Anatomy of a Crime

He is a private investigator who seems to be quite used to having very tricky cases to handle, and this one is a real mess. There are many intrigues intertwining each other here, one is about a kidnapped daughter lost since many years, another is a scandal book getting written about inconvenient truths about a lot of important people, and some will do anything not to have that book written. There are a number of blondes involved here, a few of them like Kim Novak, and as usual in hard-boiled Darren McGavin thrillers there are quite a few murders, all occurring as great surprises. The interesting thing here, which makes the film worth watching, is the presence of Jackie Coogan as a night club master, and he actually gradually takes over the film with quite a few surprising revelations on the way: you will see him performing both as entertainer and tap dancer. As the comedian he is, he brings some refreshment into the general mess. However, one blonde survives, and as usual in Darren McGavin thrillers, she delivers the final repartee: "If you don't wake me up when you come I'll kill you."

This "movie" is a combination of two hour-long episodes of "The Outsider" TV series. Darren McGavin plays private detective David Ross. Typically when a studio did this 2-hour thing back in the day, the first half of the "movie" was one show, then there would be an awkward seque into the second episode. But Holy Moly here they actually edited so that scenes from both episodes are intermingled. This means you have twice as many characters running around and some crazy lines dubbed to try and make you think they're all related. The result for you dear viewer is a royal mess. There are way too many characters to keep track of and the scenes jump jarringly from one context to another.

I guess this is why the typical TV show only has about four suspects, any more and it too much to digest in an hour long show. If you can follow all the characters here you're a better man than I am.

All that said, "The Outsider" was an above average detective show and well worth watching if you can find it. I don't think this mess does it justice.

Do notice the closing theme music by Pete Rugolo, it's one of my favorite TV show themes.