Typically pithy and self-amused episode of the popular 1960s TV series produced by Aaron Spelling has millionaire detective Amos Burke called in when a championship wrestler is murdered in the ring during a bout. Seems a poison dart was fired from one of the $5000 seats, which gives Burke precisely five suspects. Jeanne Crain is the first to be interrogated; she loved the Strangler but hated him at the same time, and when Burke comes calling, she's right in the middle of a game of darts! Other suspects: Frankie Avalon as a sports columnist and Annette Funicello, sister of the deceased and a budding ballerina. Annette gets interrogated twice (making her the star of this show), explaining to Amos her split personality, one of which is as a hot go-go dancer in white fringe ("Go, baby, go!"). Funicello later wrote that this role pretty much convinced her an actress she was not--especially in the "new" Hollywood where morals were suddenly loose--yet she's just about flawless here, cast against type and talking like a sexy toughie. The mystery angle in the script is wrapped up almost second-handedly when Burke, ever so blasé, puts the pieces together and goes to arrest his prey with help from a bluff. It doesn't leave the viewer with much to ponder, except for the fact guest star Funicello was an underrated performer.
2 Reviews
A Dart Out of the Blue
theowinthrop18 May 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Gene LaBelle is a famous judo expert and teacher who has appeared as a wrestler on some shows and films. He is the title figure in this clever episode of BURKE'S LAW, playing "the Strangler" a leading wrestler who is "pinned" permanently to the mat by a poison dart.
The episode has the normal regular suspects including Frankie Avalon and Annette Funichello, Una Merkle, Robert Middleton and Jeanne Crain. What I always liked about this episode is that all the suspects were at the wrestling match, in a thundering crowd, so all have an equal chance to kill the Strangler. It is only when Burke watches the films of the match and the crowd that he catches the killer - by noting a revelation of a flaw that should not have been made so publicly.
The episode has the normal regular suspects including Frankie Avalon and Annette Funichello, Una Merkle, Robert Middleton and Jeanne Crain. What I always liked about this episode is that all the suspects were at the wrestling match, in a thundering crowd, so all have an equal chance to kill the Strangler. It is only when Burke watches the films of the match and the crowd that he catches the killer - by noting a revelation of a flaw that should not have been made so publicly.
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