The Little Victim

Child beating and murder has always been a problem, and among the most heart-breaking of crimes. It's the more heart-breaking because the victims are beaten and killed by those they love and look to for protection, and they have no defense.

Brenda Bundy, as the mother of a beaten baby, is WAY over the top, especially in her last two scenes. It's probably not her fault, but the director of the episode.

This episode highlights what abusive parents and adults will do to cover up their criminal abuse of children, and what family, neighbors, and the community can do to recognize what's going on and help put a stop to it.

This episode dramatizes a serious problem: child abuse. Child abuse is a crime. Although there are numerous psychosocial factors associated with child abuse, the bottom line is that it is ultimately a matter for the police and courts. Today, the case in this story would have been investigated not by the police but by a caseworker, who is not a specialist on law enforcement or collecting evidence. The episode also shows how difficult it is to prove child abuse. Unless someone witnesses the offender in the act or the offender confesses, most allegations of child abuse cannot be substantiated. And to treat it purely as a social problem denies justice to the victim of the abuse - the child.

Jack Webb wasn't much of an actor himself, but my gawsh! The blonde's terrible acting is not just horrific, it's hilarious. She's super pretty, very well coiffed and made up, well dressed but... she can't act!!! All she does is rapid-fire deliver her lines, like she's a 1940s femme fatale on steroids. (Even back then, THEY didn't talk THAT fast!) Sadly, her acting ruins this episode on a very serious topic: child abuse, at the hands, this time, of the father, and the enabling mother who couldn't care less, as long as she's got riches provided. Typical American female!

For the rest the paintings behind her is what I couldn't take my eyes off of, trying to figure out who the artists were. Very good repros and just exquisite art.

By the way, the exotic actress equally couldn't act, the one who opens the door to the gun-totting duo and rambles on about wiring and raising the rent and that her neighbors hate her, LOL! She won't take a breath, delivers her lines stupidly while Jack Webb and Pancho Villa keep nodding! However, her performance looks Emmy-worthy, compared to the blonde's act. Hopefully she got acting classes and became better, because she was pretty enough to belong in show biz. (And she probably laughed all the way to the bank, so good for her!)

A pity they ruined what should have been an awareness-rasing episode. What were Webb and the director thinking?! UGH! 4/10 because it's still hilarius and we thankfully don't see the baby to feel sorry for him, so we can just relax and have a good laugh at the blonde's expense.

In this ep of "Dragnet 1968", Joe and Bill have to deal with an abused infant at a hospital and go looking for the mother. They managed to find her residence after initially being given the wrong address. She tells them her baby was just falling down the stairs and doesn't need any more treatment at the hospital but the two cops saw worse on the months-old kid and realize that's not so. When the hubby enters, he seems quite menacing and things just fall apart by that point...This was quite a shocking ep of this Jack Webb-created series even though we never see the baby's face. I have to admit that the woman's acting does seem shrill here but it's still pretty effective with what she was given. Oh, and what a nice surprise that the husband was played by future "Hill Street Blues" star Kiel Martin! So that's a recommendation of "The Little Victim".