Very entertaining and a rare opportunity
I dock this product a star only because pretty much no effort has gone into restoring the picture. It is somewhat fuzzy, very grainy from dirt, and has a good bit of damage. The soundtrack is somewhat distorted and strident at times.
As a second note, I found this at the WB web site at a significant discount, and with free shipping.
As for the show itself, this is an almost forgotten gem. Jimmy Stewart plays Hawkins, a former assistant DA turned criminal defense attorney, who is rumored to have never lost a case, though he will not admit to that. He spun the role out of equal parts Elwood P Dowd (Harvey), Paul Biegler (Anatomy of a Murder), and Ransom Stoddard (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance). The resulting character is a brilliant and delightful mixture of home-spun charm, empathetic friend, savvy tactician, and firebrand defender. His investigative style will remind you of Jessica Fletcher, a role created several years later.
Hawkins, always...
Move over Perry Mason
The cast is pretty amazing like they say. James won the Golden Globe that year. Imagine a big actor like him on television. Somebody copping out to him in the courtroom is always fun. I'm pretty sure it's mod, which is unpopular. I take them as I can get them. Like we have a choice. The picture quality is about what you would expect from some old retro show. I got it when they had a deal.
Excellent, underrated, almost forgotten series
James Stewart stars as Billy Jim Hawkins, a West Virginia, high-powered lawyer, in this 1973 series which had exactly nine episodes, coming in at 1 hour 15 minutes each. Stewart, in his second TV series, works hard at being a character, and he is well-aided by a supporting cast (Mayf Nutter, James Hampton, Strother Martin) and a bomber cast of 1960's and 1970's actors - William Windom, Tyne Daly, Paul Burke, Sheree North, Cameron Mitchell, Bonnie Bedelia, Kenneth Mars (pre-Inspector Kemp on Young Frankenstein), Julie Harris, Sam Elliott, Jeannette Nolan, among others. It naturally will remind some of Matlock, the Andy Griffith attorney series of the 1980s and 1990s and producer David Karp said in an interview that Griffith was once approached, but the deal somehow fell through.
I personally love the gripping, action-packed theme song by Jerry Goldsmith, but, somehow, it doesn't quite fit the saga of a laid-back West Virginia lawyer. No matter, this is well worth the price (no...
Click to Editorial Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment