"The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor" (1959) TV series 1959-1962

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Directors:

Murray Golden
Don McDougall

Writers:

Norman T. Herman (writer)
Jack Laird (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

16 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Captain Matt Holbrook leads a squad of brave and tough detectives in a large, unnamed city. Instead of leading personal lives...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Urban | Police

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Captain Matt Holbrook / ... (99 episodes, 1959-1962)
Mark Goddard	...	Det. Sgt. Chris Ballard (65 episodes, 1960-1962)

Also Known As:

Robert Taylor's Detectives (new title)
The Detectives
The Detectives, Starring Robert Taylor

Runtime:

USA:30 min (67 episodes) | USA:60 min (30 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Company:

Bentley-Blackpool

Good, gritty cop show.

The Detectives was a pretty good cop show that ran 3 seasons, the first two were 30 minute episodes but the last season expanded to 60 minute shows. When you read the above cast list it credits the leads of the series at the very bottom and as only having one episode each. Of course this is incorrect. From the start it was obviously going to be Robert Taylor's show but he had fine support especially from the excellent Tige Andrews who was the only other lead to stay the course of the show. In the first two seasons we had Russell Thorson as the aged experienced detective but when the third season went to 60 minutes he was dropped and two young guys were bought in, Mark Goddard and Adam West.We had an excellent, strong cast and good, gritty stories. High points had to be The Legend Of Jim Riva starring Edward G. Robinson and the wonderfully, evocative, poignant episode Song of the guilty heart starring Inger Stevens and providing an excellent episode for Tige Andrews who has the pivotal, compassionate lead role in that episode.Robert Taylor really disliked t.v but he gave an authoritative performance each week and along with Tige Andrews and of course Adam West, Mark Goddard and Russell Thorson's fine performances this ensured it became a believable show that had some excellent writing. It remains a series that lingers in one's memory. Doubt we will ever get a DVD release but it can still be found playing the cable channels.As a footnote to this review I would like to say that I corresponded with one of Tige Andrew's sons- Tony - a few years ago, he is a real nice guy and to top it all I had a very nice hand written letter from Tige plus a great signed photo, he told me that would be the last time he sent an autographed photo as he had generally stopped working then, it was a very nice personal letter, rest in peace Tige Andrews, a fine actor, a fine person.