The Fight (18 Apr. 1958)

Director:

Don Taylor

Writers:

Jack Laird, Wilton Schiller

Stars:

Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Rachel Ames

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Lee Marvin	...	Lt. Frank Ballinger
Charles Bronson	...	Eddie Loder
Rachel Ames	...	Greta Loder (as Judith Ames)
Rusty Lane	...	Mel Harmon
Paul Newlan	...	Police Capt. Grey
John Harmon	...	Charlie Andalucia
Leonard Bell	...	Sam

Storyline

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Genres:

Drama | Crime

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 April 1958 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Latimer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 25 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Who's Out To Bet Boxer 'Eddie Loder?'

The muscular Charles Bronson was the star here. The man was in shape and was ahead of most people bodybuilding-wise, for his day. What people forget sometimes is that the man could act, too. He wasn't just some macho man with a bit of an Eastern European accent. Even by the shooting of this episode, about 1957, he had been acting for a number of years and had a pretty long resume for a guy in his mid '30s. Despite doing tons of TV work (check his long list of roles), I don't think he really became famous until the 1963 movie "The Great Escape" when he played "The Tunnel King."

This M Squad story is interesting but when you look back at it, you see some glaring mistakes, some "hey, wait a minute" moments. I won't get into them to ruin it for anyone who gets this terrific "M Squad" set which I see now is available in retail stores, not just on the Internet.

The gist of the story is that someone is out to stop boxer "Eddie Loder" (Bronson). At first it looks like someone is trying to kill him but later it is said that they were just trying to distract him enough so he'd lose his training focus for his next big fight, and then lose the match. The credibility of the story comes into play when it's all over when you recall scenes early where that wasn't the case. Poison strong enough to kill several people isn't exactly just "distracting." Whatever.

Either way, it's interesting to try and figure out who's trying to hurt "Eddie," who receives all kinds of threats. It could be several people. I thought I had it figured out with no problem, but it turns out I was wrong. I'll bet I'm not the only one. I still rate this episode high because it was fast-moving with something interesting going on most of the time.