User Reviews

This is yet another crappy small town episodes, though this town seems bigger than some of the other crappy small town episodes. What I mean by crappy small towns is that "Cannon" (as well as other detective shows) featured quite a few episodes where the hero visits a small town...only to find many, most or all the locals are corrupt. In every case, the cops are corrupt...and this is the reason for this particular episode. It seems that the Mayor and others in this town are worried that the police are running amok over civil rights and are even committing crimes. So a secret police commission is created..and Cannon is invited in to be their investigator.

Through the course of the episode, Cannon is convinced that a reporter investigating the crime must have kept notes on cassettes...but they cannot ask the reporter because he was killed...by the police! Through the course of the show, Cannon is followed by the Chief (Cameron Mitchell) and you really aren't 100% sure if he is the problem, part of the problem or an innocent guy who just happens to have some bad apples in the department.

This is a moderately entertaining show. My only complaint is that the resolution to all this seemed amazingly easy! Still, interesting and worth seeing.

CLASSIC Cannon. Everything clicks.

Series director George MCowan gets the best from every single actor here. The performances are excellent. My only question: how may expensive cigars does guest star Cameron Mitchell smoke?

Sort of a tv version of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. And what a cast. Producer Quinn Martin is to be credited for bringing in some top talent. Harri Rhodes plays the troubled mayor of a small town that appears to have been taken over by the cops, involved in a series of robberies.

The storyline is interesting, even if the bad cop ploy is familiar, and much applause goes to Cameron Mitchell playing the tricky police captain. A good choice. He has a lot of fun with this role, chomping on cigar after cigar. Mitchell was best known as Buck Cannon (no relation) on the popular western series HIGH CHAPPARAL. Marianne McAndrew co-stars (as Katherine), best known for her award winning role in HELLO DOLLY.

Bill Conrad's old friend from Warner Brothers/ABC, Keith Andes, makes another appearance on the show, now playing Kermit. Andes was your resident good guy slash bad guy for many years and co-starred on the daytime soap opera PARADISE BAY. He later retired and ran a Hollywood boat service. Popular character actor Warren Stevens plays Cliff. Devout PEYTON PLACE fans will remember Stevens as Elliott Carson.

Parts of this small town is actually South El Monte (which isn't really that tiny or rural), approximately 20 miles south of Pasadena. That all said, some of the street shots always seem to be filmed around Burbank and North Hollywood, in more residential areas. The opening car chase scene looks to have been filmed around the Goldwyn Studios where Cannon was produced.

George McCowan stages some great scenes here, the remote farmhouse bit and the warehouse scene where Cannon nearly gets killed.

Some crisp dialogue, especially between Cannon and captain Mitchell, and catch the ending. Buckle Up.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 20 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 6 dvds. 2016.