"The Butcher" isn't a terrible episode of "The F.B.I." but it is a very weak one...mostly due to some writing issues. It's a shame, as the show has a stellar cast and should have been so much better.
The show begins with a man confronting Paul Sieger (Charles Korvin) in a garage. It seems that Sieger was a Nazi and had committed war crimes....and the man with the gun was going to put a stop to him. But somehow the guy shoots Sieger from only about 8 feet away...and barely injures him!! Sieger shoots back...hitting the assailant. He also then murders the car attendant what witnessed this.
Now when you learn the facts, you wonder WHY did Sieger kill the attendant? After all, a war crimes court had acquitted Sieger and the only crime he'd committed was coming to the United States, as he'd been deported several years prior. Now I am NOT saying he was a saint....but killing the attendant seemed stupid to say the least and shooting the attacker would have been seen as justified...at least LEGALLY speaking.
Now Sieger is on the run and he turns to a neo-Nazi living Connecticut, Mark Dryden (Ralph Bellamy). Dryden is NOT pleased to see Sieger...mostly because Sieger and Dryden's daughter had been lovers...and Dryden didn't want his daughter to marry a Nazi...at least not this one. So, Dryden pretends to help Sieger...but arranges to have an assassin kill him...thus ending Sieger and Karen Dryden's love affair! But Karen unexpectedly goes with Sieger and eventually Dryden tells the FBI what he'd done in arranging for the killing! Does this make any sense? Not a lot as Dryden was supposed to be a neo-Nazi and his sentimentality made little sense...especially since he was hiding thousands of dollars worth of illegal weapons in his home and would certainly go to jail for the rest of his miserable life.
There's more...as well as one of the folks in the show getting shot in the chest from about 20 feet away...yet he somehow survives!!! But the shootings, Sieger and Dryden's actions...well, they really make little sense and it's sad since this program was one of the best on TV at the time. Sloppy and disappointing.
By the way, if you do watch, note the assassin chasing Sieger....he looks a LOT like Erskine and I wonder if perhaps they let his stunt double do this scene.
The show begins with a man confronting Paul Sieger (Charles Korvin) in a garage. It seems that Sieger was a Nazi and had committed war crimes....and the man with the gun was going to put a stop to him. But somehow the guy shoots Sieger from only about 8 feet away...and barely injures him!! Sieger shoots back...hitting the assailant. He also then murders the car attendant what witnessed this.
Now when you learn the facts, you wonder WHY did Sieger kill the attendant? After all, a war crimes court had acquitted Sieger and the only crime he'd committed was coming to the United States, as he'd been deported several years prior. Now I am NOT saying he was a saint....but killing the attendant seemed stupid to say the least and shooting the attacker would have been seen as justified...at least LEGALLY speaking.
Now Sieger is on the run and he turns to a neo-Nazi living Connecticut, Mark Dryden (Ralph Bellamy). Dryden is NOT pleased to see Sieger...mostly because Sieger and Dryden's daughter had been lovers...and Dryden didn't want his daughter to marry a Nazi...at least not this one. So, Dryden pretends to help Sieger...but arranges to have an assassin kill him...thus ending Sieger and Karen Dryden's love affair! But Karen unexpectedly goes with Sieger and eventually Dryden tells the FBI what he'd done in arranging for the killing! Does this make any sense? Not a lot as Dryden was supposed to be a neo-Nazi and his sentimentality made little sense...especially since he was hiding thousands of dollars worth of illegal weapons in his home and would certainly go to jail for the rest of his miserable life.
There's more...as well as one of the folks in the show getting shot in the chest from about 20 feet away...yet he somehow survives!!! But the shootings, Sieger and Dryden's actions...well, they really make little sense and it's sad since this program was one of the best on TV at the time. Sloppy and disappointing.
By the way, if you do watch, note the assassin chasing Sieger....he looks a LOT like Erskine and I wonder if perhaps they let his stunt double do this scene.