The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Series 1, Episode 32    Joseph Newman    Leigh Brackett (teleplay); Douglas Warner (novel)    Victor Jory, Peter Brown    24 May 1963    48:41 (total) • 45:46 (film) • 1:40 (Hitchcock)    5/10

Death Of A Cop

Two detectives, Paul (Victory Jory) and Philip Reardon (Peter Brown) - a father and his estranged son, are on a night stakeout of Wong's Liquor store. Two young men rush into the store to make a robbery but the detectives are alert and apprehend them both. Philip is praised by his lieutenant for not killing the suspects, whom are suspected of being drug addicts. The next day Philip sees a known con, Boxer (Richard Jaeckel) and his right-hand man Freddie Arnold (Read Morgan) acting suspiciously and confronts them in the street. Philip orders Boxer, who has concealed a gun underneath the seat, to get out of the car but when he doesn't comply Philip tries to use force. He is stopped by two of Boxer's goons who force Philip into their car and drive off. Along the journey Philip warns the men that they are soon approaching the state line and to cross it with Philip in the car would make it a kidnapping and a federal offence. The car suddenly swerves and Boxer's gun is dislodged from underneath the seat along with a cellophane bag containing heroin. Philip sees it but offers to cut the guys a break if they were to stop the car and let him out. Boxer refuses and instead drives to a remote spot where they dump him in a swamp and leave him for dead. Later, Philip's body is found and taken to the morgue where the detectives surmise that he was shot in an execution-style murder. If it isn't bad enough that Philip's father has to identify the body, he is then confronted by his ex-wife who accuses him of being responsible for their son's death. Detectives Reardon and Singer pay a visit to gang boss Herbie Lane (Lawrence Tierney) and interrogate him as to his whereabouts at the time of the killing but he claims to know nothing about it. The rest of the crew - including Boxer show up and they too are questioned but Reardon knows they are lying. Three weeks later and the case is still not solved so Detective Reardon continues to squeeze potential witnesses for information, beginning with the druggist who says he didn't see anything. And to make sure he didn't see anything the druggist is also paid a visit by the gang who warn him not to talk. Reardon is troubled by nightmares in which the gang members mock him and his son pleads for his help. Paul confides in Eva, the owner of a diner of his frustrations over having no evidence in the case. He leaves and later storms the Lane headquarters with his officers to issue the entire gang warrants for their arrests. The gang are taken for questioning at the station whilst Detective Singer is told to shake down several addresses and to try and find the gun that was used in his son's murder. It turns out to be a futile exercise. George Chaney, acting as the gang's legal counsel agrees to forego any punitive damages against his clients in exchange for Reardon dropping his charges against the gang. Reardon agrees and then promptly hands back his badge to the lieutenant and quits. When Reardon returns home Boxer and his crew are waiting for him and beat him up. Determined to find his son's killers Reardon stakes out a property where he can keep an eye on a drug dealer who has been supplying the gang and eventually manages to catch him and confiscate a shipment of heroin worth a quarter of a million dollars. Reardon telephones Lane and says he can have the drugs in exchange for the man who killed Philip. After sweating over the decision, Lane gives up the name: Boxer. Reardon tells Lane to send him over the next morning to collect the heroin and make the swap. The set up goes to plan and as soon as Boxer enters the room Reardon shoots him dead and then leaves. As Reardon leaves the building he is shot dead by Lane after Freddie Arnold tells him he was set up. But this time there is a witness... TRIVIA •At the beginning the two detectives are in car 69 as they stake out Wong's. •The story takes place in the area of Blake Street, New York. •Herbie Lane runs The Lane Bottling Company, for soft drinks. Allegedly. •Boxer shoots Philip four times before leaving him in the swamp.

HITCH'S PROLOGUE (1 min 00 secs + 22 secs): "Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. [camera pans back to reveal a signpost which reads SODOM - 2 KILOMETERS / GOMORRAH - 1 KILOMETER] My part of the program this evening is, as usual, remote. In all my travels I don't know of any object which has been more perplexing. [Hitch runs his finger against a large column of salt and tastes his finger] This would appear to be an excellent place for a picnic. This is solid salt. Rather a lot of it! I had expected to see another one marked 'pepper'. There is another one nearby but instead of being marked 'salt and pepper' they are labelled 'his and hers'. I would appear to be introducing a Bibical drama but such is not the case. Tonight's play is a modern tale of two policemen; a father and son called 'Death Of A Cop'. It is a story of revenge. It begins in one minute." "I see we are at the half way point. I also see a local station ahead. Let's see if we can identify it. [fade out; fade in] Welcome to The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Part Two. If you wish a summary of the first half I suggest you watch the next minute closely." HITCH'S EPILOGUE (18 secs): "I can see that a policeman's lot is not a happy one. I believe it is time to be on my way. However, I shall take just one glace back at the city. I understand it's beautiful." [Hitch turns into stone as the camera pans away] SPOILERS Reardon uses the heroin as the carrot for the donkey set-up. He lures Boxer to a building where he asks no questions, and kills him in cold blood, but deliberately gets another gang member to come along, knowing he will spill the beans to Lane. Having ensured his friend Trenker wis strategically positioned across the street, Reardon offers himself in a suicide bid to entice Lane to shoot him dead in broad daylight knowing it will be witnessed. Reardon wanted to be reunited with his son (in death) so they could go fishing (which is something they talked of doing at the start of the episode).

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION... It's a fairly straightforward story with no real surprises at the end. Richard Jaeckel is handsomely evil as the hood guilty of killing the young cop and with Victory Jory as the father who seeks to avenge him. This episode did drag a bit in places and offered no real suspense. 'Standard' is the word I would use. Now, that very last moment in Hitchcock's closing remarks where he suddenly turns into a pillar of salt!

THE CAST (click any image to enlarge)

Detective Paul Reardon... VICTORY JORY Detective Philip Reardon... PETER BROWN Trenker... PAUL HARTMAN Detective Ed Singer... JOHN MARLEY Boxer Shaw... RICHARD JAECKEL Lieutenant Tom Mills... PAUL GENGE Eva... JEAN WILLES George Chaney... WILTON GRAFF Freddie Arnold... READ MORGAN Jocko Hanlin... REX HOLMAN Alice Reardon... SHIRLEY O'HARA Wong... BOB OKAZAKI Sammy Garrison... REES VAUGHN Alec Malloy... MARC RAMBEAU Gabby Donovan... JOSEPH RUSKIN Patrolman... HARI RHODES Druggist... TENEN HOLTZ Mrs. Dominguez... RITA CONDE Herbie Lane... LAWRENCE TIERNEY Tall precinct cop... KENNER G. KEMP Precinct cop... JEFFREY SAYRE

GALLERY (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394036/ [IMDb] This page was last updated on: 17 July 2020