User Reviews

Review - The Big Winchester Aired 3-4-54 Not a mediocre episode by any means, guessed wrong on the killer, well my hunch was in error, thinking it was the next-door neighbor; wrong. Good plot, reasonably told, tracking down all possible clues to the identity of the killer.

Once it is established the murdered man was not a suicide, the correspondence left by the victim leads to the actual perpetrator.

From a photograph of a young woman, photo-print-paper traced to a retailer, identifying the innocent woman subject, where she recognizes the handwriting on her picture with a false name. Her correspondence and her cooperation, lead the officers to the suspect, who admits readily to the crime with hardly any questions from police. He knew he would be caught, it was just a matter of time before the authorities find him.

The sister provided his most current location, and thanks to the girl in the photo providing the sister's location. How desperate could one be for money where extorting it using a girl's graduation picture as bait? Asking his sister for money helped the police to definitely wait out the suspect; all night until past eight the next morning.

Murder in the first-degree, life sentence at Folsom, lucky for him it wasn't the gas chamber; if that is luck. I don't remember Dennis Weaver, ever speaking, he portrays crime lab Sergeant Jay Allen. The video I saw didn't contain any actor credits, too. Officer Harkness looked good with Fess Parker portraying him, and with a speaking part.

Recommend this episode in Season 3 for the debut of one actor, the appearance of another and the story is believable.

****SPOILERS**** Investigating at what first looked like an open and shut case of suicide Sgt.Joe Friday, Jack Webb, and his partner Officer Frank Smith, Ben Alexander, spot an number of inconsistencies in the so-called self inflicted shooting of 68 year old Martin Latimore that needed explaining. Even the officer first on the scene patrolman Harkness, Fess Parker, notices that the rifle, a winchester, that was elaborately set up that did Latimore in was not in line with his body. In fact the bullet hole in the wall was some four feet off the target making it obvious that he was murdered and made to look like he committed suicide by his killer.

Checking out a few false leads as well as red herrings, placed by his killer, in becomes obvious that Latimore was murdered by someone who was out to commit a thrill killing and not anything else just to get some kicks out of it. And the evidence soon leads to Warren Thomas White, Steven Terrell, who tried to make, if his suicide plan didn't work, Latimore's murder out to be that of a gold digger who answered a lonely hearts column that Latimore scribed to.

****SPOILERS**** Once both Friday and Alexander caught the suspect Warren White arriving to his apartment after a night on the town it didn't take much to have him confess to his crime. It was if he wanted to be caught to prevent him from committing another or other murders. White had this fixation of wanting to see a man or even women die like in the Johnny Cash song "Folsom Prison Blues" so he pick out poor Martin Latimore for just that very purpose! As brutal and cold blooded a crime that he committed White was spared the San Quentin gas chamber in that he was found by a judge and jury to be mentally incompetent at the time he committed murder and got life behind bars instead; Which in the crazed and wanting to be executed White's case was a far worse sentence!