CALLING HOMICIDE

Bill Elliott, Myron Healey, James Best

CALLING HOMICIDE (1956). Written and directed by Edward Bernds.

Detective Lt. Andy Doyle (Bill Elliott) goes into action when another cop is killed by a car bomb. The dead man had said he was beginning an investigation but offered no details aside from the name of a woman whose battered body is then found at the bottom of a cliff. This takes Doyle and Det. Sgt. Mike Duncan (Don Haggerty) to a school for models, owned by Allen Gilmore (Thomas Browne Henry of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) and run by Darlene Adams (Jeanne Cooper), with Tony Fuller (Lyle Talbot) another executive. Doyle is convinced that the seemingly proper modeling agency is just the front for more felonious activity, but also has to ponder which of several people might be behind the murders. Other suspects include Benny (John Dennis), a handyman with the agency; Jim Haddix (Myron Healey of Panther Girl of the Kongo), the ex-boyfriend of the female victim and a former stuntman; and Donna (Kathleen Case) his fiancee and another model.  

Suspects? Thomas Browne Henry, Lyle Talbot, Jeanne Cooper

This is the third of five films starring Bill Elliott as an L. A. police detective. Bernds' flavorful script plays out like an especially good episode of Law and Order (sans the prosecutors) with lots of intriguing developments and twists. A sudden murder in a bar is especially good. The cast, including James Best as another young cop anxious to make an impression, is game, with Talbot particularly notable as the generally drunk Fuller and the ever-reliable Jeanne Cooper saucy as the modeling school operator who knows more than she's telling. Myron Healey also has one of his best roles as the executive who also may have too many secrets. Almira Sessions is fun as a peppery housekeeper who brooks no nonsense, not even from cops. Edward Bernds also directed High School Hellcats and many others. 

Verdict: Like a superior episode of a snappy TV detective show. ***. 

DIAL RED O

Bill Elliott as Det. Andy Flynn

DIAL RED O (1955). Written and directed by Daniel B. Ullman. 

After receiving divorce papers, a highly-decorated marine, Ralph Wyatt (Keith Larsen), sneaks out of the psych ward at a L.A. veteran's hospital. Lt. Detective Andy Flynn (Bill Elliott) fears that Wyatt may do something to his wife, Connie (Helene Stanley), a "good-time gal," so has a policewoman, Gloria (Elaine Riley), go undercover in bars. Meanwhile Connie has taken a lover, Norman (Paul Picerni of The Untouchables), but he has no intention of leaving his wife. When Gloria tells Norman she's pregnant, all hell breaks loose. This leads into a manhunt, but it may not be for our troubled veteran. 

Paul Picerni and Helene Stanley

Dial Red O was the first of five cop films starring former western hero "Wild" Bill Elliott as an L.A. detective. In this first film his name is Flynn, but it was changed to Doyle for the next four films. Dial Red O is not badly done, and Elliott makes a convincing detective, but the suspense is minimized because the murder is shown and the killer revealed halfway through the movie. Mort Mills of Psycho and Rick Vallin have smaller roles. Keith Larsen makes a positive impression as Wyatt. He appeared mostly in B movies and on television, also wrote and directed, and was married to Vera Miles for eleven years.

Verdict: Solid B effort which gives away its secrets too soon. **1/2. 

STATE TROOPER

Don Haggerty and Rod Cameron

STATE TROOPER (1956). Half-hour TV series. 

State Trooper starred Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, the chief investigator for the Nevada State Troopers. In some episodes he was advised or assisted by Don Haggerty (of King of the Rocket Men) as Sheriff Elder and Robert Armstrong (of King Kong fame) as Sheriff Andy Anderson. The series lasted for three seasons and amassed 105 episodes, all of which are available on DVD. The stories ranged from chases after escaped convicts to missing persons cases to classic, complicated murder mysteries which sometimes sent Blake way outside of his normal stomping grounds. The show was slick, fast-paced and entertaining. Cameron was perfect as Blake, a strong but sympathetic character who could be as tough as nails when he had to be but also had a soft and fair side to him. If you were going to be arrested, you wanted the arresting officer to be Blake, as he'd ferret out the truth if anyone could. 

Faith Domergue

The most memorable episodes of the series include: "From Here to Molokai" --  a fugitive is accused of murder in Hawaii; "Boulder Joe's Bottle House" -- an old, retired safecracker is forced to do a job (with Jeanne Cooper); "The Last Stage" -- a hotel's prop stage coach is actually robbed (with Doris Packer); "Cinder Jungle" -- a railroad robbery leads to the murder of a sympathetic cop; "Diamonds Come High " -- a series of diamond robberies (with Doris Singleton); "No Blaze of Glory" -- a store owner's wife is caught in a blaze (with Vivi Janis and Frank Ferguson); "Safe on a Boat" -- a robbery of a casino's safe during a honeymoon boat trip; "Fury on Freemont Street" -- an intense woman (Virginia Christine) is supposedly scared of her ex-con ex-husband. 

Constance Ford

A passenger disappears from a charter boat in "The Talking Corpse" with Craig Stevens and Jeanne Cooper (again). Rod goes undercover to investigate thefts of mine ore and finds a nasty foreman and a trampy wife in "The Fancy Dancers of Steptoe Valley." Rod investigates what caused a stampede that killed a blind woman in "The Sound of Death" with Laurie Mitchell. In "Dancing Dowager" a con woman thinks Rod is rich and tries to fleece him. In "Cable Car to Tombstone" a man (Dennis Moore) falls off of the Hoover dam and a cop (Ross Elliott) is accused. In "Sweetheart of Sigmund Kaye" a young woman (Norma Eberhardt) with a fiance (Corey Allen) reports her parents missing after quite a long time. In "The Case of the Happy Dragon" the twenty-year-old corpse of a Chinese woman is stolen from a funeral home and ransomed. In "Stay Lost, Little Girl" an old man hires a private eye to find his missing niece, but she may not want to be found. "And Baby Makes Two" features a wonderful Constance Ford in a dual role of a Vegas showgirl and her lookalike involved in a casino robbery.

Norma Eberhardt and Corey Allen 

Other guest-stars on the show include Bart Burns, Paul Langton, Patrick O'Neal, Walter Reed, Andrea King, Virginia Gregg, Joan Taylor, Angie Dickinson, Joi Lansing, Faith Domergue, Robert Vaughn, Douglas Fowley and even Joan Crawford's brother Hal Le Sueur. State Trooper presented satisfying mini-dramas of good and evil and often featured lively fight scenes, interesting characters, and exciting chases. The episodes rarely went below a B+ in quality. 

Verdict: Good cop show with an excellent, perfectly-cast Cameron. ***. 

HANGMAN (2017)

Karl Urban and Al Pacino

HANGMAN (2017). Director: Johnny Martin.

Detective Will Ruiney (Karl Urban), whose wife was murdered, is a former FBI profiler now working with the NYPD. Ray Archer (Al Pacino), a retired cop, agrees to help Will investigate a series of baffling murders wherein various people are killed and hanged, murders tied into the old "Hangman" game played by children. Traveling with them as they interview people, visit crime scenes, and nearly trip over corpses, is reporter Christi Davis (Brittany Snow). A person is murdered every 24 hours, and the detectives race against time to prevent each new slaughter. 

Brittany Snow

Hangman has an interesting premise, but it just doesn't stand out as a classic serial killer film, especially when compared to tauter moves like Se7en and Copycat. Pacino, who is the only actor billed above the title, employs the same dubious Southern jive/drawl that he used in his last thriller, Misconduct, and it adds nothing to his comparatively disinterested performance. Urban is a bit better, and Snow has at least one good scene when she tells of how she was assaulted and the cop who came after her assailant was shot and killed. Otherwise, her character doesn't add much to the movie.

There is at least one exciting scene, when Will tries to save a man who has been placed, hanging, over a track as a train approaches, and Ray, realizing there's not enough time to do so, opts to save Will instead. Hangman has a workable premise, and is not badly directed or photographed, but despite some back story, the characters are thinly etched, the victims are mostly ciphers, and the killer, with his dubious motives, never emerges as a villain of classic proportions. 

Verdict: Another mediocre Al Pacino "paycheck" movie. **1/2.