(TV Series)

(1958)

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8/10
Great TV noir
gordonl567 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is from the long running anthology series, Alcoa Theater. The cast includes, James Whitmore, Marilyn Erskine, Art Batanides and his holiness, Tim Carey.

Whitmore is the town constable in a small Maine village. He has just left the town council budget meeting where he was turned down again for a raise. He heads home to discuss the matter with his pregnant wife, Erskine. After the two of them have a talk, Whitmore decides to turn in his resignation that night.

While this is all happening, just up the highway in the next town, there is a robbery going on. Art Batanides and Tim Carey are knocking over a payroll office. Batanides empties the safe and Carey gleefully pistol-whips the paymaster while tying him up.

The two pile into their car and make good their escape. Just outside of town they pull over so they can hide the cash in the hubcaps. A Highway Patrolman on a motorcycle stops to see if the two need a hand. The cop figures it must be a flat tire. Batanides tells the cop everything is cool and the tire is OK.

The cop turns to leave when Carey calls him back. Carey pulls his piece and put several rounds into the cop. The cop staggers and manages to return a round before dropping dead. Carey cracks, "See how i got him through the badge!" The two pile back in the car and hit the road.

There is a problem though for the two. It seems the shot the cop got off holed the radiator. They just make it to the service station in the next town. Twenty minutes to plug the hole and get them back on the road says the mechanic.

Having just handed in his resignation to the town council, Whitmore stops for a couple of words with the mechanic. It is all Batanides can do to keep Carey from unloading on Whitmore.

Whitmore says so long and heads home. He is home not 5 minutes when a broadcast about the robbery and the murder comes in. He listens to the description and realizes that they fit the two at the service station. Does he ignore the report? No, Whitmore figures he is still a cop and has a duty to perform.

He grabs his gun and heads out despite Erskine's protests. Needless to say that Carey has no intentions of going quietly. A blazing gun-battle ensues and the mechanic, O.Z. Whitehead, and Carey's partner, Batanides are both killed.

Whitmore gets plugged in the arm and loses his gun. He bolts for the railway-yard with Carey in pursuit. "Come on you hick cop! Come out and die!" Shouts Carey. Whitmore manages to tackle him and then hands him a vicious beating. He cuffs Carey to a post and heads back home. He has had enough of being a cop.

This is a great half hour of television entertainment. Carey is a real hoot, as he pulls out all the stops as the nut-bar gunman. This guy is great! The director was vet TV man Boris Sagal.

Screenplay was by Harry Essex from a story by Adrian Spies. Essex gave us, DESPERATE, THE BODYGUARD, UNDERCOVER GIRL, THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK, THE FAT MAN, I THE JURY and KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL.

The d of p was Irving Lippman whose only claim to fame was on the 50'S sci-fi classic, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH. (b/w)
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9/10
Tense!
planktonrules16 February 2024
Arthur Batanides and Timothy Carey play two crooks who have just pulled off a job. However, Carey's character is a real psycho, as soon he kills a cop for absolutely no reason and the policeman didn't suspect them of committing any crime...he just shot the cop to watch him die!

At the same time, a sheriff (James Whitmore) of a town has had enough. Although the town council approves a pay raise, he's decided to quit, as he feels unappreciated. They don't approve it...and he's decided to walk. So what's going to happen when the two crooks arrive?

This is a very good and tense episode of "Alcoa Theatre"...and much of it is due to Carey's performance as the crazed killer. He's excellent and really is a standout. As for the rest and the cast, they are excellent...but Carey is something else!! Well worth seeing.
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7/10
Timothy Carey at his very best.
searchanddestroy-17 March 2020
Yes Timothy Carey is here in his best shape ever as a totally insane cop killer. I enjoyed him so much watching his face before, during and after he shot the patrolman. Besides this Jim Whitmore's character is the usual sheriff in a small town who is ostracized by his town folks, before he finally saves them form a threat. A scheme already told millions times before and after. But the very ending is exquisite, I did not see it coming. I would have done the same if I had been in his shoes. So, to summarize, a common topic, an awesome Timothy Carey's performance, and a very good ending.
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Powerful drama
lor_31 October 2023
James Whitmore is reliably super-sympathetic as the man on the spot in this hard-hitting episode of Alcoa Theatre. The script errs on the side of exaggeration, but it's still a crowd-pleaser.

Giving it must-see status is the casting of Timothy Carey, who with another typecast heavy Arthur Batanides robs a bank safe and heads for a small town where Whitmore is the sheriff. It just so happens that the town council is voting that same night on whether to give Whitmore (whose wife is about to have a baby) a much-deserved and much-needed raise. The double-dealers on the council are all palsy-walsy with James, but when it comes to a vote all but the kindly town doctor deny him a raise.

He resigns and is through with dealing with his hometown skinflints, but the two robbers end up, after Carey kills a motorcycle cop in cold blood, in town with car trouble and then kills the auto mechanic played by O. Z. Whitehead. Whitmore has decided he's through with defending his fellow townsfolk who don't care at all about him, but he's forced by circumstances to a showdown with the robbers and a fight to the death.

The ending of this show is uncompromising and pounds home the story's message with great power.
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