This colorized 90 minutes of "Just the facts M'am", can't disguise that it's really an over-long 30 minute episode. Unlike the series, the movie starts off with a bloody bang, but in the process drains the plot of much needed suspense. Instead, we're left with 85 minutes of erratic police interviews, gleeful harassment of a known felon, and one very unnecessary, but carefully choreographed brawl that does add action but also points up the street-fighter inadequacies of the rail-thin Webb and the paunchy Ben Alexander. (Some of the frames appear set up for 3-D, so be prepared to duck.) The film's climax comes across as ironic but unfortunately Webb can't resist rubbing our nose in it.
Don't get me wrong-- I was and still am a fan of the series, which occasionally produced some pretty powerful melodramas involving ordinary people and their day-to-day travails. During those Mc Carthyite years, even a glimpse of social realism was hard to come by in series TV, (it might aid commie propaganda). Webb's tersely delivered lines and tight close-ups often worked brilliantly in the half-hour format to bring out otherwise submerged dramatic values. However, stretched over 90 minutes, Webb's exaggerated style becomes pretty tiresome, as does his endless parade of smart-alecky toppers.
That same year, 1954, Lucy and Desi spun off from their own wildly successful series to make a movie, The Long, Long Trailer. By most accounts, it is clearly superior to their series. I'm afraid the opposite is true here. Except for nostalgia buffs and curiosity seekers, there's only one reason I can think of to catch up with this 50's artifact. The gorgeous Ann Robinson as the policewoman should be enough to induce even the most hardened cop-hater into joining the force. I should be getting my badge any day now.
Don't get me wrong-- I was and still am a fan of the series, which occasionally produced some pretty powerful melodramas involving ordinary people and their day-to-day travails. During those Mc Carthyite years, even a glimpse of social realism was hard to come by in series TV, (it might aid commie propaganda). Webb's tersely delivered lines and tight close-ups often worked brilliantly in the half-hour format to bring out otherwise submerged dramatic values. However, stretched over 90 minutes, Webb's exaggerated style becomes pretty tiresome, as does his endless parade of smart-alecky toppers.
That same year, 1954, Lucy and Desi spun off from their own wildly successful series to make a movie, The Long, Long Trailer. By most accounts, it is clearly superior to their series. I'm afraid the opposite is true here. Except for nostalgia buffs and curiosity seekers, there's only one reason I can think of to catch up with this 50's artifact. The gorgeous Ann Robinson as the policewoman should be enough to induce even the most hardened cop-hater into joining the force. I should be getting my badge any day now.