"Quincy M.E." Walk Softly Through the Night: Part 1 (1979)

Director:

Paul Krasny

Writers:

David Moessinger (writer) and
Glen A. Larson (creator)

TV Series:

"Quincy M.E." (1976)

Original Air Date:

1 February 1979 (Season 4, Episode 14)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Coroner | Murder | Cult Favorite | Courtroom | Amateur Detective

Cast

Jack Klugman	...	Dr. R. Quincy, M.E.
Garry Walberg	...	Lt. Frank Monahan
John S. Ragin	...	Dr. Robert Asten
Val Bisoglio	...	Danny Tovo
Robert Ito	...	Sam Fujiyama
Joseph Roman	...	Sgt. Brill
Michael Constantine	...	Brock Campbell
Charles Aidman	...	Dr. Mason Collella
Spencer Milligan	...	Cliff Hanna
Peggy Walton-Walker	...	Lisa (as Peggy Walton Walker)
Alan Manson	...	Pharmacist
Morgan Paull
James A. Watson Jr.	...	District Attorney
Dimitra Arliss	...	Lisa Fielding
William Prince

Runtime:

60 min

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Universal TV

Moralistic Quincy.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The first part of Quincy M.E.: Walk Softly Through the Night (nowhere during the opening titles does it actually 'Part 1') starts as the dead body of nineteen year old Ted Campbell (Randy Stumpf) is dumped outside Los Angeles county hospital. The next morning & Los Angeles coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is called by his close friend Brock Campbell (Michael Constantine) who tells Quincy the news, Quincy says he will perform the autopsy personally. The autopsy reveals that Ted died from complications arising from taking drugs & he sets out to understand why no-one at Ted's college knew or did anything about his addiction, where he got his drugs from & to bring those responsible to justice...

Episode 14 from season 4 this Quincy story was directed by Paul Krasny, the first of a two part story Walk Softly Through the Night is a very much hard hitting moralistic Quincy with minimal detective work. In fact the only laboratory scenes are when Quincy performs the autopsy, other than that this episode takes the moralistic high ground all the way. Obviously drugs are a big problem in our society, they always have been & to be honest lets face it they always will be & I seriously doubt if one fifty minute long episode of Quincy is going to change that many attitudes. I suppose the big difference in Walk Softly Through the Night is that instead of dealers on the street the production team tried to tackle the menace of corrupt Doctor's who proscribe addictive drugs on prescription for money, I am not sure how widespread this issue actually is & I must admit I have never heard of a case such as this here in the UK although I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen. So that's it really, there's the all too familiar message that drugs are bad, the message that society can't look the other way & ignore it forever & that advocate programs in school's work. There's no mystery elements, there's no murder, there's no real detective work & there's really not that much here that is particularly memorable.

Brock just happens to work as a child's entertainer, dressed as a clown & it's quite funny to see him in full clown make-up & costume trying to plead with a long line of teenagers in an attempt to get them to stop using drugs. The episode is well made but unremarkable while the regular character's really don't get much to do in this one at all. The acting is alright & as usual the episode is saved by Klugman who is just excellent as always.

Wak Softly Through the Night: Part 1 is an average moralistic episode of Quincy, at least it's social issue is still of relevance although it really doesn't say anything any bone head wouldn't already know. Part 2 returns to more traditional Quincy territory as there's a murder to solve.