..."Of Mice and Men", Perry Mason, "12 Angry Men", and likely other stories I've never heard of.
I was familiar with James Gregory long before he played Detective Luger on "Barney Miller", one of the great performances in American TV. Unfortunately, the more I see of him (here and elsewhere), the less I like his acting. The script doesn't help, because it describes his character as a person of exceptional generosity and character, whereas his performance suggests someone of congenital mean-spiritedness (rather than a "good" man driven to distraction by his son's death).
The ending is pretty much predictable, with the only witness (the wonderful Beverly Garland, "Queen of the B's") finally revealing why she lied.
There is a laugh-out-loud moment that was probably not intended to be funny, but works nonetheless. Matt cleverly deputizes the two leaders of the mob, hoping cognitive dissonance will work in his favor. When the men decide to un-deputize themselves, Matt tells them they can't do that. As the camera moves outside to the street, we hear Matt beating the **** out of then. Though Matt is a person of high morals and uncompromised integrity, he rarely "philosophizes". He doesn't hesitate to use his fists when necessary.
This episode is a little too formulaic to get any more than a 7.
I was familiar with James Gregory long before he played Detective Luger on "Barney Miller", one of the great performances in American TV. Unfortunately, the more I see of him (here and elsewhere), the less I like his acting. The script doesn't help, because it describes his character as a person of exceptional generosity and character, whereas his performance suggests someone of congenital mean-spiritedness (rather than a "good" man driven to distraction by his son's death).
The ending is pretty much predictable, with the only witness (the wonderful Beverly Garland, "Queen of the B's") finally revealing why she lied.
There is a laugh-out-loud moment that was probably not intended to be funny, but works nonetheless. Matt cleverly deputizes the two leaders of the mob, hoping cognitive dissonance will work in his favor. When the men decide to un-deputize themselves, Matt tells them they can't do that. As the camera moves outside to the street, we hear Matt beating the **** out of then. Though Matt is a person of high morals and uncompromised integrity, he rarely "philosophizes". He doesn't hesitate to use his fists when necessary.
This episode is a little too formulaic to get any more than a 7.