A Bullet for Baldwin

Ultimate dark comedy, exceptionally written by brothers Francis and Eustace Cockrell who shared a laugh with Hitch. You can count on that.

Hitch liked John Qualen because he played the downtrodden, everyday guy to perfection. This may be one of his best tv roles. Qualen plays a used and abused office worker called Mr. Stepp, as in stepped on? Sebastian Cabot, who could play some worthy bad guys, fits the role of bossy Mr. Baldwin, who decides to fire Stepp after many years of loyal service. Goodbye and Good Luck.

At first -- and you can't blame Stepp -- he considers shooting himself. He has nothing much to live for. However, comes that brilliant bridge from the Hitchcock playbook. Why not shoot the SOB instead? And he does. Next day comes around, Stepp expecting the worst, but is instead called back to the office to find the old buzzard ALIVE and WELL? As for the shooting, there was none?

If you're a fan of the show, it's EZ to guess what happened... Still fun to watch how this bizarre mystery unfolds and lands in Stepp's lap for a second time. The ending is a real dazzler, mixed with some fitting dialogue.

Beautifully directed by Justus Addiss, who turns Cabot into a work of art -- who deserves everything he gets. And you just feel so sorry for John Qualen. Popular actor Phillip Reed guest stars, who also played his fair share of villains in a long career.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 14 remastered CBS dvd box set.

Collectors First Season box with a super color cover pix of deadpan Hitch.

It is a bit complicated plot to follow, but quite enjoyable and unusual, with a good expected twist ending. I am not that prepared for such a scheme and needed to watch it twice to fully understand. Not my favorite, but fun and inventive. I hardly can summarize it, and that means it is an intelligent story. I advise you to watch it very closely. And watch it several times if necessary. I will wait several years before watching it again. There will be many plots like this one further in the show. It pushes you to be very focused on those cliché ridden stories, and I think it is a good thing. I will resume my watching and reviewing.

When an office worker is fired from his job, he shoots his boss to death, but when he returns to the office his boss is alive, and has no recollection of the incident. A lesser but cleverly-written entry with some good characterisations. However, it's not too remarkable.

This episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" features a cleverly written story that makes it pretty interesting to watch. It also gives character actor John Qualen a chance to play a starring role, in a part that fits his talents well. This is a good example of the kind of story that works by putting you in the position of the main character as he tries to figure out a baffling situation.

The story starts with Qualen, as a timid office worker, impulsively gunning down his boss after getting fired. But when he returns to his office, the boss seems to be alive and well, with no recollection of any part of their confrontation. Things get even more inexplicable from there, and the story is written carefully so that the viewer knows only what Qualen's character himself knows.

Qualen is a good choice for the part, since he often played this kind of downtrodden but sympathetic character, here adding a believable dose of bewilderment as things get stranger. Sebastian Cabot and Philip Reed head up the supporting cast.

The story is resolved neatly, and there is a morbidly witty parallel between the beginning and the ending that certainly would have pleased Hitchcock himself. A fair amount of exposition is needed at times, but the script (which two of the show's regular writers adapted from a story by Joseph Ruscoll) handles it rather well, keeping things from bogging down as they can do in such scenes. While this episode may not have quite as much depth to it as the best episodes of the series had, it's an entertaining mystery that also represents a skillful adaptation of its story to the anthology show's format.

"A Bullet for Baldwin" is the second 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode to be directed by Justus Addiss. The first one being "Salvage", which to me is a very good episode and saw the series get back on track after a quality dip for a few episodes. Really liked the idea, quite complicated conceptually but always liked the more psychological kind of stories. It is always great to see Sebastian Cabot, best known to me for 'Family Affair' and his Disney voiceover work.

There are better episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', of Season 1 (which was not always smooth sailing but was mostly solid) and overall. There are also worse on both counts. "A Bullet for Baldwin" to me is one of the high middle entries in the series. It is good and does do a lot that is highly commendable, but it didn't wow me and this is one of the half hour episodes that would have been better with a longer length with a story of this nature.

Shall start with the good. It is slickly and atmospherically made visually and Addiss' direction is tight enough as well as controlled. While not enhancing the atmosphere as such, when it is used the music doesn't distract or feel at odds either. The wonderfully devillish theme tune is a classic, and one of those that one hears in popular culture a lot before and since and recognise it without knowing what it is (Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette"). Hitchcock's bookends are typically droll, remember not being crazy about them to begin with but there were some inspired crackers throughout the series' run.

In terms of scripting, "A Bullet for Baldwin" is thought-provoking and doesn't have any excess fat. Liked how tongue in cheek it was too, and in a way that was amusing and not corny or too broad. The story is very compelling and never dull, it is not perfect by all means but it is also quite suspenseful and twisty. John Qualen excels in the psychologically fascinating lead role and Cabot relishes his part.

However, "A Bullet for Baldwin" did feel rushed at times, a lot goes on and sometimes at a fast rate and the final act especially could have done with a slowing down and expansion because it did start getting a little too complicated.

Furthermore, it is one of the episodes that would have benefitted from being longer by at least 15 minutes and even better feature length. Half an hour is too little for a story of this nature. The ending is very interesting and very surprising, it just could have gone into more depth.

On the whole, not great but good. 7/10.