Trivia

The movie of the week was inspired by a true story. Writer Tom Greene was discussing story ideas with a prominent Beverly Hills attorney who told him about a case he had just been involved in when one of his clients, a famous Los Angeles entrepreneur and owner of a LA based basketball team who had his nephew arrested for Grand Theft Auto, when the nephew got into an argument with him and took his expensive car out for a joy ride without asking permission. The nephew was arrested, and the entrepreneur wanted him to stay in the LA County Jail for a few days to "teach him a lesson". This attorney pleaded with his client to bail him out, since at the time the LA County Jail was a hell-hole, and not the place for a young man like his pampered nephew to spend even one second in. He finally convinced him to bail the boy out after 24 hours, however they discovered he was now remanded to maximum security since the night before he had killed an inmate who he claimed had tried to sexually attack him. The lawyer then had to defend the boy, who went in for a GTA, and now was charged with first degree murder. Much of the intrigue and misconduct by the DA's office as portrayed in the story were also based on actually events during the trial.

In order to capture the true terror of an "innocent" young man thrust into the hellish world of the notorious Los Angeles County Jail, writer Tom Greene arranged to spend a night inside the jail. Much of his experiences were used in the final production, and he was asked to be a consultant during the shooting of the jail sequences. Greene said that after that one harrowing night, he has made sure to be the most law abiding human being on the face of the Earth.

During the production of "Mallory", writer Tom Greene was also working on Alfred Hitchcock's last movie "Family Plot" which was shooting on a soundstage next door. On that set he was commiserating with his friend William Devine, who was one of the stars of the movie, about how the network had just told him that they wanted him to write a light-hearted "tag" to "Mallory", so it would end on a "fun and happy note", since the story was rather dark and tense. Greene explained to Devine that at the end of his story, the lawyer, played by Raymond Burr, used great courtroom trickery to get an uncooperative witness, a gang-member prisoner, to give testimony that would get his young client off of a murder charge. But now he wasn't sure what kind of "light-hearted" tag he could write. Suddenly, Greene felt a hand grab his arm, and he looked down to see Hitchcock, sitting in his director's chair. It seems that Hitchcock had been listening to his whole "dilemma". Hitchcock then said: "I would have Mr. Burr invite the young witness to Chasen's (Hitchcock's favorite restaurant), for dinner as a grand gesture to thank him, knowing that the boy most likely had never been to such a fancy restaurant in his life... but when the boy is served his veal scaloppini he makes a face and says that the veal is under-seasoned, and the meat too tough, and excuses himself, saying he'd rather just grab a hamburger and go home, leaving a bemused Burr to eat alone." Greene rushed to his office and immediately wrote the scene, and a week later it was filmed. To everyone's delight on the set of "Mallory", Hitchcock showed up on the Chasen's set to visit with his old friend Raymond Burr, who was also the great villain in his classic "Rear Window", and while he was there, he talked with the art director of "Mallory", John W. Corso, who he had worked with on "Torn Curtain", to give him some details to make the Chasen's set more authentic.

The nephew was played by Mark Hamill who even then was already enormously respected for his talent, good-nature, professionalism and non-ego humility. He was hanging out in writer Tom Greene's office at Universal one day after shooting and had a concerned look on his face. He told Greene that he had just been offered a job on a "Flash Gordon-type" sci-fi movie. At the time this genre of movies had not been tried in years, and was not considered box office. He had just completed a series of highly successful movies of the week and felt his career was really on the up-swing and wondered if leaving that to do this movie would kill his momentum. Greene told him that at least it was being directed by one of the coolest and talented young directors who had just made two of the best films of the early 1970's: "THX-1138" and "American Graffiti", and besides, he'd have an all-expense trip to London! How bad could that be? If the movie bombed and no one saw it, he could always come back and continue making TV movies. Although Greene didn't feel that his comments had any influence whatsoever on Hamill's final decision, he still thinks it's neat that he was, in a way, able to experience the very beginning of what became movie making history for the now legendary Hamill and wonders what the world of cinema would be like if he decided not to take the movie role.