned, and Joe has to talk him into continuing it for as long as they originally planned. That happens here.
Now I also noticed that in briefing the other teams, because of the previous robbery times he told them their stakeouts will run from 4:45 to 7 p.m. Then, in Friday and Gannon's team that first day, Joe's narration told us they called it off at 6 p.m. Must have been the script continuity person's day off.
On the last day of the stakeout they hit pay dirt, saw a dog snatch a purse-not their undercover police woman, but another lady, and they were able to jump in their car and as Bill drove and Joe called in the report, two patrol cars plus 1-K-80 blocked the vehicle the dog jumped into and they found four dogs in the back of the station wagon. Only then did Bill and Joe realize why the descriptions didn't come close to matching.
This was a fun episode for the viewers, largely because of some of the people that were interviewed, starring Luana Anders who played a woman named Noradelle De Leone. When they interviewed her in her hippy flower shop, wearing glasses with one blue lens and one orange one, she was, I think, the biggest flake they ever interviewed. For one thing, she told them that this morning she had changed her name to Agnes Hickey. She didn't report the theft because she believed in "live and let live" but when the bus driver didn't agree to let her "ride now and pay later" after her purse was stolen, he called the "fuzz" on her and so she told the officer what happened. She tried to explain to Bill and Joe about how everyone has a "bag" and in it is their "thing," but they looked confused.
She was truly very funny, over the top for sure, but aren't most of their interviewees that way? I mean, for example, almost every time they have someone who seems religious, they aren't like most folks, but seriously over pious, preaching to everyone about sin and making it clear that this is their focus almost every waking minute.
They also interviewed an older couple who vehemently disagreed about what type of dog it was, and a woman who had a camera in her hand and as she got out the photo of the dog thief, she said, "You're going to be embarrassed" to Sgt. Friday. Reason: "It's a police dog."
I think that while Joe and Bill are smart detectives, sometimes Jack Webb wants the viewers to feel smart too, by believing they are ahead of the detectives. Here, I think he wanted us to hear the different victims and come up with the idea that it was more than one dog before Bill and Joe figured it out.
This was an episode I remembered well from seeing it as a kid and it was one of the most enjoyable episodes. If it's a straight drama, it has to have something extra beyond a stakeout and here comes the crook, and we caught him, type of action. Sometimes Dragnet lets us enjoy ourselves, much like a sitcom. This was one of the best of those shows so I give it a 9.
They investigate the possibility of a professional dog trainer being involved, interviewing a leading animal agent for Hollywood pictures. He assures them a dog could be trained to snatch purses and run to a car, but he dissuades them from the notion that a pro would do it. He reasons, "A good animal trainer can make $100 a day working in pictures, why stoop to stealing purses." (In 2020, that would be over $700 a day.)
They get their boss, Art Gilmore, this week playing Captain Merton Howe to agree to setting up a stakeout using several teams. Almost every time they have multiple teams on a stakeout in this series, nothing happens the first so-many days and the captain talks to our heroes about cancelling the stakeout earlier than planned, and Joe has to talk him into continuing it for as long as they originally planned. That happens here.
Now I also noticed that in briefing the other teams, because of the previous robbery times he told them their stakeouts will run from 4:45 to 7 p.m. Then, in Friday and Gannon's team that first day, Joe's narration told us they called it off at 6 p.m. Must have been the script continuity person's day off.
On the last day of the stakeout they hit pay dirt, saw a dog snatch a purse-not their undercover police woman, but another lady, and they were able to jump in their car and as Bill drove and Joe called in the report, two patrol cars plus 1-K-80 blocked the vehicle the dog jumped into and they found four dogs in the back of the station wagon. Only then did Bill and Joe realize why the descriptions didn't come close to matching.
This was a fun episode for the viewers, largely because of some of the people that were interviewed, starring Luana Anders who played a woman named Noradelle De Leone. When they interviewed her in her hippy flower shop, wearing glasses with one blue lens and one orange one, she was, I think, the biggest flake they ever interviewed. For one thing, she told them that this morning she had changed her name to Agnes Hickey. She didn't report the theft because she believed in "live and let live" but when the bus driver didn't agree to let her "ride now and pay later" after her purse was stolen, he called the "fuzz" on her and so she told the officer what happened. She tried to explain to Bill and Joe about how everyone has a "bag" and in it is their "thing," but they looked confused.
She was truly very funny, over the top for sure, but aren't most of their interviewees that way? I mean, for example, almost every time they have someone who seems religious, they aren't like most folks, but seriously over pious, preaching to everyone about sin and making it clear that this is their focus almost every waking minute.
They also interviewed an older couple who vehemently disagreed about what type of dog it was, and a woman who had a camera in her hand and as she got out the photo of the dog thief, she said, "You're going to be embarrassed" to Sgt. Friday. Reason: "It's a police dog."
I think that while Joe and Bill are smart detectives, sometimes Jack Webb wants the viewers to feel smart too, by believing they are ahead of the detectives. Here, I think he wanted us to hear the different victims and come up with the idea that it was more than one dog before Bill and Joe figured it out.
This was an episode I remembered well from seeing it as a kid and it was one of the most enjoyable episodes. If it's a straight drama, it has to have something extra beyond a stakeout and here comes the crook, and we caught him, type of action. Sometimes Dragnet lets us enjoy ourselves, much like a sitcom. This was one of the best of those shows so I give it a 9.
Really Entertaining When They Have Kinky Characters!
ccthemovieman-114 November 2010
I love it when the show has a particularly-kinky person on the show, either a suspect or a witness to a crime or a victim.
Here, the hippie flower-child flower shop owner, "Noradelle De Leone" played by Luana Anders....is a real trip, a caricature that will make you laugh even though her dialog is beyond ludicrous or believable, even for a '60s flower-child.
Another wacko character in here was "Wanda Kravitz," an older welfare-recipient woman who said a wolf took her handbag. Some of her statements to Joe and Bill are really bizarre. Jean Inness played her.
Hey, the story itself is strange (but all Dragnet shows are said to be based on real-life cases). A dog is snatching purses. He's done it over a half dozen times in this two weeks and the cops have to put a stop to this. One trouble is they can't even get an accurate description of the dog. We find out why later on.
Yes, this story is goofy but that's what makes Dragnet so much fun to watch. I gave it a "10" because of its entertainment value.
Here, the hippie flower-child flower shop owner, "Noradelle De Leone" played by Luana Anders....is a real trip, a caricature that will make you laugh even though her dialog is beyond ludicrous or believable, even for a '60s flower-child.
Another wacko character in here was "Wanda Kravitz," an older welfare-recipient woman who said a wolf took her handbag. Some of her statements to Joe and Bill are really bizarre. Jean Inness played her.
Hey, the story itself is strange (but all Dragnet shows are said to be based on real-life cases). A dog is snatching purses. He's done it over a half dozen times in this two weeks and the cops have to put a stop to this. One trouble is they can't even get an accurate description of the dog. We find out why later on.
Yes, this story is goofy but that's what makes Dragnet so much fun to watch. I gave it a "10" because of its entertainment value.
Dog Snatcher
hellraiser724 August 2022
This episode is another favorite episode, it's no doubt one of the light and unusual entries in the show. This episode is kind of funny because it's true in the profession there are some bizarre cases that don't always fall into the normal category. But also, when it comes to cases with animals, they can be surprising and unusual indeed from some where they are found in the most unlikely and unusual places like of course "Alligators in the Sewers" or even just a bear showing up in one's backyard. Things like this just go to show how unusual the planet we live on can really be.
There are a lot of memorable moments and pieces of dialog as usual, like some of the colorful characters both Bill and Joe interrogate. But also, like how both react on the case as their both almost can't keep a straight face and are as puzzled as we are.
I really like how there is an amount of intrigue in this episode as we find a lot of conflicting descriptions on the snatchers but also it shows a reality on how hard it truly is to catch theves as the whole point is to steel and disappear.
Can Joe and Bill snatch the purse snatcher, you'll just have to wait and see.
Rating: 4 stars.
There are a lot of memorable moments and pieces of dialog as usual, like some of the colorful characters both Bill and Joe interrogate. But also, like how both react on the case as their both almost can't keep a straight face and are as puzzled as we are.
I really like how there is an amount of intrigue in this episode as we find a lot of conflicting descriptions on the snatchers but also it shows a reality on how hard it truly is to catch theves as the whole point is to steel and disappear.
Can Joe and Bill snatch the purse snatcher, you'll just have to wait and see.
Rating: 4 stars.
Man's Best Particeps Criminis.
rmax30482324 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Well, this crime is a real knotty one. A dog has been snatching purses out of the hands of ladies waiting at bus stops. Half a dozen times. But when Friday and Gannon interview the victims, none of them can agree on what the dog looked like. There are family arguments over whether it was a terrier or a bulldog.
Finally a photo of the miscreant shows up -- a police dog running away with a purse in its jaws.
It takes Friday and Gannon weeks to track down the perpetrators, a gang of snarling mongrel dogs dressed in shabby clothes and living under a bridge, cackling while they divide up the loot, smoking cigars and blaspheming the cops.
Not really. The true perp is a less colorful figure who stole some dogs from the Army's training unit and put them to work at jobs less constructive than sniffing out explosives and corpses.
It's an entertaining episode, but then most of them are.
Finally a photo of the miscreant shows up -- a police dog running away with a purse in its jaws.
It takes Friday and Gannon weeks to track down the perpetrators, a gang of snarling mongrel dogs dressed in shabby clothes and living under a bridge, cackling while they divide up the loot, smoking cigars and blaspheming the cops.
Not really. The true perp is a less colorful figure who stole some dogs from the Army's training unit and put them to work at jobs less constructive than sniffing out explosives and corpses.
It's an entertaining episode, but then most of them are.
Going to the dogs
sol121824 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Sgt. Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon, Jack Webb & Harry Morgan, are put on this dog purse snatching case. There's this slippery and elusive dog grabbing ladies purses all over the city of L.A! After grabbing the purses the dog makes off with them in a getaway car obviously driven by his or her human handler.
More comical then serious this "Dragnet 1968" episode has Friday and Gannon interview a number of women who were victimized by this criminal dog including the freaked out, not on drugs but her free life style philosophy, hippie flower child Noradale De Leone, Luana Anders, who for some strange reason insist in being called Agnas Hickey. The exchange between the straight laced tough talking and take no BS Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon and Miss. Hickley is so hilarious, with both cops at times totally clueless to what the heck she's talking about, that for a moment I thought I was watching an Abbott and Costello comedy routine instead of a serious police TV crime show!
Both Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon finally get a break in the case when the latest victim Dee Staley, Bonnie Hughes, of this dog purse snatcher just happened to snap a photo of the pooch in the act. What confused both Friday Gannon as well as the LAPD was that all the victims of this purse snatching pooch gave totally different descriptions of him! And in his latest and last purse snatching crime that both Friday Gannon and policewoman Dorothy Miller, Marry Anders, were present at it became obvious that all the eye witnesses were in fact right in the different descriptions they gave of the purse snatching mutt!
***SPOILERS*** Bitersweet ending with what turned a pack of dogs being used by Vietnam Vet and dog trainer Ingo Burry, Burt Burns, to do his dirty work with. The innocent dogs instead of being sent to the pound and possibly put to sleep ended up being adopted. Two of them by Officer Gannon and policewoman Miller. As for Burry he didn't quite get off so easy. He's now serving a three to five year sentence for grand thief at the Chino State Prison.
More comical then serious this "Dragnet 1968" episode has Friday and Gannon interview a number of women who were victimized by this criminal dog including the freaked out, not on drugs but her free life style philosophy, hippie flower child Noradale De Leone, Luana Anders, who for some strange reason insist in being called Agnas Hickey. The exchange between the straight laced tough talking and take no BS Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon and Miss. Hickley is so hilarious, with both cops at times totally clueless to what the heck she's talking about, that for a moment I thought I was watching an Abbott and Costello comedy routine instead of a serious police TV crime show!
Both Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon finally get a break in the case when the latest victim Dee Staley, Bonnie Hughes, of this dog purse snatcher just happened to snap a photo of the pooch in the act. What confused both Friday Gannon as well as the LAPD was that all the victims of this purse snatching pooch gave totally different descriptions of him! And in his latest and last purse snatching crime that both Friday Gannon and policewoman Dorothy Miller, Marry Anders, were present at it became obvious that all the eye witnesses were in fact right in the different descriptions they gave of the purse snatching mutt!
***SPOILERS*** Bitersweet ending with what turned a pack of dogs being used by Vietnam Vet and dog trainer Ingo Burry, Burt Burns, to do his dirty work with. The innocent dogs instead of being sent to the pound and possibly put to sleep ended up being adopted. Two of them by Officer Gannon and policewoman Miller. As for Burry he didn't quite get off so easy. He's now serving a three to five year sentence for grand thief at the Chino State Prison.
Flower Power Tames the Shaggy Dog
darryl-tahirali27 April 2023
Were the word "shaggy" injected into the title "The Big Dog," it would give the game away too soon because this "true" story is more bark than bite: A dog has been reported stealing women's purses, but when Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon begin to investigate, they soon become stymied by the conflicting descriptions they receive from the victims whose only common thread is that all had been waiting for a bus when the canine cutpurse struck.
So goes the (ahem) waggish script by Henry Irving, which, to build the suspense in what turns out to be an unusual but low-key caper, decides to have a little fun with the investigation pursued, er, doggedly by the detectives.
Wanda Kravitz (Jean Inness), an elderly welfare recipient whose social worker thinks she's a boozer, believes that a "wolf" stole her purse. Married couple Lars (Doodles Weaver) and Cynthia Lowell (Monty Margetts) begin to bicker almost immediately as they deliver conflicting descriptions of the four-legged footpad while Lyn Murray's incidental music sounds a screwy electronic arpeggio. Dee Staley (Bonnie Hughes) has a sober but potentially embarrassing account: Robbed after she had come out of a camera shop, she managed to snap a photo of the perp--it was a police dog (a German shepherd) with her purse in mouth.
Animal-act agent Bert Silver (Phil Arnold) confirms that dogs can be easily trained to do purse-snatching, but then notes that dog trainers who can do that can also easily make good money working in show business, so why bother stealing?
Finally, the detectives lead a detail of policewomen, including Dorothy Miller (Merry Anders), acting as decoys to attract the assailant, but as the days wear on and Captain Merton Howe (Art Gilmore) prepares to pull the plug, it seems as if the pup-etrator might actually get away with it.
Well, this being "Dragnet," it's hardly likely that crime will pay, right? Moreover, it would be a crime not to mention the unabashed highlight of this amusing but slight tale.
Playing the owner of the Cry of Sweet Pleasures and the Stems of Dear Love flower shop who, only an hour before Friday and Gannon arrive to take her statement, changed her "contrived" name of Noradelle de Leone to Agnes Hickey, Luana Anders owns "The Big Dog" outright as she completely owns Irving's contrived dialog and Webb's presumed direction to subvert the hippie caricature she's been handed by meshing with the straitlaced squares in her own flowery fashion as she describes the details of her purse being snatched by the "misguided dog." Anders is absolutely hilarious as she's the one keeping the straight face while wryly burbling her over-the-top lines, dancing effortlessly around Morgan and Webb until it's impossible to tell whether the latter's exasperation is acting or actual. "Rrrrrowfff!"
It's a shame that Anders's glorious turn occurs so early in "The Big Dog" because everything that follows is anti-climax. Ah, but blooming flowers fade too quickly, don't they, love?
REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?
So goes the (ahem) waggish script by Henry Irving, which, to build the suspense in what turns out to be an unusual but low-key caper, decides to have a little fun with the investigation pursued, er, doggedly by the detectives.
Wanda Kravitz (Jean Inness), an elderly welfare recipient whose social worker thinks she's a boozer, believes that a "wolf" stole her purse. Married couple Lars (Doodles Weaver) and Cynthia Lowell (Monty Margetts) begin to bicker almost immediately as they deliver conflicting descriptions of the four-legged footpad while Lyn Murray's incidental music sounds a screwy electronic arpeggio. Dee Staley (Bonnie Hughes) has a sober but potentially embarrassing account: Robbed after she had come out of a camera shop, she managed to snap a photo of the perp--it was a police dog (a German shepherd) with her purse in mouth.
Animal-act agent Bert Silver (Phil Arnold) confirms that dogs can be easily trained to do purse-snatching, but then notes that dog trainers who can do that can also easily make good money working in show business, so why bother stealing?
Finally, the detectives lead a detail of policewomen, including Dorothy Miller (Merry Anders), acting as decoys to attract the assailant, but as the days wear on and Captain Merton Howe (Art Gilmore) prepares to pull the plug, it seems as if the pup-etrator might actually get away with it.
Well, this being "Dragnet," it's hardly likely that crime will pay, right? Moreover, it would be a crime not to mention the unabashed highlight of this amusing but slight tale.
Playing the owner of the Cry of Sweet Pleasures and the Stems of Dear Love flower shop who, only an hour before Friday and Gannon arrive to take her statement, changed her "contrived" name of Noradelle de Leone to Agnes Hickey, Luana Anders owns "The Big Dog" outright as she completely owns Irving's contrived dialog and Webb's presumed direction to subvert the hippie caricature she's been handed by meshing with the straitlaced squares in her own flowery fashion as she describes the details of her purse being snatched by the "misguided dog." Anders is absolutely hilarious as she's the one keeping the straight face while wryly burbling her over-the-top lines, dancing effortlessly around Morgan and Webb until it's impossible to tell whether the latter's exasperation is acting or actual. "Rrrrrowfff!"
It's a shame that Anders's glorious turn occurs so early in "The Big Dog" because everything that follows is anti-climax. Ah, but blooming flowers fade too quickly, don't they, love?
REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
