I've never seen "Gang Busters" before, so how this particular episode stacks up with the rest, I have no idea. All I know is that the acting, at times, was rather suspect in this one. In particular, the guy who played 'the Kid' could barely deliver his lines. Additionally, at one point, Home Van Meter (Richard Crane) posed as a Brit--and his accent was all over the place! Sometimes he sounded very American, sometimes rather Irish and at others somewhat British...somewhat. By the standards of the day, this one had sub-par acting. The narrator wasn't particularly good but compared to these two, his difficulty with his lines was minor. Hopefully, other episodes are better.
This episode is about Homer Van Meter--a name pretty much unknown today but a guy who hung out with such creeps as Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger! He was a ruthless murderer and the show gives a superficial overview of his career. The problem is that the show is only slated for a 30 minute time slot--and this didn't allow time to give anything other than a cursory coverage.
So what is good about this one? Well, not a lot. The only things I liked were a few lines of dialog near the end. Such as 'scratch one public enemy' and 'now he's so much garbage'! Classic, but otherwise a bit preachy and poorly made. While the show alternated weeks with "Dragnet", it was clearly an inferior show--even though it had good ratings.
This episode is about Homer Van Meter--a name pretty much unknown today but a guy who hung out with such creeps as Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger! He was a ruthless murderer and the show gives a superficial overview of his career. The problem is that the show is only slated for a 30 minute time slot--and this didn't allow time to give anything other than a cursory coverage.
So what is good about this one? Well, not a lot. The only things I liked were a few lines of dialog near the end. Such as 'scratch one public enemy' and 'now he's so much garbage'! Classic, but otherwise a bit preachy and poorly made. While the show alternated weeks with "Dragnet", it was clearly an inferior show--even though it had good ratings.
