Dragnet (TV Series) The Big Look (1955) User Reviews

Victim Description, Friday's Q & A, Conviction, On To Folsom

[biorngm · 8/10 · 19 March 2018]

Review - The Big Look Airing 10-13-55 Not a bad episode, a solid story, well-played by the actors, actresses, and believable procedures throughout with Friday, Smith interacting as they hunted down the leads between calls of assault, armed robbery and eventual capture.

Friday was up to his best grilling suspects, particularly when he felt they had the prime suspect in custody. Even before victims could positively identify the perpetrator, Friday had his guy.

No recognized guest thespians, but a job well acted by all, particularly the first actress interviewed by Friday, Smith was almost antagonistic toward the men there to find the bad guys. There sometimes is a witness to these crimes that is ornery to the point where the person is uncooperative. Not quite as methodical as some cases, namely because Friday, Smith spent their time chasing down victims. It was good to see R & I got some camera time, the policewomen searching card files; and crime lab photos, no lab personnel sighted; they skipped them.

The first case-victim looked to be an inside domestic job, the second case helped the police with her description, and it was positive the first suspect was booked for his lame excuse behavior; selling real estate door-to-door, really. Worth a watch for the legitimate acting, believable story and ultimate capture.

An odd title that says little about the show...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 December 2013]

"The Big Look" is an odd name for this particular episode of "Dragnet". I really have no idea why they called it this, although the word 'big' was in almost every title of the original 1950s series.

The show begins with Sergeant Friday (Jack Webb) and Officer Smith (Ben Alexander) going to visit the neighbor of a woman who was found badly beaten. This very strange and quirky neighbor tells the policemen about why she called in the report as well as what she saw. Unfortunately, the lady didn't really see that much and the police's number one suspect is the injured woman's husband since he has a record for violent behavior. However, soon there's a report of another woman nearby who was also beaten and robbed. This time, however, the woman has some idea what the guy looked like--and he had an odd scar next to his left eye. Naturally, when the man is caught he claims he's completely innocent--but the cops aren't about to believe this creep.

This is a rather average episode of "Dragnet" with very little to make it stand out one way or the other. Now this isn't really a bad thing, as an average episode of the series is still amazingly good for its time and it stands up pretty well.

Not Your Usual Salesman

[dougdoepke · 18 May 2007]

Average episode, though Friday's skills as a no-nonsense, incisive interrogator are on extended display. A man is breaking into homes and robbing women inside, beating some for no apparent reason. Unfortunately the screenplay fails to explain why the beatings. Considering the meager sums of money involved, you have to question the robber's intelligence. Michael Ann Barrett gets a rather amusing turn as an officious housewife, while a sign of the times are the number of references to wrestling on TV, a staple of early programming. Note too, the rather obvious attempt to make the characters more realistic by putting bad grammar into the script-- something the well-spoken Friday and Smith are never guilty of.