Ironside (1967) (TV)

Director:

James Goldstone

Writers:

Don Mankiewicz (teleplay)
Collier Young (story)

Release Date:

28 March 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

Citizens of San Francisco are stunned by the news that Robert Ironside, the city's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Private Detective | Police Detective | Wheelchair | San Francisco California

Cast

Barbara Anderson	...	Eve Whitfield
Geraldine Brooks	...	Honor Thompson
Raymond Burr	...	Robert Ironside
Wally Cox	...	Scoutmaster
Kim Darby	...	Ellen Wells
Joel Fabiani	...	Dr. Schley
Antonio Fargas	...	T.D. Harris
Eddie Firestone	...	Wheels Montana
Don Galloway	...	Det. Sgt. Ed Brown
Bruce Garrick	...	Billy Matling
Ayllene Gibbons	...	Baby Peggy Marvel
Ron Kelly
Gene Lyons	...	Police Commissioner Randall
Stuart Margolin	...	News Show Staff
Don Mitchell	...	Mark Sanger (as Donald Mitchell)
Terrence O'Flaherty	...	Announcer
David Sheiner	...	Doctor
Lilia Skala	...	Sister Agatha
Frances Stevenson	...	Policewoman
Tiny Tim	...	Art House Performer

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Harbour Productions Unlimited

Quotes:

Robert Ironside: [Inspecting a small envelope] Some miscellaneous nuts.
[Looks at Ed]
Robert Ironside: Some miscellaneous nuts?
Det. Sgt. Ed Brown: I tagged that one myself.
Robert Ironside: I don't believe it. You wrote "some miscellaneous nuts"?
Det. Sgt. Ed Brown: Well, what's the matter with it?
Robert Ironside: Why nothing at all. Except that in police work there is no such things as "some," numbers are important. And miscellaneous means a lot of different things, and these are all the same. And nuts is too general and happens to be incorrect. Otherwise, a splendid piece of labeling. One, two, three, four, five, six. Not some miscellaneous, just six. Now, six what? Not nuts, what?
[Toss the object to Ed]
Robert Ironside: Ed, what is that?
[Ed inspects it and then tosses it to Eve]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Doris Day Show: A Small Cure for Big Alimony (#5.20)" (1973)

Standard TV detective stuff that is more about the "tough-nosed detective™" than the weak and uninteresting plot

While on his first holiday for about 25 years, tough Detective Ironside is shot and left for dead at a remote farmhouse. He survives but is disabled – never able to walk again. The city is shocked and the news media enjoy the opportunity to show how the hardnosed man has been softened. However Bob Ironside is determined not to be trapped in his chair and volunteers to work within the police department, taking his own case on as his very first. With the help of Mark Sanger, Ironside is mobile and out to show the criminal element of San Francisco that not being able to walk has had no impact on his tough approach to life.

On the basis that this pilot spawned a television show that still is famous decades later, I decided to give this film a try (despite not really remembering the TV show itself). What I found was a fairly standard television cop show from the period, complete with tough detective who tells it like it is and wants justice done. None of this surprised me and although the film does have an investigation to follow, the majority of the film is just about showing us this tough character, his methods and the little cracks in his character that will be explored over many series to come (in theory). This in itself wasn't enough for me because I wasn't watching the start of a series, I was watching a film that had to stand on its own. The investigation itself involves picking through old enemies of Ironside while building this very basic character – a character clearly designed to appeal to those who did not appreciate the relaxed morals and apologistic nature of sixties youth. Suffice to say I didn't think it worked as a detective mystery and generally it wasn't delivered that well – not helped by the TV direction and the bewildering use of large numbers of fast edits in scenes that just didn't need it.

The cast are pretty standard. To me Burr is only Perry Mason simply because it was his Mason films that I grew up with. As Ironside he is a simple tough character who is as much a caricature as a person – the only thing it did do was make me wonder how Ironside would view Burr's personal life! The support cast are just filler with nobody really doing anything of note. Mitchell works reasonably alongside Burr but his character isn't convincing; meanwhile the only other person that stuck in my mind was someone listed in the final credits called "Eddie Firestone" who played a character called "Wheels" – not that funny but it amused me enough to remember at least.

Overall a fairly standard television cop show that has much about it that has dated. The plot is average at best and didn't really engage me while the main character was a simply thing that seemed designed to appeal to the "stay at home and watch telly" demographic that didn't approve of the relaxed morals of the sixties. Worth a look if you liked the TV series I suppose but probably not good enough for the casual viewer to bother with.