The Gamble

This episode of "Police Story" should seem pretty familiar for folks who remember the 1970s. This is because the story is an early version of the TV show "Police Woman". Her character's name changed but Angie Dickenson essentially plays the same lady she played in this later series. And, some of the supporting characters are the same folks who were on the TV series. The biggest difference here is that the part played by Burt Convey in this show was played by Earl Holliman in the television series. Regardless, both are about a pretty lady who goes to work in the field because she was bored by desk work. I cannot really compare the quality of this episode to "Police Woman" as I only saw a few episodes of this Dickenson series. But even then, the parallels are obvious and its obvious that "The Gamble" is a pilot for "Police Woman".

While I did not hate the episode like one of the other reviewers did, this one was a very weak episode. Much of it was the writing...which was very substandard. Some of the dopier scenes included a guy who got his arms run over by a steamroller to teach him a lesson!! In fact, unlike most installments of "Police Story" this one seems more salacious and silly than realistic. Still enjoyable...but it's not a particularly good episode.

United States philosopher Lysander Spooner tried to tell us that "vices are not crimes," but somehow that aphorism has not penetrated the thick skulls of people who write laws.

Lives are risked, tens of thousands of dollars are spent in the ultimately hopeless effort at stamping out illegal gambling, specifically in the Los Angeles area in this entry of the "Police Story" series.

Gambling, prostitution, even drug peddling are what are called "victimless crimes" or "consensual crimes." Based on such shows as this, those acts, those vices, seem to be where armed police spend most of their time and energy.

My own experience as a police reporter, including in Los Angeles, prove cops do a lot more, but nothing, I believe, is so futile, so wasteful, and so needlessly dangerous as trying to enforce vice laws.

This entry, "The Gamble," does a pretty good job of showing all that, as well as giving us an engaging story. Angie Dickinson looked lovely, and her acting talent just grew.

Other than the evil premise of using law to coerce "moral" behavior, this show is one more I highly recommend of a series I very highly recommend.

This was a pretty weak entry for the The Police Story anthology series with Angie Dickinson as Lisa Beaumont. She joins "Ad/Vice" and goes undercover as a hooker/hostess for a string of illegal casinos in Los Angeles run by Joseph Campanella and Cesare Danova. Nice appearances by Jeff Morrow and Corinne Calvet as a john and a madame who Lisa busts her first time out. The series "Police Woman" followed with much harder stories (bank robbery/murder, porn/murder) and the Lisa Beaumont name changed to Pepper Anderson with Earl Holliman substituting for the very weak Bert Convy as Lt. Bill Crowley, Pepper's boss. Appearances by many "stars" old and new (Skip Homeier, Karen Lamm) make the series a happy hunting ground for those with sharp eyes and keen memories.