Dragnet Jack Webb "A Phony Badge" Classic Speech 1954

[WytZox1]

@tigerfan1984 -- DRAGNET was unique in that Webb tried to make the show as realistic as possible by using actual LAPD cases for his scripts. In that sense DRAGNET will always be 2nd to none. However I've enjoyed other great cop shows such as Columbo, Hawaii 5-O (the original) and Walker, Texas Ranger. Still DRAGNET is a favorite because Sgt. Friday only needed a half hour time slot to solve the crime, get a conviction and sentence the perp.

[yowzephyr]

If I were that crook I would feel kinda honored and flattered to have inspired such a sharp and thoughtful extemporaneous speech.

[codename617]

The greatest actor who played the greatest fictional police officer in the history of theatre, film and television.

[diesweetprince]

So classic. He talks so damn fast lol

[kimmy1984]

Gotta love Sgt Friday.

[donboy65]

Hey. Is it OK if I borrow some of the Dragnet clips? Plan on making a Dragnet YouTube series [God willing of course],

[donboy65]

Hey, is it OK for me to borrow some of your videos? I plan to do a Dragnet YouTube series [God willing of course].

[darkwhitedirewolf]

Lang has "somebodies girlfriend in prison" written all over him.

[BowHunterAz08]

Get 'em big Joe!

[GetMeThere1]

Ya gotta admit....that bullshit, phony, sanctimonious attitude made Jack Webb a lotta dough...

[TrudyJean]

I wish there was as good a law enforcement show as this one was. The writers were superb and the 2 main actors were over the top. Joe Friday for President, or at least someone like him.

[Mistertbones]

One of his best Jesus speeches!

[noyouaintgettingit]

Yeah. What the real shame is - is that we have a failed drug war, last year alone in mexico there were 18,600 deaths because cannabis is illegal in the US. Even though its been proven in recent research to be an ANTICARCINOGEN, its STILL unjustly villianized by the authorities. Even with the government patenting it.

US Patent 6630507. Thanks US government! Thanks so much.

[DioGirl]

Long live Jack Webb, the godfather of detectives! :-)

[olabntrpr]

They sure were classic & surprisingly, still very relevant.

[KyleStonehouse]

It would be so much better if you couldn't watch his eyes reading

[JonMSable]

FYI - The 5.10's that Joe mentions are post arrest information sheets that are part of the arrest packet for LAPD. It enables the officer to ask/record specific information regarding physical characteristics, hangouts, vehicles used, friends/acquiantances, etc. Still in use today. And the experience with them is from being a cop, not on the receiving end.

[jbdanfan]

In this scene from '54, Joe says there are 4,000 cops in this city. But yet in the '67-'70 version, he says 3,000 several times. Did the number actually go down?

[ohiofan1989]

Thanks for your comment. In the 60's run of the show, the number of cops increased.  In Joe Fridays famous speech What Is A Cop from Season One's The Interrogation, he states that there are over 5000.

[fromthesidelines]

Right, 'Tim'. As soon as the first 39 episodes were produced and seen on NBC (during the first full year of production, the series appeared on alternate weeks until Jack Webb could effectively produce a weekly edition), MCA syndicated them as "BADGE 714", adding more episodes to the "package" every season or so. A few stations also carried a separate "package", "CONFIDENTIAL REPORT"; that's how popular the show was off-network. The radio show was produced from '49 to '55- repeats through '57.

[Teflon65]

When color televisions became affordable, it wasn't long before old black-and-white shows didn't have much of a market anymore. Too bad, because some of them are quite interesting, and classic.

[dilliphant3]

gee really?

[Teflon65]

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

[TruckMonkeySam]

The interesting thing about the Badges they wore, they were REAL, an LAPD officer showed up each morning at the studio with two REAL LAPD Detective Badges, and took them back to the station after the days filming.

DRAGNET IS A CLASSIC

[SheriffTankStoner]

It's too bad the whereabouts of the LAPD badges used in Adam-12 (POLICEMAN/744 and POLICEMAN/2430) are unknown. Both Martin Milner and Kent McCord swear they have no idea where they are. More to the point, what badge manufacturers made the Series Six LAPD Badges besides Entenmann-Rovin and Sun Badge?

[fun012345]

1949 NBC RADIO 1952-57 NBC TV 67-71

[fromthesidelines]

Not all of them, 'fatman'. Only those episodes produced between January 1952 and June 1955. For some reason, MCA was lax abour renewing those copyrights in the '80s {as I've said, they weren't interested in syndicating them OR releasing them on home videocassettes at the time}...

[bentoutta]

can you say...SPEED? Boys n girls?

Makes yer yapper go like a trapper...

[captainredneck1983]

LOL

Actually, he was a Marine drill instructor, so he had a lot of practice.

[bentoutta]

Oh. I know what yer thinkin'..mister...

Tin badge...keys to the city...

All the donuts you can cram...

Not on MY watch...Get em outta here boys!

[joni2691]

My two favorite "hard nose, no-bullshit talkin', mile-a-minute" police drama actors..Jack Webb & Broderick Crawford!!

[syntaur]

So I wonder what they had on Joe Friday, that he never made Police Commissioner? "POLITICS I TELL YOU..." a retire Joe Friday stammers... "LA LAW ENFORCEMENT IS ALL ABOUT POLITICS... I COULD HAVE BEEN SOMEBODY I TELL YOU... I COULD HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE... BUT NO... I WAS KEPT A SARGENT ON THE FORCE TILL THE DAY I RETIRED..."

"Give it a break Friday..." the bartender intrupts... "finish your drink and go on home"

[fromthesidelines]

MCA/Universal wasn't interested in distributing the orginal black & white "DRAGNET" episodes in syndication, after the color series was produced between 1967 and '70. They felt more people preferred to see Sgt. Friday in color, so the black & white series was "shelved" by the end of the '60s...and that's why some of those episodes fell into "public domain".

[fatman50000]

Didn't all the '50s episodes fall into the public domain?

[TimL2005]

Actually, The The first couple seasons of the original "Dragnet" were syndicated in late 1953 under the title "Badge 714". It seems that "Dragnet" was the first current network show to hit the syndication market..

[craider009]

I have seen the re-runs of the late 60's Dragnet. Wow! I was never aware of the original airing of Dragnet in the fifties. It makes me love this show even more.

[AarHan3]

The 1950s Dragnet is not seen much in reruns these days; for some trange reason, more attention is paid to its 1967-70 counterpart.