Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) The Day of the Bullet (1960) User Reviews

The kid has some fast growing up to do.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 10 April 2021]

"The Day of the Bullet" is a pretty good episode, though it doesn't exactly seem like an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" but more like an installment of "The Untouchables".

The episode stars young Barry Gordon as Iggy, a kid who in 1925 learns a LOT about life...too much. It seems that he and a friend oversee a gangster and his henchman working over some poor schnook and they do what they should...they tell the police. But the police obviously are being paid off by this nasty bootlegger and they refuse to do anything. Eventually, when Iggy won't drop it, they bring in his father and the mobster.

The show is well made, though it's far from Barry Gordon's best work. The big twist, however, is interesting...and more profoundly sad than ironic or surprising. Well made...but not at all like you'd expect from this series.

"In each lifetime, there is a day of destiny."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 December 2021]

This was a sad demonstration of the oft repeated phrase, no good deed goes unpunished. For in trying to do the right thing, young Iggy Kovacs (Barry Gordon) becomes disillusioned with the response of local police officers, but more so, his own Dad (Biff Elliot), when they all fail to acknowledge the brutality of a mob boss (Dennis Patrick) who beat up a man who owed him money. Sealing the deal was Rose's offer of a ten dollar bill to the kid, proving at that precise moment in time, that maybe crime does pay if you have the right connections. The story, told in flashback, opens with the now adult friend of Iggy who was with him thirty five years earlier to witness the pummeling. The scene would resonate with anyone who grew up in the New York Metropolitan area, as the front page of newspapers like the New York Daily News and the New York Post would far too often carry the latest mob rub out in the city or nearby Jersey. Even in black and white, the gory details always looked red.

Rise and fall of a small time hoodlum

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 13 December 2012]

***SPOILERS**** Morality play about the loss of innocence in the case of little Ignace "Iggy" Kovacs, Barry Gordon, who tired to do the right thing and ended up getting stiffed for it by everyone even his dad,Biff Elliot,whom he always looked up to. Iggy and his friend Clete Vine, Glenn Walker, were fishing out golf balls from a watering hole at the Dyker Heights Golf Course in Brooklyn when they spotted local mobster Mr. Rose, Dennis Patrick, and his bodyguard Joe, Harry Landers, work over this guy, David Fresco, for being late on his loan shark payments.

Iggy outraged at what he saw has Clete together with himself go to the local police station to report the incident. It's there that Iggy learns the facts of life on the mean streets of Brooklyn with no one not even his dad believing what he says and making him look foolish. No one but Mr. Rose who in feeling sorry for the kid, who in fact wanted to have him arrested for assault & battery, gave Iggy a $10.00 bill for all the trouble he caused him and thus let bygones be bygones. Finally getting the hang of it or where it's at finally has the once law abiding Iggy decides to live a life of crime and be just like his new found hero Mr. Rose when he grows up.

***SPOILERS*** It took 35 for Iggy to get the massage that crime does not pay. All that time Iggy grew up to be a hoodlum like Mr.Rose and in the end he ended up sharing the same not just jail cell with Mr.Rose but burial plot as well! As for Iggy's friend Clete he never heard form Iggy since that day in the police station but got to read Iggy's obituary in a local Brooklyn newspaper.

Memorable story

[sfoxly · 5 July 2007]

It's been 47 years since I saw this episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but I've never forgotten it. I couldn't remember who the stars were and the title of the episode. I finally typed in "Childhood of a gangster" under "Plots" and damned! There is was all along. The story is a good reminder of how many of us have had our bubbles burst when we discover that our fathers are not the larger-than-life heroes we always thought them to be, but human and fallible, after all. Sometimes the shock can be devastating, as seen here through the eyes of young Iggy. I, too, will always remember the haunting way little Iggy ran away from his friend at the end, telling him that Mr. Rose would protect him from his father. And the fading lines as he disappeared down the dark street: "...you'll see!!...you'll see!!....you'll see!!"

A haunting, heartbreaking tale.

[rinter-1 · 9/10 · 13 February 2007]

How could you rate this episode only 4.90. This told a tear jerking tale of how an intelligent well meaning child (played by a very gifted Barry Gordon) was trying desperately to do the right thing and was ignored and rebuked by the police and his father. The fear the police and his father showed toward a law breaking gangster than led to the rejection of his father, disregard for the law, and hero worship of the gangster. Without summarizing the plot the key issues to the youngster's demise after he and his friend witnessed the gangster (Mr Rose) and his cohort beating up a man were:

The police telling him to get lost after he reported the incident.

His father pushing him and calling him a liar.

The gangster slipping him a $20 bill to forget the whole issue (this at a time when a soda would have cost 5 cents). The seen at the end was awfully haunting when his friend told him to give the $20 to his father or else his father would really come down on him pretty hard.

I will always remember his reply - "Just let him. I'll tell Mr. Rose on him. That's what I'll do". He kept on repeating this. Mr Rose was his hero now. His father was a nobody.

Good drama starring wonderful child actors

[FlushingCaps · 9/10 · 13 February 2021]

We begin in the present day (1960) with a man on a city street seeing a newspaper headline about a mobster being killed in his big car, and he recalls a big event from "35 years ago."

Then we see two boys-presumable one of them the one just seen as the man in 1960, admiring a fancy car in 1925, but they are chased away by the car's owner, who seems to be some sort of a mobster.

The dark-haired boy, Iggy, is then seen admiring a golf club in the window of a sporting goods store, and he tells his friend, Clete, how he's saving up money in a big can and plans to buy the putter, and eventually all the clubs necessary to play golf like the top golfers of the time, Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. There is a real nice scene with Iggy's dad walking with the boys, appearing to be the "All-American father."

The boys then decide to head to a local golf course-in Brooklyn-to "fish" for golf balls, meaning take off their socks and shoes and wade in the water hazards for balls they can sell. Just after they get started, they hear a car driving up at the edge of the course and the gangster they had earlier dealt with and his driver are beating the heck out of somebody, over double-crossing a bootlegger. They beat him up and throw him in the water hazard and take off.

Iggy has to convince Clete that they need to go help the man, who we then see is already getting up out of the water. He angrily tells the boys to scram. Now Iggy insists they need to tell a cop, where Clete says they shouldn't bother. "I don't even like the man"-the victim. Iggy says that doesn't matter, they have to do what's right.

So they are next seen entering a police station with the cop they found on the street. The police seem to think they're making it up, but decide, when hearing that the man who led the beating is a known-gangster named Rose, to have both Rose and Iggy's father come in, while the boys wait.

All along the way, Iggy brags about his father and how wonderful he is. But when Iggy and Clete tell their story in the presence of Rose, he denies being at the course and says the kid is trying to get even with him because he chased them away from his car earlier.

The most poignant scene is when Iggy sees the cops don't believe him and goes to his silent father telling him that he is not making things up, that they saw the whole thing. Dad has seen the look from Rose and believes he needs to keep quiet for his own health, so he lightly shoves Iggy and tells him not to say things that aren't true.

The boys are sent home, but before they leave, Rose tries to pacify them by giving Iggy a $10 bill. In the ending-as revealed by other reviewers here-we see how Iggy runs away from Clete, telling him how if his dad tries anything, he'll tell Mr. Rose about him-a huge switch in that the kid now looks up to Rose more than his father.

This was a very serious and very sad episode. I hated to see the ending, which since the other reviewers have not clearlyrevealed, I won't either-but I can say it surprised me.

As I write this, there are 6 IMDB reviews for this episode. The 5th one incorrectly states that the man beaten up was "late on his loan shark payments." Nothing of the sort is said-Mr. Rose only said that he wasn't a "small time bootlegger" that couldn't be "double-crossed." The first review incorrectly stated that the money given Iggy was a $20 bill, when it was clearly stated to be a $10 bill. The third review, written 5 years after the first corrects that mistake, but that reviewer incorrectly says the money would cover the cost of the "tennis racket" in the window.

Iggy talked about golf, named two golfers so famous they are remembered today by most golf fans, and was seen mimicking the actions of a golfer putting. Furthermore, I will say that the price tag on the window was shown close to a pair of rackets, which were behind the putter Iggy admired. However, these were clearly badminton rackets-you can tell by the narrow shafts AND you can contrast them in one shot with an actual tennis racket more in the corner of the window-one inside a holder for the racket.

I guess you can say these are all minor points, I just thought the various mistakes coming from half of the reviewers were interesting. When we first saw the store window, I thought the $10 sign was for the badminton rackets, but then saw the golf club in front of them.

To me, this was somewhat of a tear jerker story. The two kids were very normal, nice young boys and what happened was not pleasant. I naturally wanted a happier ending for both of them. I want to criticize the episode for not having Iggy's father explain to him why he felt he had to say what he did at the police station in front of the hoodlum. But we can certainly see how Iggy felt so hurt and betrayed that he just wouldn't accept his pop's explanation and would go off like he did.

I give it a 9-nothing funny, but a good drama here. Norman Lloyd (who I always remember as St. Elsewhere's Dr. Auschlander) did a bang-up directing job here, and also voiced the grown-up Clete in the two brief scenes we had of him in the 1960 scenes.

$10 not $20

[schmidtkenn11 · 10/10 · 12 January 2012]

You are wrong about one thing. I just got through watching this episode for the first time...and It was $10 he gave Iggy, not $20. (Just enough to cover the cost of the tennis racket on sale in the window in the earlier scene.) My personal favorite element, however, was the EXCELLENT underscoring throughout. Amazing. It really brought out and "underscored" (in the truest sense of the word) the sentimentality of the work. Beautiful work and the acting by Barry Gordon, and the actor who played his father, is wonderful. The look on his face in the police station right after he tells his son to stop telling lies speaks volumes. The incredible pain and hurt at being forced to betray his own son because he didn't have the courage to stand up to Mr. Rose.

Innocence lost...very somber story

[glitterrose · 10/10 · 3 July 2022]

Our story centers on two young boys named Iggy and Cleve. Let me start off by saying this is an excellent storyline and the actors did a superb job. I especially give credit out to Barry Gordon because he absolutely had so many lines through this episode and I can see why he pops up again in another Alfred episode. His talent clearly shines here. I will be fair and say this episode might not be everybody's cup of tea because Iggy is quite a talkaholic.

Anyway, Iggy's got his dad in his life.. mother is unknown. I'm not sure if the parents are divorced or if Iggy's mom is deceased. Iggy's dad is a strong influence in his life. He's raising Iggy to have morals, doing the right thing, etc. Unfortunately this leads to an absolute disaster when Iggy's dad talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. BUT I absolutely love the way that particular scene is set up. More on that later.

Iggy and Cleve are hanging out. They like going to get lost golf balls at the golf course in order to resell them later. The boys see a man getting the crap beaten out of him and Iggy's determined to go to the police because the man being beaten up was so much smaller, it just wasn't fair. But here's the thing, there's some people you just don't mess with and Iggy's about to find that out the hard way.

They're all at the police station. The cops aren't taking Iggy seriously and even worse, Iggy's father isn't backing him up. Iggy's father says he doesn't want Iggy making up stories. It's all in the faces for these scenes. Take a look at the look of fear in Iggy's father's face as he sees Mr. Rose. One truly has to sympathize with him just as much as Iggy. He knows the kinda stuff Mr. Rose is capable of. He knew Iggy wasn't making up stories about Mr. Rose. It's the fear imo. Mr. Rose is capable of absolutely hurting or killing Iggy and his father. Just look at the sinister look on Mr. Rose's face during this scene.

Iggy is very hurt at what his father is doing. He looks so lost and puzzled at his father saying one thing and doing the right opposite. Iggy's father knows. Check out the look of shame in his face when the camera pans to him. He knows he betrayed his son. And I'm not using a word like "betrayed' lightly. He flat out let his son down and he knows it.

Mr. Rose is slick and he ends up giving Iggy money at the police station. Iggy takes the money. Iggy and Cleve are walking around after all this has happened and it looks like loyalties have switched. Cleve was talking about the money Mr. Rose gave to Iggy and Cleve's corrected when Cleve is talking about Mr. Rose giving him a dollar. Iggy got more than than a dollar. Cleve tells Iggy he better tell his father about being given the sum of money he was given. Iggy talks with disgust towards his father and sounds like he's starting to hero worship Mr. Rose instead.

The two boys story is taking place in the 20s while you have a man in the 1960s narrating over a newspaper with a very graphic picture of a man being shot to death in his car. The man in the car is revealed to be Iggy and this is what happened to Iggy after following in Mr. Rose's footsteps.

This is another favorite of mine and I'll echo what I said on other Alfred reviews. This episode has so much packed into 25 minutes and everything fits. Nothing's slow or feels rushed. I really hand it to the writers for both Alfred series on their captivating way of telling a story and making you really feel for the characters. Like I pointed out in this review, you can see the point of view from Iggy and his father. Both are believable in how they feel, whether it be Iggy and his innocence of doing the right thing no matter what or the pov from Iggy's father involving the crap storm he's about to open them up to if he backs Iggy up. I'm writing this review in 2022 and see how badly our world has deteriorated. Not that I'm sitting here romancing the past either. We didn't live in Mayberry and never will. I understand doing the right thing but I also understand staying to myself and keeping my head down.

Long story short, this is a wonderful episode I'd highly recommend.

The skill and bravery of Alfred Hitchcock Presents astonishes again

[El Cine · 1 June 2012]

A fine display of what range Alfred Hitchcock Presents (AHP) has. Operating from the go-anywhere nature of anthology series, it knows how to apply its basic suspense format to a medley of genres -- and still handle each one with quality filmmaking. Black comedy, tense nailbiter...and, as "The Day of the Bullet" shows, tragic drama.

This one's centered on two strong child performances by an interesting cast: Glenn Walken (brother to Christopher), and Barry Gordon, future Donatello. Yet the story is no bit of childish fun. Given the primary use of child characters, AHP tackles disturbing subject matter here, both bravely and sensitively. The boys, Clete and Iggy, witness an ugly act of violence, what proves to be the catalyst to their own wrenching personal drama.

The boys are well-drawn and well-played characters. They're loyal friends, but sometimes conflicting in their outlooks, and convincingly childlike, despite a height difference in the actors that sometimes distracts. They wince at the beating they witness, and we flinch at their exposure to such a thing, but it's charming when this reveals what a worldly, yet childish code of honor they've already developed in reaction to the horrors of NYC. They shake their heads at what cowards adults are, what "yellow skunks," willing to beat up a guy 2-against-1.

Their code of honor and childish traits continue to power the dramatic conflict, coming up as they do against the complexities and tragic ironies of the world.

The spark plug Gordon leads the way with a commanding dramatic performance, and the episode is sealed by Norman Lloyd's exquisite direction. What at first seems to be a Brooklyn street empty for budget reasons proves to be a haunting setpiece for this admirable drama.

The distinctive, uncredited voice of Lloyd himself serves as one of the kids narrating from adulthood. His recitation caps off the story nicely, and it's worth forgiving how his transatlantic accent doesn't match the kid's Brooklyn one.

Hitchcock's jokey hosting scenes as a shady lot attendant are more out of place for such an episode, clever as the gimmick is. Check out when he carefully combs his bald head. I can definitely see a shady lot attendant doing that.

Great story, superb performance by young Barry Gordon

[raymatsell · 10/10 · 3 February 2023]

I thought this was a tremendous morality tale with a twist, not the typical AHP crime story. Barry Gordon, then aged about 11 when it was filmed, but small for his age, is tremendous. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth a watch.

I've used IMDB a lot but this was the first film or episode that jogged me into writing a review.

I love the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series as whole, from the quirky prologue and epilogue to the stories themselves. The stories are entertaining, some predictable but many are not. With access to so much entertainment these days we might feel as if we have seen it all and can guess most endings but it's not always the case here. Even if you do spot the twist that is coming, the stories are mostly well told and well acted.

If you just allow yourself to see the stories through the eyes of 1950-1960s audiences, then you will appreciate what little treasures these stories are. This one, with Barry Gordon, is one of the best.

A More Thoughtful Story Than Usual . . . .

[sundayatdusk-97859 · 10/10 · 31 March 2023]

Unlike other reviews, showing no spoiler alerts, I won't give away the details of this episode. It's one of the more thoughtful ones of the series. A young boy who idolizes his father comes to realize his father is not the superman he thought he was, and this greatly alters his perception of life and the world. (The boy is superbly played by actor Barry Gordon, who apparently went on to have successful careers in various fields.) The kid is a non-stop motormouth, always thinking, and always looking for something to do. He has a strong sense of justice, too, and wants to do what's right. Doing what's right, however, doesn't always result in justice. Mr. Hitchcock limits his sarcastic afterthoughts about this episode.

A Nicely Done Story About Two New York Street Kids

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 30 April 2023]

The two boys in this story are very good child actors. I've seen the Iggy kid in so many shows and films. He is portrayed as a straight shooter throughout, until he is betrayed by those who would teach him to do the right thing. When push came to shove, even his father, whom he adored, wouldn't stand by him. This is a story about dreams and trust having a reason to go on under tough circumstances. Iggy want a putter and is saving for it. To the average person, it wouldn't be a big deal, but in his world it's huge. He has a relationship with a dear friend. They do everything together until a fateful day when they go their separate ways. Well done. One thing that really messes this up is Hitchcock's appearance after the story's close.

THE SECOND BEST ALFRED HITCHCOCK EPISODE EVER

[cfichera-33332 · 30 April 2020]

This episode struck me deeply. It is an essence of real life. This happens in real life---how we are drawn to go into separate paths--good and evil. Don't you think many children are impressionable and their lives then take their paths based upon impression ? Many children of immigrants who have no guidance from their immigrant parents and choose to make the quick buck in the life of crime or choose education and become good citizens. The marvelous acting also contributed to the believability. The young boy did not receive the guidance and support of his father---so he strayed into a life of organized crime.