The Hammer

Episode aired Mar 2, 1967
TV-14
30m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

190

YOUR RATING

Harry Morgan, Jack Webb, and Vince Williams in Dragnet 1967 (1967)

Crime Drama Mystery

The manager of an apartment building is beaten to death with a hammer. Clues at the scene point to a man named 'Fred', who was playing cards with the victim. Fred has fled, possibly in anoth... Read allThe manager of an apartment building is beaten to death with a hammer. Clues at the scene point to a man named 'Fred', who was playing cards with the victim. Fred has fled, possibly in another tenant's car. Later, Friday gets a call notifying him that Frederick Tosca and his girl... Read allThe manager of an apartment building is beaten to death with a hammer. Clues at the scene point to a man named 'Fred', who was playing cards with the victim. Fred has fled, possibly in another tenant's car. Later, Friday gets a call notifying him that Frederick Tosca and his girlfriend are in custody in Arizona. Extradition papers are prepared and Friday, Gannon, and ... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

190

YOUR RATING

7User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos18

+ 12

User reviews7

7.6190

Featured reviews

9tenthangel

Those one liners!

Joe's parting line at the end of interrogation to the female suspect, "I bet your mother had a loud bark." Dang, Joe!

7ccthemovieman-1

Story Isn''t Much But There Were A Number Of Good Sidelights

SPOILER: A 62-year-old man is beaten to death with a hammer and Friday and Gannon have to find out who did it. The victim was the manager of a hotel. The man he was playing cards with one night is the guilty party. That part is determined pretty early in this episode.. How Our Heroes discover that and then track him down, is the story. It sounds better than it played. There was really no suspense in here and, as usual, no action.

Gannon, thankfully, adds a little humor here and there, such as demonstrating his method of "traveling light." The episode also puts the viewer back in the mid '60s with terms such as "fuzz" for the police.

Dick (a.k.a. Richard) Simmons, who had a small role in here, was a pretty famous television personality in the 1950s as "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon." In here, he's ten years older and bit heavy but there is no mistaking that voice!

The most interesting part of this episode, to me, were the wild colors on the third floor of the apartment complex, where the man was killed. In each scene, the hallway, doors, ceiling, etc., were all different colors and weird mixtures such as purple and green, and red mixed in with a green area and then a yellow door, etc. This is one of the few Dragnet episodes that had very interesting visuals.

7planktonrules

Decent

The manager of a cheap apartment complex is found bludgeoned to death by a hammer. Friday and Gannon investigate by talking with the tenants to see who might be responsible. They later discover than several things are missing--some money, a ring and a car.

Overall, this is a well done but pretty unremarkable episode. You see what routine police investigations are like, though you do get to see the men work with Arizona police authorities. It has a few very good performances and the scenes with the old man (Ralph Moody) are pretty touching. Another notable scene was when Joe made the remark to the nasty young woman--it's one of his best and was re-used to better effect in an episode involving an abandoned baby.

By the way, Brian Avery's character says he's 17 in the show. He was, in fact, 27.

Trivia
Ralph Moody was 80; his character, Lou Adams, was 62.

Goofs
When Friday and Gannon arrive at the apartments, we are told that it is a two-story building. However, when they start interviewing tenants, they talk to Ms Ridges in apartment 304--on the third floor. The killer had lived in apartment 302. As they're walking up the stairs to the third floor, another flight of stairs is visible above them; as they land on the third floor, Gannon looks up and to the right, in their direction.

Quotes
Camille: [Friday and Gannon are talking to Camille who is not very cooperative] You got a lot of nerve waking me up in the middle of the night like this.
Policewoman Dorothy Miller: These are Los Angeles police officers. They want to ask you some questions.
Officer Bill Gannon: It's our duty to inform you that you have the right to...
Camille: [Interrupting] Answer or not answer, get me a lawyer. I know the whole scam. You got a cigarette?
Officer Bill Gannon: You old enough to smoke?
Camille: I'm old enough to do anything, including clam up. I know my rights, fuzz, and I got a right to not talk to you. You're wasting your time and my beauty sleep cuz I ain't telling you nothing, not a thing about nothing. Now what about that cigarette and let me get back to that fleabag they call a cell.
[Friday gives her a a cigarette and a light]
Camille: You've got nice eyes - for a cop.
[She blows smoke into Friday's face]
Friday: And I bet your mother had a loud bark.