William Conrad directed this episode which had a plot quite different from the series' usual. Dan has orchestrated a trap to try to get other members of a criminal gang to try to spring their boss when he is being transferred from his prison to the prison where he will be executed. Dan has released to the papers details about when and how he will be transferred.
The crime boss, Ted Wilson, has a wife, Ellie, who has taken over the operations for him. I have to say this strikes me as unrealistic if this is supposed to be a large operation-a 3-4 person gang, alright. Ellie pretty much communicates only with a henchman named Al, who relays her messages. Al tries to tell her that it is so unusual for the cops to publicize all the details of the prisoner's transfer, that he is sure it is a trap. She agrees it could be, but believes her plan will free her husband in a location where the cops aren't expecting them to strike.
The papers actually stated not only the time the prisoner will leave the prison where he is, but report that he will be guarded only by two officers-Dan and Ken, as we know them. Now the other gang members have discussed things, knowing that Ted has threatened to rat them out before he is executed-unless they free him. Fearing their attempt will fail, they figure they'd have a better chance of just killing him en route to the death house.
Ellie's plan is to have gang members set up a phony gas-line repair detail complete with men going under the street through a manhole, with one man keeping watch at the opening. She and Al will take over a nearby business, KOing the one man who runs it, simply to serve as a command post for her to take phone calls and direct the operation-before the time is right for the escape attempt.
Some of the staging is ludicrous, such as when Ellie and Al are sitting in a car waiting for the business man to open up his office at 8 a.m. He appears and enters the building. Al asks if they should go in now. Ellie says, "No, give him a minute." Less than two seconds after she says the word "minute" she says let's go now. Huh?
We are given no details of Dan's plan. We see him pick up the prisoner and we see the gang member phone Ellie to report that they have left and he is certain it really is Ted they are transporting.
Now Ellie has told Al before they started to tell the boys to "really make it look like they are working" while they wait for the time for their ambush. But all the men are waiting under the street with only one man in view of anyone. And he in fact appears clearly to just be standing around doing nothing, as he talks to the guys below the street.
Along the way, the patrol car pulls into a bump-and-paint shop, and somehow the bad guy following figures they are having car trouble. They pull out after such a short time, I can't imagine them having anything more serious than a bulb in a taillight that went out-which of course would not cause them to pull in for repairs even if they somehow knew about that. My point is-the "repairs" were extremely minor, even had they pulled into a car repair garage. Bump shops do a great job at removing dents and that sort of work, but they do not normally handle engine repairs. If such a shop did handle that plus the bump-and-paint matters, they would hardly have big signs for their business and not mention the car repair part of their operation.
As the police car approaches the "men supposedly at work" location, there is no attempt to point guns and tell the cops what to do. They just open fire and the big shootout takes place, with a surprise that I won't detail here-although it wasn't a big surprise in one sense. It suggests-without anyone saying anything about it-the reason for the stop at the bump shop.
I did catch the goof listed here only because I read the Goofs section before viewing this. That Mercury sure did take a long time to get going after backing out onto the street. I have to believe it was simply a real car that backed up in the background, not part of the script at all. All three short scenes of the gangster featured were shot in a matter of seconds-which happened to be when the background car really did back out, then they were interspersed with the other short scenes filmed at a different time-which of course is the way they film any show not filmed in front of a live audience.
If they had fixed the flaws in the script, this could have been the series' best episode. Instead, it had many good moments, to still get an 8 from me.
The crime boss, Ted Wilson, has a wife, Ellie, who has taken over the operations for him. I have to say this strikes me as unrealistic if this is supposed to be a large operation-a 3-4 person gang, alright. Ellie pretty much communicates only with a henchman named Al, who relays her messages. Al tries to tell her that it is so unusual for the cops to publicize all the details of the prisoner's transfer, that he is sure it is a trap. She agrees it could be, but believes her plan will free her husband in a location where the cops aren't expecting them to strike.
The papers actually stated not only the time the prisoner will leave the prison where he is, but report that he will be guarded only by two officers-Dan and Ken, as we know them. Now the other gang members have discussed things, knowing that Ted has threatened to rat them out before he is executed-unless they free him. Fearing their attempt will fail, they figure they'd have a better chance of just killing him en route to the death house.
Ellie's plan is to have gang members set up a phony gas-line repair detail complete with men going under the street through a manhole, with one man keeping watch at the opening. She and Al will take over a nearby business, KOing the one man who runs it, simply to serve as a command post for her to take phone calls and direct the operation-before the time is right for the escape attempt.
Some of the staging is ludicrous, such as when Ellie and Al are sitting in a car waiting for the business man to open up his office at 8 a.m. He appears and enters the building. Al asks if they should go in now. Ellie says, "No, give him a minute." Less than two seconds after she says the word "minute" she says let's go now. Huh?
We are given no details of Dan's plan. We see him pick up the prisoner and we see the gang member phone Ellie to report that they have left and he is certain it really is Ted they are transporting.
Now Ellie has told Al before they started to tell the boys to "really make it look like they are working" while they wait for the time for their ambush. But all the men are waiting under the street with only one man in view of anyone. And he in fact appears clearly to just be standing around doing nothing, as he talks to the guys below the street.
Along the way, the patrol car pulls into a bump-and-paint shop, and somehow the bad guy following figures they are having car trouble. They pull out after such a short time, I can't imagine them having anything more serious than a bulb in a taillight that went out-which of course would not cause them to pull in for repairs even if they somehow knew about that. My point is-the "repairs" were extremely minor, even had they pulled into a car repair garage. Bump shops do a great job at removing dents and that sort of work, but they do not normally handle engine repairs. If such a shop did handle that plus the bump-and-paint matters, they would hardly have big signs for their business and not mention the car repair part of their operation.
As the police car approaches the "men supposedly at work" location, there is no attempt to point guns and tell the cops what to do. They just open fire and the big shootout takes place, with a surprise that I won't detail here-although it wasn't a big surprise in one sense. It suggests-without anyone saying anything about it-the reason for the stop at the bump shop.
I did catch the goof listed here only because I read the Goofs section before viewing this. That Mercury sure did take a long time to get going after backing out onto the street. I have to believe it was simply a real car that backed up in the background, not part of the script at all. All three short scenes of the gangster featured were shot in a matter of seconds-which happened to be when the background car really did back out, then they were interspersed with the other short scenes filmed at a different time-which of course is the way they film any show not filmed in front of a live audience.
If they had fixed the flaws in the script, this could have been the series' best episode. Instead, it had many good moments, to still get an 8 from me.
