1962 • Approved • 1h 10m • July 17, 1962 (USA) L.A. detective Sgt. Castle and his two partners investigate the theft of a valuable Fragonard painting by a thief who pilots a helicopter.
I really enjoy watching these old movies everything in the old days was normal unlike today. In the 40s 50s and 60s people had class and morals today's generation would never watch this.
@@ihateemael It is the person who first spoke of "class and morals" who is reading to much in. One sees a lot of this sort of nostalgia in comments on these films.
Well, B-movie acting and dialog, but first-class locations & photography, and maybe the first 'LA-River' movie car chase, which has been repeated countless times in movies and on TV since!
As an urbanist, apart from appreciating the pretty heroine(!), it was the extensive aerial shots of the expansive (and not very busy) freeways! This was a time when the car was king.
1:02:20 I lived in L.A. from '89 to 2015 and seeing the undeveloped hills south of Ventura Blvd is just a wonder to behold. I would give my right arm to have lived in L.A. in the '50s and '60s. Paradise
One of my favorite things about watching an old movie is seeing what L.A. or N.Y. or Frisco, etc. looked like at the time of filming and wondering what that area looks like today.
@@conniewojahn6445 No, there were MILLIONS of people living there in the '60s and early '70s and these problems didn't exist. It's Democrat-rule in the '70s and beyond and the welfare state and lax laws THEY created that turned it into the hellhole it is today. Plus, hordes of 3rd-world detritus they allowed to pour in over the border. FIFY
@@leelarson107 Well....I discovered her many years after junior high. I try to keep the drool to a minimum, but.....yeah. There is a Perry Mason episode where she is just stunning. A sadly underused actress.
Very cool, lived in the Valley early 1950's till mid 70's, while in High School I started my flying career early 1960's at Van Nuys airport was fun to see the clips of it, also spent many summer days out at Sepulveda dam model airport, all wonderful times when the valley was a paradise for a kid on his bike roaming farm fields, chasing model airplanes and hanging out at Van Nuys airport, BTW I knew many of the early LAPD Heli guys a small group back then, mostly motor cops as I recall...
There was also a small stream by the model airport at times that you could actually catch crawdads. Not a lot but they were there. And to the west at Balboa there were still agricultural fields on the west side of Balboa itself.
Hello.. we moved to the Canoga Park from Santa Monica in 1953, the Stream you mentioned was the LA river before they cemented it in and yes we would go down there for Crawdads and polywogs, in 58 we moved to what was Wenetka, at that time just a tiny farming town lots of dirt roads then from there to Northridge in 61, all great times as kid wandering around...since then my Airline career has taken me all over finally settling in another tiny Farm town in Texas...it is as close as I can get to the Valley of the 1950's Memories of the Valley always brings that old song to mind by Joni Mitchell "paved paradise put up a parking lot" Sad indeed what the once Paradise SFV has become...take care
@@MrAeronca100 Actually the one I was referring to was right along the upper ground close to the blacktop right next to the model airport where they would stand as they flew the planes on control lines and planes could take off and land on the pavement. It was only running when the seasons and temps allowed it. But yes, there was more crawdad catching in the wash than people knew. But the stories of trout and bass in the wash were just a little to hard for me to believe.
Pretty good movie. They sure put a lot of police resources into recovering a painting. The helicopter cop shot that dude dead over a stolen painting. True, he did push a guy off a roof, but the cop didn't know that. So the shooting was unjustified.
The quality of this movie print is pristine - in a word "excellent". It's nice to see Merry Anders in dark hair. I'm used to seeing her as a blonde in that iconic series "How to marry a millionaire" with the lovely, Lisa Gaye and Barbara Eden. Still, I like catching up with all Merry's films and TV shows. She was quite pretty in her own way. Very subtle and always, lady-like. Even if she was to play a hooker, she would do it with class. It was an innate trait of hers.
Willard Parker (1912 - 1996) who plays Lt Vern Taylor had a long but relatively undistinguished acting career both on stage and largely in B grade movies beginning with The Devil's Saddle Legion (1937) and ending with The Great Waltz (1972). He is remembered for playing the lead in the TV series, Tales of the Texas Rangers (1955 - 1958). He had a promising early start to his career appearing, for example, with Bette Davis (1908 - 1989), Edward G Robinson (1893 - 1973) and - in 1938 - with future US President, Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004). After WW2 war service, Columbia tried to promote him to leading man status but the attempt largely failed and by the end of the 1940s he was mostly back to third lead in major movies and then he slipped further into B grade features and TV.
Ok movie, shows how back then they shot first and ( maybe ) asked questions later. Chopper cop shoots unarmed suspect without giving him a chance to surrender..
U just cannot beat *eye in the sky that can cover such wide ranger areas and car, or super speed cars will NEVER beat air craft's speed or getting away.
Great aerial shots of L A. Acting was a bit iffy but enjoyed the movie. Thought the romance seem to come out of nowhere, one minute having a sip of wine, the next a full blooded kiss. The wine must have been spiked :-) Thanks for the film Rob.
The only real problems with this film that I saw were technical ones having to do with the scenes of the sergeant flying the police helicopter. It takes two hands to fly a Bell 47 and that bird is touchy - if you take your hand off the cyclic too long you can easily lose control (I know this from firsthand experience). And he's shown using a hand mike for the radio instead of a headset, which meant that he had to take his right hand off the cyclic. Oh, well, minor details. Okay story, and Merry Anders as eye candy certainly didn't hurt at all 🥰
The only fault I see with this movie is that the cop shot an unarmed man who had apparently turned to face him. Other than that a very enjoyable B movie.
I don’t understand why normal, lawful middle-class types portrayed in these films always harbor such unvarnished hatred for police. For example, the secretary at the beginning is so unreasonably nasty to the detective, who did nothing to deserve it.
@@pigmeatmarkham898 Like the old man had to push the pilot who was cornered and had no escape route but in his case he didn't even know it yet the old man just had to push him from behind off a building. What choice did the old man have but to push him off it?
nice to see the old Parker center i sent a lot of time there for 32 yrs. i guess this would be the first helicopter chase filmed now its a common place on the new these days
hmmm... the unarmed old guy would not stop (but, he was trapped with no where to go)... and so, he shot him... and tells his partner -- he would not stop. . . I guess that's good enough reason to shoot an old art thief... 😋
@ 1:02:30 I used to live where you see the onramp eastbound to the fwy. There were 3 buildings there at that time. It was in 57. There were still the yards, trees, and foundations of houses where the fwy was going in. It was a magical playground for playing cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, and war games. Mattel had just released their "Thunderburp" machine guns which added to the fun. ( no trolls need apply )
Great entertainment! Nice Cinemascope print looked good on big TV screen. Merry Anders always worth watching but didn't know any others. - nor had heard of the movie itself. Why don't they shoot suspects in the leg? Killing them off loses opportunity for trial and punishment.
The cop can show off his artistic culture, he is wrong and so is the secretary: the painting is not a Fragonard, but the most famous of Watteau's, "The Pilgrimage to Cythère", often called, "The Embarkation for Cythère"... and it's at the Louvre in Paris ! The way it is stolen is revolting: as he rolls it up and takes it away, nothing will be left of it...
Perfect way to get away with this, have a person waiting under an overpass. Toss the bag out the window with out stopping. Person on foot has a shopping bag puts the case in it and walks away! He shoots an unarmed old man a true LA cop.
Average crap. With a stupid and unacceptable final. The pursuited thief could pass the suitcase with the money to another car while passing under a bridge, and at the very end there was no need to assassinate him. He was trapped unarmed and would surrender.
Hadn’t seen this before, never heard of any of the actors either, it was alright, at least the nut wore a raincoat to keep himself dry at the dam, bit odd how he wore that Mack and hat all the time, as looked hot thirsty work.
The Whirley Birds had more action in 30 minutes than this did in the whole movie. Parker was more convincing in the "Tails of the Texas Rangers". You could have cut 40 minutes of deadwood out of this movie. Hay Willard, where can I get a good 20 cent hamburger?
Yes they are. From the Hollywood Bowl west to Studio City, to Sherman Oaks, to the Sepulveda Basin. It would have had to be north of Burbank to be part of Van Nuys. (Actually Magnolia but that didn't go through there at the time.)
That is no way to treat a Painting (or a Lady), could of just took the whole frame. HA HA "cop hater" because dont like to answer cop questions, after a nice head hit. Is Lieutenant Tyler a people hater, he doesnt smile much either, no kisses....
B&W movies of this era are so sharp they look like color movies with the color knob turned all the way down. Anyway, not a bad way to spend a few minutes. Merry Anders is worth the time and the idea of using an art theft, rather than say, auto theft as a vehicle (!) for a helicopter movie is not the automatic move. Any idea what we're seeing at 52:35? Looks like a HS track in the foreground, but another track in the background. Oh, and the chopper guy shot an elderly unarmed man who had no way of running anymore. That seemed highly unnecessary.
This was surprisingly good, nearly a gem. The dialog is good and so are the sets and locations. That can't be said for the acting. Only the secretary and the complaining housewife are convincing. The narration is flat. A noticeable thing are the cars. The 60's cars are really ugly compared to the 50's cars next to them.
The only evidence I saw it was a +B grade movie is they did not offer much ransom for the painting, So it must have been a cheap painting they used in the movie. But it was still better than the +F grade entertainment you get on television these days, script writers all they use is the gutter FCUK word.
