The original "Dragnet" series was the best. I wonder why the original "Dragnet" has never been rerun (probably because the original studio was Warner Bros.). The inferior 1966-1969 Universal series is the only one that ever is run; at times it seemed to almost be a parody of itself, whereas the original was in deadly earnest. Only the 1957 theatrical film remains in release (thanks to Turner Classic Movies) to remind us of the original series and its gritty realism.
I loved it when they used the name Thad Brown, chief of detectives. That was a real guy who was in fact chief of detectives for many years on the LAPD.
The "Sgt. Friday" character was so distinctive (and often satirized) that it's odd to see Jack Webb in "Sunset Boulevard", made 2 years earlier than this show, as a happy-go-lucky, friendly, exuberant guy - the opposite of how he acts here.
@roughyed7 Ugly? Hey now, This comment was a little tough to read since I am related to Lee.. But I reread it and realize you actually commended his performance... If not, to each his or her own anyhow..
Heavens to Artie Green....it was certainly weird to see the late great Jack Webb smiling widely at the beginning of this clip. guess that was because it was the commercial. Never saw him smile much on the show. Lee Marvin certainly was one of cinema's most memorable nogoodniks! THANKS for sharing this clip with us!
Excellent episode. Barney Phillips is playing Ed Jacobs who was a temporary replacement for Barton Yarborough who played Ben Romero. I love the 1950's Dragnet. I wish Universal would get off their ass and put this out on dvd season by season.
@storrs19 They can't. The original "Dragnet" is a Warner Bros. property, so the real perpetrator is Time Warner. Only the 1966-1969 revival was produced through Universal/MCA..
Only a few years from the end of WWII and just as Korea was beginning. Lee Marvin was a real life vet with several kills. He got shot in his rear and credits his Sergeant with saving his tail - and others. Here's how that vet looked beginning his career as an actor... Consider that next time you watch "Hell in the Pacific."
Jack Webb was the bomb! I LOVE THIS SHOW! But in a real fight, I think that Marvin would have kicked Webb's butt. What a shame that not all the episodes are out on DVD. 1967 is the only complete season that is out.
On radio at the time, 'mp', Webb was still selling "Fatima" cigarettes. At the start of the television version, it was "Chesterfield". In the fall of 1952, Liggett & Myers began "pushing" Chesterfield on the radio series as well, due to the popularity of the TV show.
The law is full of fine distinctions. Last week, a woman shot her boyfriend to death in a parking lot....multiple times.
The police took her to the station and questioned her as a "person of interest" for quite some time before arresting her, even though there were multiple eyewitnesses. However, the moment she either invoked 5th Amendment or tried to leave, she would have been instantly arrested. Making the arrest is a "game changing" event which gives the suspect many more rights.
People laugh today, but when Joe beat the hell out of that guy it was VERY violent for TV back then. Jack Webb really was trying to do a cutting edge cop show.
Thats Lee Marvin... eventually very successful... many westerns. Sued by his girlfriend for a long time live in ... wanted palamony when Marvin kicked her out for some one younger... didn't work. She lost. First palamony trial in LA and won with the attorney Mitchelson.
@bigred997 The difference between actors then and actors now is that actors back then all started on the stage and actually learned how to act. Actors today start as models. You can always tell the difference between modern actors who learned the old fashioned way and the ones who were just models that learned to read lines. Unfortunately the latter are the majority.
@bkgartist Sometimes on Sunday nights I blunder across a frequency here outside of DC where they'll play the old Dragnet radio shows. Totally awesome to listen to. Jack Webb was something else...
So oddly bourgeois and civil--let the perp brush his teeth and treat him to two meals, chatting across the table like gentlemen. I wonder if it really was like that, 55 years ago.
Barney Phillips briefly appeared opposite Webb as "Sgt. Ed Jacobs" [replacing the late Barton Yarborough's "Sgt. Ben Romero"] in the early part of 1952 (this episode was first telecast on February 14, 1952)...the problem was, he sounded too similar to "Sgt. Friday", and was soon replaced by Herb Ellis {the first "Officer Frank Smith"}.
Great memory clip - Dragnet was one of my favorites - Lee Marvin did some great movies - he used to love marlin fishing in Queensland I saw him once at the main airport here in the early 70'
Love Dragnet...still watch it on "Antenna TV" station.
Swan1947 2 months ago
The original "Dragnet" series was the best. I wonder why the original "Dragnet" has never been rerun (probably because the original studio was Warner Bros.). The inferior 1966-1969 Universal series is the only one that ever is run; at times it seemed to almost be a parody of itself, whereas the original was in deadly earnest. Only the 1957 theatrical film remains in release (thanks to Turner Classic Movies) to remind us of the original series and its gritty realism.
Noveltooner 3 months ago
If u could only see one episode which one would it be?
monitamendez33 4 months ago
Damn good show
MrWestwing9 5 months ago
Just the facts ma am!!
EnglishGarden11 5 months ago
JoleBlon- This brings back memories! Great show in repeats...What year did Harry Morgan come in? Thanks for sharing!
leftyguns221 5 months ago
Although "it was sultry in Los Angeles", the detectives are wearing woolen jackets and fedoras. LOL
OrodesIII 7 months ago
love to find his movie about a newspaper. Saw it years ago.
jrwel14 7 months ago
great show! love how they said, The Big this, the Big that.
jrwel14 7 months ago
I loved it when they used the name Thad Brown, chief of detectives. That was a real guy who was in fact chief of detectives for many years on the LAPD.
jimaroo100 7 months ago
@jimaroo100 In the one episode I know Thad Brown is seen in, Raymond Burr plays him; search "The Human Bomb" (one of the best Dragnet episodes IMO).
mpontheair2 7 months ago
By now in this day and age the "suspect" would have been tasered or
shot to death. Matter of fact people are tasered & shot to death all the
time WHO HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING.
GooglFascists 8 months ago
isnt his partner the guy who had the third eye on twilight zone? The guy that ran the diner? I have never seen him in anything else. Cool.
pazios2002 1 year ago
@pazios2002 I was wondering too, but he looks older in '52 dragnet and twilight zone started in '59.
lonenut740 10 months ago
The "Sgt. Friday" character was so distinctive (and often satirized) that it's odd to see Jack Webb in "Sunset Boulevard", made 2 years earlier than this show, as a happy-go-lucky, friendly, exuberant guy - the opposite of how he acts here.
hebneh 1 year ago 2
Badge 714...Number of Babe Ruth's home runs.
pastthebar 1 year ago
@pastthebar LOL ya your right. Great observation.
spactick 1 year ago
Lee Marvin is superb here and everything did.
johnnynoirman 1 year ago
@johnnynoirman Ya, I never saw him do any acting that wasn't great. His role in The Wild One is histarical.
spactick 1 year ago
And Lee Marvin was the Best Actor Ever, period!!
48alfaone 1 year ago
I love Jack Web, he is so cool!! Also great as "Pat Novack For Hire"! Thanks for posting!
48alfaone 1 year ago
does the second character always take off his glasses before he goes into arrest somebody?
TheMahaffy 1 year ago
fastest cop hand cuffer ever 2:23
displayfireworks1 1 year ago
Been watching this online for a week now. Excellent show. Lee Marvin here. WOW!
MrJackDamon 1 year ago
I once worked with a guy who wore a hat all the time. He even slept in it , so it was the rumoured.
One day a few of us guys were fooling around and his hat was knocked off his head and he went totally ballistic.
I thought Joe behaved with admirable restraint.
Who the hell wouldn't give the ugly punk Marvin a good slapping given half a chance.
roughyed7 1 year ago
@roughyed7 Ugly? Hey now, This comment was a little tough to read since I am related to Lee.. But I reread it and realize you actually commended his performance... If not, to each his or her own anyhow..
MajorMarvin 1 year ago
Heavens to Artie Green....it was certainly weird to see the late great Jack Webb smiling widely at the beginning of this clip. guess that was because it was the commercial. Never saw him smile much on the show. Lee Marvin certainly was one of cinema's most memorable nogoodniks! THANKS for sharing this clip with us!
JubalCalif 1 year ago
Television soundtracks were so beautiful.
Tengent 1 year ago
Hey, anyone can make a mistake. He didn't know they were cops. LOL~!!!! I love this show!
fourthgirl 1 year ago
Excellent episode. Barney Phillips is playing Ed Jacobs who was a temporary replacement for Barton Yarborough who played Ben Romero. I love the 1950's Dragnet. I wish Universal would get off their ass and put this out on dvd season by season.
storrs19 1 year ago
@storrs19 They can't. The original "Dragnet" is a Warner Bros. property, so the real perpetrator is Time Warner. Only the 1966-1969 revival was produced through Universal/MCA..
Noveltooner 3 months ago
I loved watching this show late at night when I couldn't sleep I miss the old Nick at Night when they showed real TV golden Classics
charmedcasanova 1 year ago
Only a few years from the end of WWII and just as Korea was beginning. Lee Marvin was a real life vet with several kills. He got shot in his rear and credits his Sergeant with saving his tail - and others. Here's how that vet looked beginning his career as an actor... Consider that next time you watch "Hell in the Pacific."
adjoshe69 1 year ago
I love this show!!
lindapittsburgh 1 year ago 2
i think he is goin down
silverbird58 2 years ago
stay up late watchin DRAGNET never alone cause jimmie is the magnet!
RandomGuy097 2 years ago
Jack Webb was the bomb! I LOVE THIS SHOW! But in a real fight, I think that Marvin would have kicked Webb's butt. What a shame that not all the episodes are out on DVD. 1967 is the only complete season that is out.
NATURECAMHD 2 years ago
im a huge, huge dragnet fan, never ever new this old 50s one exsited, wow, howlong did it air, and were can i get some fotage!
hop21537 2 years ago
Lee Marvin with a pompador?!? THAT AWESOME!
circeannumber6 2 years ago 2
Great new bio (Charlton Heston: An incredibel Life: Revised Edition) has Jack Webb! Bio at amazon!
Bestmanme08 2 years ago
OMG you kids have no Idea of real life!
Email me.
Kids
ulsh1 2 years ago
Whats new, women lie, cheat steal all the time and get away with it....
dithbmine1 2 years ago
On radio at the time, 'mp', Webb was still selling "Fatima" cigarettes. At the start of the television version, it was "Chesterfield". In the fall of 1952, Liggett & Myers began "pushing" Chesterfield on the radio series as well, due to the popularity of the TV show.
fromthesidelines 2 years ago
Chesterfield? I thought he smoked Fatimas?
mpontheair2 2 years ago
Cool! Check out Webb and Lee Marvin in "Pete Kelly's Blues".
misspaddylee 2 years ago
In the1950's search warrents were rarely used, and the police could do more than today. There was no miranda, and most states provided no lawyer.
asorls1 2 years ago 2
Why is this so much better than the late 60s version??
jmmcfadd 2 years ago
At 5.20, Henry said he had the right to a lawyer, but Joe said he wasn't charging him. I'm surprised this case wasn't thrown out in court.
fremlinskent 2 years ago
The law is full of fine distinctions. Last week, a woman shot her boyfriend to death in a parking lot....multiple times.
The police took her to the station and questioned her as a "person of interest" for quite some time before arresting her, even though there were multiple eyewitnesses. However, the moment she either invoked 5th Amendment or tried to leave, she would have been instantly arrested. Making the arrest is a "game changing" event which gives the suspect many more rights.
wardenphil 2 years ago
People laugh today, but when Joe beat the hell out of that guy it was VERY violent for TV back then. Jack Webb really was trying to do a cutting edge cop show.
silbitnuoc 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I fell asleep watching dragnet today
itnas43 3 years ago
Thats Lee Marvin... eventually very successful... many westerns. Sued by his girlfriend for a long time live in ... wanted palamony when Marvin kicked her out for some one younger... didn't work. She lost. First palamony trial in LA and won with the attorney Mitchelson.
onstageagain 3 years ago
It's nice to see truly professional actors getting into and staying in character.
bigred997 3 years ago 19
This has been flagged as spam show
@bigred997 bla bla bla
zandoboy 1 year ago
@bigred997 The difference between actors then and actors now is that actors back then all started on the stage and actually learned how to act. Actors today start as models. You can always tell the difference between modern actors who learned the old fashioned way and the ones who were just models that learned to read lines. Unfortunately the latter are the majority.
RichieEastside 1 year ago 2
iv been listening to the radio version on sirius, it was a pretty good show.
bkgartist 3 years ago 11
@bkgartist
carrgees 1 year ago
@bkgartist Sometimes on Sunday nights I blunder across a frequency here outside of DC where they'll play the old Dragnet radio shows. Totally awesome to listen to. Jack Webb was something else...
penumbra155 7 months ago
So oddly bourgeois and civil--let the perp brush his teeth and treat him to two meals, chatting across the table like gentlemen. I wonder if it really was like that, 55 years ago.
Deutschlieber 4 years ago 3
I bet your a big Lee Marvin fan?
Quote Mr Blonde Resovior Dogs lol
biged004552 4 years ago
Barney Phillips briefly appeared opposite Webb as "Sgt. Ed Jacobs" [replacing the late Barton Yarborough's "Sgt. Ben Romero"] in the early part of 1952 (this episode was first telecast on February 14, 1952)...the problem was, he sounded too similar to "Sgt. Friday", and was soon replaced by Herb Ellis {the first "Officer Frank Smith"}.
fromthesidelines 4 years ago 2
Barney Phillips, the other Sgt. With jack Webb plaayed in "The Twilight Zone"
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? episode. He played thhe counterman with the third eye hidden by his cap.
trivfan48 4 years ago
Barney Phillips, who was the other Sgt. with jack Webb was in "The Twilight Zone"
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? episode. He played the counterman with the third eye hidden by his cap.
trivfan48 4 years ago
Jack Webb had blood on his mouth, so does Lee Marvin.
He had blood on his cheeks.
TreyBenjamin 4 years ago
Nice of Webb to let Barney Frank take that chair blow.
MysteriousAlien 4 years ago
Barney Phillips, the other Sgt. With jack Webb plaayed in "The Twilight Zone"
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? episode. He played thhe counterman with the third eye hidden by his cap.
trivfan48 4 years ago 3
Great memory clip - Dragnet was one of my favorites - Lee Marvin did some great movies - he used to love marlin fishing in Queensland I saw him once at the main airport here in the early 70'
GenericGene 4 years ago