M Squad (TV Series) The Golden Look (1957) User Reviews

The Debut Of 'M Squad'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

This is the debut episode of this late 1950s crime show starring the great Lee Marvin. Who better to play a tough cop than the deep-voiced manly Marvin?

This is narration-style, like what was done in film noirs of the '40s and '50s, tough crime stories in the big city when the main cop narrates the story. This program - and I don't know if all that follows (116 more episodes) - almost reminded a big of Dragnet with the Joe Friday explaining the situation as it went along, many times the cops being frustrated over the difficulty of solving crimes.

That certainly happens here after a bank robber/murder in with a handful of people including a six-year-old boy are murdered. All anyone can remember about one of the escaped crooks is that he had a scalp wound and gold teeth.

That's what "Frank Ballinger" (Lee Marvin) and partner "Pete Grauman" (Bruce Gordon) have to go on, and it's not easy to track down in a big city like Chicago.

What I liked that struck me differently from other shows of the period was that most of this episode was shot outdoors using available light. Even in the police station, this did not look like it was set up with perfect lighting from a Hollywood set. It all added up to a more realistic-looking cop story.

This is my first look at this show in over 50 years. I don't have much in the way of memories of it except that Marvin was good in it. I hadn't recalled that Gordon was his partner. Maybe that was because this was his only episode! Bruce went on the play the famous villain and Al Capone associate "Frank Nitti" in The Untouchables.

This opening story is only so-so, to be honest, but it had a very realistic tone to it. I'm anxious to see how upcoming episodes play out before judging it now in early 2010. Thankfully, Timeless Video has offered us a DVD package set with all 117 episodes.

Big City Murder

[gordonl56 · 9/10 · 30 September 2013]

M-SQUAD – The Golden Look -1957 This is the first episode of the 1957 to 1960 Crime series, M-SQUAD. The series ran for 117 episodes and features Lee Marvin as the headliner. Marvin is a Lt with the elite M-Squad unit of the Chicago Police.

Two men, Ken Lynch and Henry Brandon enter a cheque cashing office. It is just after a large cash drop off from an armored car outfit. The two pull weapons and "ask" for the cash that has just been delivered. One of the clerks hits the alarm button which panics the would-be hold-up men. Lynch and Brandon empty their pistols into the clerks and hotfoot it out.

They jump in their car and floor it. Several blocks later they have a head on with another car killing the driver and passenger. Lynch is also killed in the collision. As a crowd gathers, Brandon pulls his gun and forces his way through the crowd and escapes.

Police Lt. Frank Ballinger (Lee Marvin) gets the call to attend the robbery scene. The collision up the street is soon tied in. Marvin and fellow detective, Bruce Gordon hit that location as well for a look see. They are just hauling off the bodies. Marvin and Gordon talk to the witnesses for an i.d. on the man who got away. All anyone can tell them is that the man has a scalp gash, and a mouthful of gold teeth.

Now another call comes in about a car being taken at gunpoint several blocks away. The victim says that the guilty person had a head wound and a mouthful of gold teeth. Marvin has the uniform types out looking for the stolen car.

Fingerprints soon identify Lynch as an ex-sailor with a prison record. The known associates file is pulled for a look through. At the same time a bulletin is sent off to local hospitals and doctors about the head wound. The car used in the robbery is now traced back to a worker, Frank Richards, in the stockyards. This goes nowhere as it seems that the car had been stolen without Richard's knowledge.

A fingerprint lifted off the car has the Detectives rousting a service station owner, Tyler McVey. It seems McVey sold the bandits gas that morning. He recalled because he noticed that car was hot-wired. He also mentions that both were dressed as sailors. The search is now directed towards the waterfront. Marvin and Gordon check out the small medical clinics around the area. They hit pay dirt as a doctor recalls working on a head wound. He did not call the Police because the man did not have any gold teeth. So he figured it was not the man they wanted. Marvin plays a hunch and asks for the man's name etc. He also collects the blood type etc on the patient. It turns out the man is who they are looking for. A quick drive to the dock and a visit to Brandon's ship is now made.

The ship's First Mate, John Mitchum, shows Marvin to Brandon's bunk where Marvin does a quick search. He does not find a gun, but he does discover a bunch of gold foil. The foil was used as a disguise to throw off the Police. Brandon soon shows, but is not willing to come quietly. A first rate round of flying fists is needed before the matter is settled. Brandon is now off to jail and a date with the judge.

OK first effort. While mostly shot on the back lot, there are plenty of Chicago shot exteriors. This of course helps with the overall look of the show. An interesting tidbit about the exteriors was given by Lee Marvin, in an interview several years after the series. The crew and Marvin would fly into Chicago then spend a day or two just driving around town. They would shoot a whole series of Marvin standing on various street corners, in front of famous buildings, landmarks etc. Then they would just as fast leave town. It was all done on the sly since they could not get city permits to film.

The director here is long-time television veteran, Bernard Girard. The d of p was long-time Republic Pictures cinematographer, William Bradford. The only film of note he worked on was, THE FIGHTING SEEBEES starring John Wayne.

The main villain, Henry Brandon is one of those actors whose name might not ring a bell, but their face will. He played the Indian, Scar, in the John Ford western, THE SEARCHERS. (b/w)

Chicago:: That's my kind of town!

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 23 November 2013]

****SPOILERS**** The long awaited debut by, few as they were at the time, Lee Marvin fans of the TV series "M-Squad has tough cop Lt. Frank Ballinger, Lee Marvin, get involved in a murder and accident spree in the streets of Chicago started by these two hoods Bert Fallon & Ken Lynch, Henry Brandon & Lou Carney, who attempted to rob a check cashing office. All that Lt. Ballinger and his partner Det. Peter Garuman, Bruce Gordon, had to go on was the description of the surviving hood, his partner was killed in a car crash, Brent Fallon's set of gold teeth that was the only thing witnesses to the robbery could remember of him. The toothy hood had disguised his mug by wrapping gold cellophane around his choppers or teeth to escape detection!

In his dealing with all kinds of horrendous crimes as a Chicago cop detective and member of M-Squad this case really got to Lt. Ballinger in just how ruthless it was in not only having five persons killed including an eight year old boy but the boy's mom being so traumatized by it that she attempting to commit suicide. Determined more then ever to solve this crime an bring the person who committed it to justice Let.Ballinger left no stone unturned in him getting to the bottom of it. Even in him beating a confession , there was no Miranda Rule on the books at the time, out of the person-Bert Fallon-who committed it.

The TV police series M-Squde brought the at the time bit part and somewhat unknown actor Lee Marvin into prominence not just as a tough guy who take no BS from anyone not even his boss Chicago Police Inspector Dean played by the Eternal Colonel Morris Akrum as well as the hoodlums that he deals with. Marvin was also to become a both ladies man, despite his pug face and not so glamorous beat up looks, on and off the screen as well as fine comedic actor winning the Aacademy Award as best actor in 1965 in his double role, as a gunfighter and hapless drunk, in the movie "Cat Ballou"