The Vince Lombardi look-alike is Barney Phillips who acted from 1937 to 1982. I know him from the Twilight Zone episode revolving around a Martian and a Venusian hanging out in a diner on a rainy night in New England -- he's the hash slinger with a strategically placed diner hat sitting low on his forehead.
Dragnet had a lot of trouble getting untracked with their Joe Friday sidekicks. It was originally Barton Yarborough but he dropped dead two episodes into the first season. Phillips took over for the rest of the first season, then it was mostly Ben Alexander as Officer Frank Smith after that.
Alexander was unavailable when Webb revived the series in 1967 so they went with Harry Morgan.
Then Webb was going to revive the series again in 1982 with Martin Milner as Officer Pete Malloy of Adam-12 fame, but Webb died.
So there you have it.
And Lee Marvin is impossibly young here. This was more than a year away from his breakout roles in 1953's The Big Heat and The Wild One. In fact, he did another Dragnet in early 1953 before he got to be too big for that sort of thing.
I always knew that if if you just bug your eyes out BEFORE you punch Lee Marvin you can knock him down even if you weigh just 140 pounds dripping wet, but this proves it!
The sergeant is Burger, Ham Burger. A cousin of Warren Burger but not so fast. My mother’s name is Saturday and I visit her on Sunday. My name is Friday.
Oh, you laugh, but this is my favorite bit from the entire episode, starting around the 15:43 mark:
"Ed and I took Henry Ross out to get him something to eat. At his request, we went to Helga's Health Shop. It was almost closing time. Ross got himself a salad, molasses bread, yogurt, a vegetable burger and some grape juice. Ed and I settled for a Swiss cheese sandwich and some grape juice."
It's the yogurt that sells it. They never do nail down whether Lee Marvin killed ten men or twelve, but by God, let the record show the man ate yogurt for dinner.
Oh yeah, you really can't beat that! Almost all of Friday's deadpan document dump of concrete but *awesomely* irrelevant detail are comical, but that pile of fanatic facks really did kill me too. It's as if Friday had fallen in with The Big Lebowski: "I wouldn't know about that, mister, I'm just a cop. But have you ever really looked at the food you eat before you eat it, mister? I mean really LOOKED at it? In all its vivid diversity of electric colors, shapes, and textures?"
Seems Jack Webb made something of a career out of decking Lee Marvin. He reprised his knockout punch to Marvin's chin a few years later in "Pete Kelly's Blues." But this time in color.
Vince Lombardi was Friday's partner?
ReplyDeleteAnd who's that guy who sounds like Lee Marvin, but has dark hair. . . ?
ReplyDeleteThe Vince Lombardi look-alike is Barney Phillips who acted from 1937 to 1982. I know him from the Twilight Zone episode revolving around a Martian and a Venusian hanging out in a diner on a rainy night in New England -- he's the hash slinger with a strategically placed diner hat sitting low on his forehead.
ReplyDeleteDragnet had a lot of trouble getting untracked with their Joe Friday sidekicks. It was originally Barton Yarborough but he dropped dead two episodes into the first season. Phillips took over for the rest of the first season, then it was mostly Ben Alexander as Officer Frank Smith after that.
Alexander was unavailable when Webb revived the series in 1967 so they went with Harry Morgan.
Then Webb was going to revive the series again in 1982 with Martin Milner as Officer Pete Malloy of Adam-12 fame, but Webb died.
So there you have it.
And Lee Marvin is impossibly young here. This was more than a year away from his breakout roles in 1953's The Big Heat and The Wild One. In fact, he did another Dragnet in early 1953 before he got to be too big for that sort of thing.
I always knew that if if you just bug your eyes out BEFORE you punch Lee Marvin you can knock him down even if you weigh just 140 pounds dripping wet, but this proves it!
ReplyDeleteDry or dripping wet, Lee Marvin blows Jack Webb and Vince Lombardi off the screen. Some guys are just destined for stardom.
ReplyDeleteSome guys are just destined for stardom.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwww. . . . [*blush*]
The sergeant is Burger, Ham Burger. A cousin of Warren Burger but not so fast. My mother’s name is Saturday and I visit her on Sunday. My name is Friday.
ReplyDeleteOh, you laugh, but this is my favorite bit from the entire episode, starting around the 15:43 mark:
ReplyDelete"Ed and I took Henry Ross out to get him something to eat. At his request, we went to Helga's Health Shop. It was almost closing time. Ross got himself a salad, molasses bread, yogurt, a vegetable burger and some grape juice. Ed and I settled for a Swiss cheese sandwich and some grape juice."
It's the yogurt that sells it. They never do nail down whether Lee Marvin killed ten men or twelve, but by God, let the record show the man ate yogurt for dinner.
Oh yeah, you really can't beat that! Almost all of Friday's deadpan document dump of concrete but *awesomely* irrelevant detail are comical, but that pile of fanatic facks really did kill me too. It's as if Friday had fallen in with The Big Lebowski: "I wouldn't know about that, mister, I'm just a cop. But have you ever really looked at the food you eat before you eat it, mister? I mean really LOOKED at it? In all its vivid diversity of electric colors, shapes, and textures?"
ReplyDeleteSeems Jack Webb made something of a career out of decking Lee Marvin. He reprised his knockout punch to Marvin's chin a few years later in "Pete Kelly's Blues." But this time in color.
ReplyDelete