User Reviews

Friday and Gannon chase after a burglar who raids old book store, movie theaters, and even a movie studio stealing posters and pictures of comic superheroes. One of the victims saw the thief wearing a garish costume including a cape and tights. Alas, other cops arrest the man and bring him to our guys for questioning.

A 23-year-old man refuses to state his real name, telling the officers that he can't let anyone else know his true identity-ala Superman and Batman. He says only that he is the Crimson Crusader, a crime fighter who's on the same side of the law as Joe and Bill are.

Joe keeps pressing for his real name. The "Crusader" says he'll pay for all the damages if they'll let him do it on time. He can get a job and pay so much per week... We viewers see that he has gone from insisting he had the right to smash the windows and take the posters to display in his room because he "is a collector" to a realization that what he has done is wrong.

Finally, he admits to his real name. Then he launches into his sad life story, about being a fat kid everyone picked on and feeling quite alone in the world-raised without a father-to feeling like he is someone when he puts on his homemade crime-fighting uniform and becomes the Crimson Crusader.

Hearing this man talk about his sad, lonely, life brought a tear to my eyes. I had to stick around for the results after the last commercial break, thinking they better not have sent that poor guy to prison. I was relieved at the conclusion to learn he was only given probation and psychiatric help. It seemed clear that until he opened up with the cops, he really hadn't thought of himself as doing anything wrong. He wasn't getting rich, just decorating his room with all the posters and pictures of the heroes he admired and wanted to be like. He might have been the most sympathetic arrestee in this series' history.

Can't say it was a great episode, but definitely more interesting than average-an 8.

Friday and Gannon manage to get their hands on one of the more bizarre young thieves they've encountered. Someone has been burglarizing stores selling Hollywood memorabilia, smashing glass cases at theaters and making off with posters advertising a "Captain Lightning" movie. The burglar is finally nabbed and questioned by the police.

"Who are you?", asks Joe Friday. Or, maybe more likely, "Tell us who you are, Mister." Who he is, is 23-year-old Stanley Stover, who was always a homely fat boy. The kids used to beat him up and ridicule him at school. His was only the wisp of an existence.

But then he discovered the action heroes of comic books and movies. They were proud, strong, decent, and they fought evil. An idea uncoiled in his head like a serpent.

Why couldn't HE -- Simple Stanley -- adopt the identity of an action hero? He made a ridiculous costume out of his mother's dresses and became "The Caped Crusader." He did -- and he wore the ludicrous wardrobe during his escapades until he was caught.

As Simple Stanley spills the beans about his history, Friday and Gannon change their attitude from authoritarian and demanding to something resembling empathy and pity. And, in its simple way, it really IS a touching story, despite the fact that Simple Stanley, in the person of Tim Donnelly, couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. What is it in human nature that inspires compassion for others who are suffering? And why do some of us seem to have so little of whatever it is.

Stanley Stover is sentenced and required to get psychiatric help. Good luck to him.

Oh, in the interests of full disclosure, I must add that that phrase, "uncoiled in his head" isn't original. Credit (or blame) the person I stole it from, a bright and talented young lady in Kuwait.

It all started with a nerdy Jewish boy from Cleveland, Ohio named Jerry Seigal who came up with an idea for an individual who could have superhuman strength. Why stop there? Have bullets bounce of him. This person would have x-ray vision to see through walls and of course the biggest hook in this creation, have this super being fly threw the air. Hence Superman the comic strip was born. When I was a child in the 1960's superheroes were all the rage. Batman and Superman were shown daily on TV and within a half hour show our fighters of crime used their smarts and powers to keep their cities safe. A divergent episode written by Burt Perlutsky. This episode sways away from the typical harden dope pushers and armed bank robbers of the Dragnet genre. Superhero posters, comics and drawings are stolen from a nearby Hollywood studio art department. Detectives Friday and Gannon are on the case and it doesn't take long for them to catch their man or should I say caped overweight crusader complete with feathered hat, cape and tights. Alas we've found the Crimson Crusader (Tim Donnelly). The evasive super hero will not divulge his real identity at the beginning of the questioning as to what extreme consequences might result in knowing that valuable knowledge. I personally was laughing watching this episode unfold but as time went by you see a lonely loser of a man Stanley Stover emerged under his gaudy outfit and the laughter shifted to empathy. Stanley explained his transformation from being a pudgy boy bullied in school to escaping into comic book world of being the superhero which would make him admired for his physical strength. Stanley would further explain to our detectives that dressing up as a Superhero would make him well respected, a man who fought for justice and revered by millions. Stanley standing in his poster filled room wanting to just disappear like the superheroes in his mind as his Mother enters the home. Sad ending to an extraordinary Dragnet episode. Getting back to those early years, I would make my own superhero outfit with a towel cape and Lone ranger mask. I would march into my Sister's room in complete costume and I would say, "Guess who?" My sister looks at me with a condescending expression and says, "Your Fly is open."