The Candy Store Robberies

Before I forget: the police captain here uses the word "hinky," which I've now heard in four straight episodes. I've never heard of that word, so I looked it up my dictionary. It wasn't in there, so I checked the Internet. Here's what the Wikipedia said about it:

"Hinky is law enforcement jargon used by U.S. police officers to denote a situation in which circumstances, people, activities, or objects justify investigation, but the specific reason for the action is not yet clear. Identifying something as "hinky" is usually considered the result of a cop's intuition, or unconscious observations. 'Something hinky' is the explanation for an interview that goes from casual to serious with no specific reason."

I thought this was the best show of the season, so far. It was very entertaining, start-to- finish. A lot of credit goes to Virginia Gregg, a veteran of television who was an outstanding actress.

Here, Gregg plays candy store clerk "Jean Hardy." She is particularly good in her first scene, a three-minute one showing her being interviewed by Friday and Gannon. "Hardy" is the kind of quirky-yet-realistic kind of character I always remembered from this old police show. She was fun to hear.

Anyway, a man always described as "lean and gaunt," about six-fee-three and maybe 150 pounds, has robbed 10 of the same candy store chains in less than two weeks, and always at the same time. Finally, Joe and Bill are added the robbery case and things begin to happen, but not without two twists to the story, which made it really good.

One thing I am learning to appreciate here, too, is the realism of the stories. These are not far-out fictional stories. They actually happened and a lot of the dialog is probably what people said, although it is embellished at times for comedic effect.t

This show is the first appearance in the 1960s version of "Dragnet", though she also appeared in the original DRAGNET movie as well as the 1950s series of the same name. I note this because she was rather ubiquitous on the shows--appearing in eight episodes in the 60s version and 10 in the 50s version, but always playing rather intense and interesting characters. Here, in one of her most normal roles, she plays the clerk at a candy store that was robbed. I always enjoyed her on the show and it was nice to see her once again.

This episode is about a string of robberies occurring at local candy stores. Oddly, despite the police's best efforts, they are having a hard time catching a suspect. And, even more oddly, once they catch one, the robberies do NOT stop! What gives? See this one and find out for yourself.

Overall, a pretty typical episode for the series--neither particularly good or bad. But at least you get to see the first appearance of Ms. Gregg in this newer Dragnet incarnation.

Jack Webb was known for squared-away, economical production and for the most part his instincts were spot-on (except for his prediliction for the color orange...yeeeech). One actor who'd have made this show a slam-dunk would have been the tall, gaunt, 150-pound malefactor...JAMES GRIFFITH! I doubt he'd have acted for scale, but he'd have been perfect.

Otherwise, a solid entry in the Dragnet pantheon.