''Dragnet'' is a 1954 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise) ...

and written by

Richard L. Breen Richard L. Breen (June 26, 1918 – February 1, 1967) was a Hollywood screenwriter and director. Biography Breen was born in Chicago of Irish Catholic extraction. He began as a freelance radio writer. After a stint in the U.S. Navy during World ...

. The film stars Webb, Ben Alexander,

Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early lif ...

Ann Robinson Ann Robinson (born May 25, 1929) is a former American actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the science-fiction classic ''The War of the Worlds'' (1953) and in the 1954 film '' Dragnet'', in which she starred as a L ...

, Stacy Harris,

Virginia Gregg Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

and

Vic Perrin Victor Herbert Perrin (April 26, 1916 – July 4, 1989)Cox, Jim (2007). ''Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether fr ...

. The film was adapted from the radio series of the same name, and is part of the wider ''Dragnet'' media franchise. The film was released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

on September 4, 1954.

Plot

The film uses the

inverted detective story An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describ ...

format. Los Angeles police detective Sergeant Joe Friday hunts down the killer of a mobster, Miller Starkie, focusing on West Coast mafia second-in-command Max Troy (played by Harris). The film depicts illegal police harassment against a suspect cleared by a grand jury. The vendetta between Friday and Troy becomes increasingly bitter and personal as the film proceeds, leading to a brawl at a private card game between Friday, Frank Smith, and several of Troy's henchmen. A policewoman (Robinson) infiltrates Troy's nightclub and is able to obtain vital information on the Starkie killing; Friday then gets additional evidence when an accomplice of Troy is sent out of state and killed, and the man’s wife breaks down and gives the police what they need to convict Troy. The gangster, though, winds up never being prosecuted.

Cast

as Sergeant Joe Friday * Ben Alexander as Officer Frank Smith *

as Capt. James E. Hamilton *

as Officer Grace Downey * Stacy Harris as Max Troy *

as Ethel Starkie *

as Deputy D.A. Adolph Alexander *

Georgia Ellis Georgia Ellis (March 12, 1917 – March 30, 1988) was an American actress who is best known for her recurring role of Kitty in the Western radio drama '' Gunsmoke''. She was the daughter of John R. Hawkins and Blanche E. Sparling. She married ...

as Belle Davitt *

James Griffith James Jeffrey Griffith (February 13, 1916 – September 17, 1993) was an American character actor, musician and screenwriter. Education Griffith attended Santa Monica High School, where he was a classmate with Glenn Ford. Both were active in s ...

as Jesse Quinn *

Dick Cathcart Charles Richard Cathcart (November 6, 1924 – November 8, 1993) was an American Dixieland trumpet player who was best known as a member of ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' in which he appeared from 1962 to 1968. Cathcart was born in Michigan City, In ...

as Roy Cleaver *

Malcolm Atterbury Malcolm MacLeod Atterbury (February 20, 1907 – August 16, 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor, and vaudevillian. Early years A native of Philadelphia, Atterbury was the son of Malcolm MacLeod, Sr. and Arminia Clara (Rosenga ...

as Lee Reinhard *

Willard Sage James Willard Sage (August 13, 1922 – March 17, 1974) was a Canadian-American film and television actor. Born in London, Ontario. Sage began his career in 1951, where he appeared in the film ''The Butler's Night Off'', playing the role of a ...

as Chester Davitt *

Olan Soule Olan Evart Soule (February 28, 1909 – February 1, 1994) was an American actor, who had professional credits in nearly 7,000 radio shows and commercials, appearances in 200 television series and television films, and in over 60 films. Soul ...

as Ray Pinker

References

External links

* * 1954 films 1954 crime films American crime films Films based on radio series Films based on television series Films directed by Jack Webb Films scored by Walter Schumann American police detective films Warner Bros. films 1950s police films 1950s police procedural films Films set in Los Angeles 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-crime-film-stub