Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
My parents told me the original 1950s Dragnet was better and more serious than the late 1960s revival, which often seemed more like a parody. I was too young to see the original, although I was in High School during the revival and sometimes watched it for a laugh. The original must have been more noirish. The movie with Dan Ackroyd as Friday and his partner Tom Hanks is OK and good for a few laughs. Ackroyd did good Nixon & Sgt. Friday/Jack Webb impressions. Jack Webb has a role in the noir classic "Sunset Blvd." and he is nothing like Friday.
_________
Looking at that picture of The "urban renewal" aka destruction of Bunker Hill is so sad. Hill Street Blues. Fortunately the dozers never made it to the flats of the Broadway historic district. Imagine Bunker Hill today if some of the old Victorian neighborhoods had been preserved and mixed with new skyscrapers. Could have been L.A.'s Nob Hill. The destruction of the Richfield tower and Bunker Hill are two of the unfortunate events in DTLA history.
The old Hall of Records building should also have been preserved. Looked like a big castle. Had character. The odd angle followed the original street layout. The best and most interesting downtowns mix the best of old and new and preserve the urban fabric and street life.
|
The 1950's version of Dragent was very noirish. It seems like it was a continuation of the style you see in 1948's "He Walks by Night", in which Richard Basehart plays a psycho killer who uses LA's flood control system to escape crime scenes. It was very much a police procedural drama, complete with explanatory voice-over narrative, much as Webb did in both versions of Dragnet. A young Jack Webb plays a police forensic specialist in the move. BTW, many of the repertoire actors from the 1967-70 version appear in the original 50's series, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rBZ7Hoaf5o