The Return of Ironside (1993) (TV)

Director:

Gary Nelson

Writers (WGA):

Collier Young (characters)
Rob Hedden (written by) ...

Release Date:

4 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Chief Ironside has just retired and is looking forward to running his vineyard with his wife. But his...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Police Detective | Police | Private Detective | San Francisco California

Cast

Raymond Burr	...	Robert Ironside
Don Galloway	...	Ed Brown
Barbara Anderson	...	Eve Whitfield
Elizabeth Baur	...	Fran Belding
Don Mitchell	...	Mark Sanger
Dana Wynter	...	Katherine Ironside
Perrey Reeves	...	Suzanne Dwyer
Eddie Jones
Jeff Kaake	...	Mike Quinn
Derek Webster
Cliff Gorman	...	Joe McManus
Robin Sachs
Scott Patterson
Ed Lauter	...	Chief Bell
Chuck Booms

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials) | Germany:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Germany:12 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Company:

MCA Television Entertainment (MTE)

Movie Connections:

Follows "Ironside" (1967)

This isn't for chowderheads

Raymond Burr was a great actor. He could say more with a glance, an exhale or a wry smile than most actors could with an entire soliloquy and some who have been given entire one-person plays.

To see him reprise his second greatest role, as Chief Robert T. Ironside was most enjoyable. It was also bittersweet as it's obvious that he's thinner here than the recent Perry Mason films he made. He had cancer and he knew he didn't have a lot of time, so he brought his friends from the TV show together one last time.

The plot is rather contrived, but that really doesn't matter a whole lot. There's a definite comfort in seeing the old gang together one more time. It's like when the surviving Beatles got back together in the mid-'90s. You knew they weren't going to create the type of revolutionary music they were making in the mid-60s. There would be no Revolver or Sgt. Pepper, but no one really cared. It was just so damn nice seeing and hearing them playing together one more time, although Free As A Bird and Real Love were very nice records, indeed. The same can be said of this TV movie.

What adds to the enjoyment is that they've all aged so very nicely. Barbara Anderson looks better than she did in the series, and I'd kill to see Liz Bauer on the tube on a regular basis again. There was just something special about her that I liked very much. And she's also an incredible beauty - she was in the 70s and she was in the 90s. Don Galloway and Don Mitchell provide solid co-star support, as usual. A longtime fave, Dana Wynter adds an elegant mature presence as the chief's wife.

But it's Raymond Burr who is the show. I miss his wise, knowing presence on the small screen a great deal. But I am delighted that he was able to reprise this beloved role at least one final time.