''Radar Secret Service'' is a 1950 action film starring

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

, produced by Barney A. Sarecky and directed by

Sam Newfield Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld, (December 6, 1899 - November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with directing over 2 ...

. The film was featured on the American television show ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1 ...

''.

Plot

In the post-World War Two era, Michael, a big wheel in the organized crime world, and his head man Mickey Moran, come up with a plan to steal a shipment of

Uranium-238 Uranium-238 (238U or U-238) is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron reactor. However ...

. The theft is a success, except one of their henchmen, a character named Blackie, gets caught. Radar Patrol sends Bill Travis, head of their OX-3 division, to find more information about the stolen radioactive material. Radar Patrol uses a picture found on Blackie as a clue. The picture is a waitress, and they correctly deduce that she must be Blackie's girlfriend. They search every restaurant in town looking for her. When they finally find her, they recruit her as an informant. In the meantime OX-Q the Radar Patrol Headquarters uses new

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

technology to find a car carrying the radioactive material and tells OX-3 to go after the car, but it didn’t have all of the material, and Mickey Moran manages to escape again. Radar Patrol decides to use a helicopter to see if they can detect where the rest of the material is hidden while Michael, Mickey, and a woman pretending to be a girlfriend to both of them, all try to come up with another plan. The finalized plan is to send out a decoy car, while Mickey delivers the bulk of the stuff to a river as Michael instructed. Mickey then finds out he’s being double crossed by Michael right as Radar Patrol arrives. So there’s a three way fight between Michael’s guys, Mickey’s guys, and Radar Patrol. Mickey gets shot, but manages to drive to Michael’s apartment, only to get shot a second time by Michael and killed. Michael and the woman he's with try to escape, but then Blackie’s girlfriend shows up with a gun, mad that Michael hasn't found a way to get Blackie out of jail yet. She tries to call the police but Michael abruptly shoots her. Michael and the woman try to escape yet again, but Radar Patrol shows up and catches them. As the movie ends, we find out that Radar Patrol can now get some new equipment because their budget has been increased.

Cast

as Bill Travis *

Adele Jergens Adele Jergens (November 26, 1917 – November 22, 2002) was an American actress. Early life and career Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Adele Louisa Jurgens (some sources say Jurgenson), she rose to prominence in the late 1930s when she was named ...

as Lila *

Tom Neal Thomas Carroll Neal Jr. (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor and successful amateur boxer best known for his costarring role in the critically lauded film '' Detour'', for having a widely publicized affair with actress B ...

as Mickey Moran *

Myrna Dell Myrna Dell (born Marilyn Adele Dunlap; March 5, 1924 – February 11, 2011) was an American actress, model, and writer who appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs over four decades. A Hollywood glamour girl in the early p ...

as Marge *

Sid Melton Sidney Meltzer (May 22, 1917 – November 2, 2011), known professionally as Sid Melton, was an American actor. He played the roles of incompetent carpenter Alf Monroe in the CBS sitcom '' Green Acres'' and Uncle Charlie Halper, proprietor ...

as Pill Box *

Ralph Byrd Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television. Early life and career The son of George and Edna ...

as Static * Robert Kent as Henchman Benson *

Pierre Watkin Pierre Frank Watkin (December 29, 1887 – February 3, 1960) was an American character actor best known for playing distinguished authority figures throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is best remembered for his roles of Mr. Skinner the ...

as Mr. Hamilton (credited as Pierre Watkins) * Tristram Coffin as Michael * Riley Hill as Henchman Blackie * Robert Carson as Tom, Radar Operator *

Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan (February 17, 1903 – February 5, 1972) was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, bu ...

as Michael's Henchman * Holly Bane as Truck Radio Operator, OX-2 * Bill Crespinel as Helicopter Operator * Bill Hammond as Henchman Joe #2 * Jan Kayne as Myrtle the Maid * John McKee as Second Bruiser * Marshall Reed as First Bruiser *

Boyd Stockman Ira D. Boyd Stockman (February 12, 1916 – March 10, 1998) was an American actor and stuntman. He was best known for his appearances in the American western television series '' The Adventures of Kit Carson'', and for playing the role of Spud O ...

as Henchman Joe #1 *

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for '' The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...

as Henchman Gus

Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode

The ''

'' presentation of the movie was paired with the

railroad crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

safety

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, '' Last Clear Chance'', in episode #520, which first aired on December 18, 1993.Episode guide: 520- Radar Secret Service (with short: Last Clear Chance).
Satellite News. Retrieved on 2017-11-15. The movie was introduced by the Mads as containing "Hypno-Helio Static Stasis (containing X-4)", which amounted to tedious scenes with marginal plot development at best. The program was identified as a continuation of the "Deep Hurting" concept, drawing from the rock-climbing scenes of ''

Lost Continent Lost lands are islands or continents believed by some to have existed during pre-history, but to have since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena. Legends of lost lands often originated as scholarly or scientific theor ...

'' and the sandstorm scenes of '' Hercules Against the Moon Men''. During the show's second season, according to writer and performer Frank Conniff, the writers were eager to use ''Radar Secret Service'' on ''MST3K'', but they were denied the opportunity. During the show's fifth season, they were offered the rights but chose the movie only because "a piece of junk like ''Radar Secret Service'' was, in fact, the cream of the crop of the ... films" they had to choose from. The episode did not make the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers. Writer Jim Vorel ranked the episode #119 out of 191 MST3K episodes, saying, "If you like your films and riffs to be dry, cynical and encased in a stuffy governmental shell, then ''Radar Secret Service'' is the episode for you." The MST3K version of ''Radar Secret Service'' was included as part of the ''Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XXXII'' DVD collection, released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

on March 24, 2015. The other episodes in the four-disc set include ''

Space Travelers This is a list of space travellers by first flight. The table is listed in chronological order from the date of first flight. The table adheres to the international definition of a space traveller; the Fédération Aéronautique Internation ...

'' (episode #401), ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

'' (episode #502), and '' San Francisco International'' (episode #614). MST3K: Volume XXXII.
Shout! Factory. Retrieved on 2018-07-11.

References

External links

* {{Sam Newfield 1950s action films 1950 films 1950s spy films Lippert Pictures films Films directed by Sam Newfield American action films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films