I appreciated the fact the the other user comment talked about Roddy mc Dowall playing a chimp in this episode, regarding of what he will play a decade later in the PLANET OF THE APES movies and - If I am right - TV show. Very amusing. But that's the very only thing amusing in this tragedy. I LOVE this TV show. Marvellous. I have never seen any bleak episode since I have begun the series. You are here in nearly total empathy with this although criminal. And you also find a rooftop climax, as many, many stories of this show. After all, we are in NYC and not LA nor Albuquerque. And the scene of -SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER - the Roddy Mc Dowlall's fall from the roof is very, very well done, terrific to see. Hail the stunt man.
4 Reviews
SHOCKING Death Scene
lrrap4 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The other two commentators here mention Roddy McDowall's death scene in this episode as if it was a routine walk-through-the-park when, in fact, I think it's one of the most harrowing, violent, unbelievable things ever captured on film for TV.
No CGI/computer effects--or even then-current matting/rear projection techniques here-- just an incredible stunt performer who I assume survived the fall.You actually see his feet slip out from under him, having misjudged the jump from rooftop to fire escape. And the primal "howl" of the victim (dubbed in) adds to the shock of the moment. I'm sure viewers would have appreciated a "No Stunt Person Was Harmed in the Making of This Show" disclaimer in the final credits.
Fortunately, this stunning moment, which comes at the very end of the episode, is preceded by a solid, convincing, well-wrought drama of the "Maniac on the Loose" variety, made all the more special because the milieu in which the killer circulates is the high-brow, artsy Off-Broadway Theater, which provides lots of "period" atmosphere and verisimilitude.There's even a grunting, Brando-esque schlub of an actor played by an uncredited Bruce Dern for authenticity.
Good show. LR
No CGI/computer effects--or even then-current matting/rear projection techniques here-- just an incredible stunt performer who I assume survived the fall.You actually see his feet slip out from under him, having misjudged the jump from rooftop to fire escape. And the primal "howl" of the victim (dubbed in) adds to the shock of the moment. I'm sure viewers would have appreciated a "No Stunt Person Was Harmed in the Making of This Show" disclaimer in the final credits.
Fortunately, this stunning moment, which comes at the very end of the episode, is preceded by a solid, convincing, well-wrought drama of the "Maniac on the Loose" variety, made all the more special because the milieu in which the killer circulates is the high-brow, artsy Off-Broadway Theater, which provides lots of "period" atmosphere and verisimilitude.There's even a grunting, Brando-esque schlub of an actor played by an uncredited Bruce Dern for authenticity.
Good show. LR
A bit long and drawn-out, but interesting
ronnybee211215 April 2021
This was a nifty and nutty episode that was perhaps just a bit on the long side. This episode was from the second season,and it was episode 20 out of 32 for that season. In my opinion,the previous year's episodes,the first year of the show,were almost all better than episodes like this from the second year,because the first season was 30 minutes long and it was very tight,no padding or time wasting. The second season shows like this episode here were an hour long,and there was a lot of padding and dead time in the whole first season of the one-hour shows,they must have simply padded the half-hour shows for the whole second season and made them fit the longer format,you almost get the idea that the switch from a 30 minute show to an hourlong show was a big surprise to everyone maybe? Unfortunately this makes for some slow and boring episodes during the whole second season. Eventually the hourlong episodes improved but it did take quite awhile.
This episode is still indeed pretty good and entertaining,the cast saved it from being a disaster. This is an earlier hour-long episode with a whole lot of padding and time-killing tactics. The 30 minute episodes were better than most of the hour-long episodes such as this one.
This episode is still indeed pretty good and entertaining,the cast saved it from being a disaster. This is an earlier hour-long episode with a whole lot of padding and time-killing tactics. The 30 minute episodes were better than most of the hour-long episodes such as this one.
Utterly phony
lor_7 April 2024
Roddy McDowall stars as an unsuccessful actor, and he overacts this part. He goes on a pointless killing spree, and both he and his story clash with the show's otherwise realistic approach. I wondered immediately why one of the other 7,999,999 available stories had not been green-lighted instead.
The story is set in the NY theater milieu, with Roddy up for the lead in a play at Circle in the Square in Greenwich Village, This provides for some cliched satire of theater folks and beatniks and hipsters (the usual mainstream propaganda), but the clues leading to identifying Roddy as the killer are contrived and unconvincing. His going crazy and murdering many people for just a few bucks is hardly the stuff that great crime stories are made of. And the show's anticlimax finish is terrible.
The main gimmick is Burke sending a young woman undercover to get the goods on McDowall, and her crash course in learning how to act that role is meticulously spelled out and interesting. But again, it clashes with her adversary McDowall's phoniness. The melodrama of the undercover policewoman's death is ridiculous, and even worse is the reaction of the stereotyped theater director, in a scene where Bruce Dern is wasted, getting just one line of dialogue. It all adds up to an incompetent segment.
He masdd.
The story is set in the NY theater milieu, with Roddy up for the lead in a play at Circle in the Square in Greenwich Village, This provides for some cliched satire of theater folks and beatniks and hipsters (the usual mainstream propaganda), but the clues leading to identifying Roddy as the killer are contrived and unconvincing. His going crazy and murdering many people for just a few bucks is hardly the stuff that great crime stories are made of. And the show's anticlimax finish is terrible.
The main gimmick is Burke sending a young woman undercover to get the goods on McDowall, and her crash course in learning how to act that role is meticulously spelled out and interesting. But again, it clashes with her adversary McDowall's phoniness. The melodrama of the undercover policewoman's death is ridiculous, and even worse is the reaction of the stereotyped theater director, in a scene where Bruce Dern is wasted, getting just one line of dialogue. It all adds up to an incompetent segment.
He masdd.
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