Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Ambition (1961) User Reviews

Can you believe it?! Imagine...the notion of a dishonest District Attorney!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 April 2021]

"Ambition" is the final episode of season six of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and it's a story of a District Attorney (Leslie Nielsen) who happens to owe a big debt to a local gangster (Harold Stone). But it's not a financial debt....it's that during the war, the gangster saved the future DA's life!

When the story begins, the DA has lined up a witness who might be able to crush organized crime in this unnamed town. But the mayor and others are unsure if the DA has the guts or honesty to take on organized crime since they are aware of the relationship the DA used to have with the leader of this gang. So does the DA prove his honesty or does he throw the case or is there a third alternative?

This is a good but not great episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". And, as at least one other reviewer pointed out, a District Attorney is a job that involves politics and many folks use it as a launch pad for political ambitions. Enjoyable.

"I'm fixed for life."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 28 February 2022]

District Attorney Rudy Cox (Leslie Nielsen) has a witness stashed that can put away a major crime figure. However, gangster Mac Davis (Harold J. Stone) saved Cox's life during the war and figures there's a debt to be paid. Following a frank discussion, Cox relents, and decides that he owes the criminal a favor. So he agrees to drop the case, only to learn a short time later that the witness was rubbed out by Davis's cohort, Ernie Stillinger (Harry Landers). The cops finger Mac for the murder since Ernie has an alibi, while Mac's alibi happened to be the time spent with Cox talking over the deal they made. It doesn't look good for Mac, since the engraved cigarette lighter Rudy gave him for saving his life was found at the scene of the murder. The newly convenient set of circumstances gives Cox time to mull over his original promise to Davis, and with political ambitions swirling around in his mind, Rudy figures it's time to capitalize on the situation and renege on the deal with Mac. You'd like to believe the D. A. would have done the right thing to begin with, but the ending here painted him an opportunist, pretty much like most politicians. Too bad we didn't get to see Cox prosecute Mac in court, that would have been some show.

Betrayal?

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 1 June 2021]

At some point, one needs to face up to his responsibilities and play fair. When it involves organized crime and the possible damage that can be done, one needs to pull up those bootstraps. Good acting from some real professionals--story somewhat ordinary.

Reminder-- DA's Are Also Politicians

[dougdoepke · 24 May 2009]

The relationships and plot were a little hard to follow, so I watched the episode a second time. But the effort was worth it. The payoff is low-key but shattering in implication, unusually cynical even for Hitchcock.

Nielsen plays Rudy Cox, a handsome, up-and-coming young DA of a large city. We know he's a clean-cut, regular guy since he gardens in his spare time—a nice, effective touch. The trouble is that he's got a star witness stashed in a hotel room who can put big-shot Harold J. Stone and his gunsel Harry Landers away for a long prison stretch. However, Stone and Landers know where the witness is stashed, and the hot-headed Landers wants to kill him. But Stone has a better idea. After all, he and Nielsen may be on opposite sides of the law now, but they remain old army buddies from the war.

It's an unusually well acted half-hour, especially by Bernard Kates as the cringing dipso witness. Watch his array of expressions as he reacts in panic to the threats on his life. You can almost smell the fear. Then too, with his bulging eyes, snub nose, and over-sized mouth, he's perfectly cast, and I kept seeing nothing so much as a frightened guppy. Note too, the drop-dead sexy Ann Robinson as Nielsen's wife. She's supposed to be going to a birthday party, but her gown suggests something more intimate. And when Nielsen tells her to wake him when she returns, we know what's on his mind.

Anyway, it's a strong half-hour with a highly effective cast, but it may also make you think twice about popular stereotypes.