Emergency! (1972) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Jack Webb

Writers:

Harold Jack Bloom (writer)
Robert A. Cinader (writer)

Release Date:

15 January 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Story of how the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Sheriff's Department and paramedics work together to save lives. |

Plot Keywords:

Paramedic | Rescue | Medical | TV Series Pilot | Firefighting

Cast

Robert Fuller	...	Dr. Kelly Brackett M.D. / F.A.C.S
Julie London	...	Nurse Dixie McCall
Bobby Troup	...	Dr. Joe Early
Randolph Mantooth	...	Paramedic John Gage
Kevin Tighe	...	Paramedic Roy DeSoto
Martin Milner	...	Officer Pete Malloy
Kent McCord	...	Officer Jim Reed
Jack Kruschen	...	Senator Mike Wolski
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Art Balinger	...	Battalion Chief
Lew Brown	...	Man with ulcer
Colby Chester	...	Fireman Tony Freeman
Virginia Gregg	...	Wilma Jacobs, RN
Ann Morgan Guilbert	...	Woman in trouble
Ron Kelly
Marco López	...	Paramedic Trainee (as Marco Lopez)
Ron Pinkard	...	Dr. Tom Gray
John Price	...	Firefighter Specialist Price, LACoFD
Don Ross	...	Man at boatyard
Dean Stewart	...	Paramedic 99
Herb Vigran	...	Committee chairman
Kathryn Kelly Wiget	...	Joanne Desoto
Kurt Wilhelm	...	Firefighter, Station *54, LACoFD

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Carson, California, USA

Company:

Mark VII Ltd.

Trivia:

The dispatch controller who calls in the alarms to the Station 51 intercom was played by Sam Lanier. Lanier was not an actor, but was actually a real-life emergency dispatcher. Jack Webb wanted a real dispatcher's voice to lend authenticity to the role, and show the professionalism of the actual LA dispatchers.

Quotes:

Paramedic Roy DeSoto: This application isn't signed.
Paramedic John Gage: I wanted to talk to you first.
Paramedic Roy DeSoto: Sure. What do you want to know?
Paramedic John Gage: You went through that first class of special medical training, right?
Paramedic Roy DeSoto: Right.
Paramedic John Gage: If you rolled on a rescue call now. Today. Could you use that training to treat a victim on the scene?
Paramedic Roy DeSoto: No.
Paramedic John Gage: Then why should I, or anybody else, spend twelve weeks, or twelve minutes, learning to do what we can't do?
Paramedic Roy DeSoto: Because you said *today*. There's a bill before the state legislature right now, Assembly Bill PM 11307, that will permit qualified fire department personnel to administer medical assistance in the field.
Paramedic John Gage: *If* it's passed.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "Adam-12" (1968)

Nelson Riddle's Theme Begins, and There You Are

...back in the early 1970s. Emergency!, now available on DVD, is a time capsule of post-Vietnam Los Angeles. A time when firefighters and doctors were men, nurses were women, and the former chased the latter. Long hair and miniskirts. Druggies and love beads. Loud suits and pastels. And when it was okay to have heroes.

But in the end, Emergency! is a buddy story of two guys who set out to make their world a better place. Roy DeSoto is the older buddy, wise in the world, somewhat cynical. Johnny Gage is the young upstart, full of optimism and charisma. And although the doctors at Rampart received top billing in the credits, they are at best supporting roles to the adventures of two guys in a red truck with sirens and lights.

Thirty years hence, this show is a beloved memory of millions of people, and thousands of emergency workers of Generation X. I'm sure I watched every episode as a kid, yet, until the DVDs came out, I could only remember a few story lines. NBC's current products, ER and the unwatchable Third Watch, pale in comparison, because in the name of "realism", everyone is fatally flawed and nobody is a hero. Both are merely evening soap operas in an emergency services setting. True, Emergency! did have its soapy moments, but those never detracted from Jack Webb's vision of homage to those who run into, and not away from, danger.