The Interrogation

Just caught this famous episode (for many reasons) late night, having seen it for decades, never forgetting a single scene. It's that powerful.

Friday and Gannon question young officer Paul Culver (Kent McCord) who has a lot of things going against him. He was on stake-out, yet stands accused of holding up a liquor store. One of those dramatic stories where deep down inside, you figure the guy is a victim of circumstances, however it's not an easy path to clear his good name, as you will see.

Outstanding writing, directing and acting on the part of Jack Webb, essentially the whole show. An Emmy nominee performance defined, due to his sobering "all in a day's work" summation of a dedicated cop at the close of the story. Brilliantly written and carried out. Sums it up in spades, even to this day, and makes you wonder how many young men and women Jack Webb inspired to join police forces nationwide.

Great part for Kent McCord, appearing in eight episodes, this leading to his co-starring role on ADAM 12. Yes, it's true. Jack Webb rewarded many actors with appearances in DRAGNET and other shows he produced for years. When he passed in 1982, he was, in fact, honored by the LAPD.

Something all us fans will never forget.

Just terrific. SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 dvd box set, billed as DRAGNET 1967. Released 2005. METV cites this as Season 9 Episode 4, if you were to couple this color series with the old black and white series of the 50s. Later box sets titled DRAGNET 1968, 69 and 70.

This is an Internal Affairs story as a young cop, just on the force 114 days and working undercover narcotics, has to relate to Joe and Bill what he did all night. It seems a liquor store was robbed, and the policeman is a prime suspect. He expects favored treatment but you straight-shooters like Friday and Gannon are not going to give it to him. They just want the truth.

The most noteworthy aspect of this episode might be the fact that Kent McCord plays the young officer "Paul Culver." McCord went on to be the star in his own police show, "Adam -12." which ran from 1968-1975. He showed here that he can act. He's a fine career since then, too. Read his biography here on IMDb; it's interesting, filled with facts such as the fact that McCord was good friends with Ricky Nelson and appeared on over 40 episodes of "The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet" as a fraternity brother of Ricky's.

Anyway, is McCord innocent or guilty? It's hard to tell until the end the last few minutes of this episode.

A sign this may be a different type of "Dragnet" ep is that the theme song is only played with a percussion drum. Then the only characters appearing is Friday, Gannon, and a rookie cop played by Kent McCord. McCord is in the interrogation room with Joe and Bill because he's been ID'd as the suspect of a liquor store robbery. Kent keeps denying he was the one who did it but the constant questions of especially Friday wear him down. Then he gets questioned about his off-duty life and that has Joe doing a speech about how unglamorous being a cop is but despite that, he's very proud to be one, that's for sure! I'll just now say this was a most excellent ep of this revived version of this classic cop show. And yes, this was the same Kent McCord who went on to star in Jack Webb's later series as producer, "Adam-12".

Kent McCord does a great job with his part in this episode. Here he portrays a new policeman,"Paul Culver" that has been accused of a liquor store robbery while on the job working undercover. He is put through the proverbial wringer by the always-tough Joe Friday and Friday's trusty partner Bill Gannon. New officer Culver is questioned over and over again until he starts to get confused,which only increases Joe Friday's suspicions. Accused officer Culver offers to take a polygraph test,and he does indeed take the test. The whole time officer Culver denies robbing the liquor store,and starts to become angry and disgusted that his word as an officer means no more than the word of a regular citizen. As a side plot Culver's girlfriend has recently left him over Culver's job as a policeman,which is also stressing the new officer. Kent McCord did a very good job with his part in this episode,I'm sure that his performance here helped greatly to earn him his later spot on Adam 12 with actor partner Martin Milner. Jack Webb was a generous and loyal friend to many people in Hollywood,it seems that if you made a good impression on him you were assured to be offered steady work on his many shows and productions. This was a strong 4th episode of Dragnet that held my interest throughout the entire episode. The final verdict on officer Paul Culver remains up in the air until the very end. 9/10 solid episode.

I'm knocking one star off because, by Dragnet standards, this sucks. Where's the colors? Where's the women? Where's the outside? Where's the cars? Where's the chases? Where's the bad guys?? This is no true Dragnet. At the very least they should have shown what happened pre-interrogation. Or spliced in flashbacks and made it a full hour. But darn if this episode doesn't suck after all. That performance by Kent McCord. Wow! Just when I thought he was just the pretty face in Adam-12... WOW! The guy could act! (Past tense, I don't think he still does.) But damn! What did he do besides 12? HE should have been a huge star! Did I say "wow!"?? I meant "WOW!!!!" Someone called him a "god" in a previous review. Come on, man! Let's not get carried away now: he is God's boss. The end.