Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) wasn’t merely a cop. He was an Old Testament prophet patrolling Los Angeles with warnings about the dark evils beneath the summer of love’s sunny exterior. His message was unrelenting. Those who ignored him suffered harsh consequences. He refused to conclude that there were mere misunderstandings or “that’s your opinion.” Friday carried a badge and the truth through a SoCal updated version of Sodom and Gomorrah. He let the citizens of Iowa and Ohio know that they should fear their kids running off to Hollywood. He gave them real stories of crime which only changed the names to protect the innocent. Dragnet 1968: Season 2 stands up to the Age of Aquarius with its do what feels right attitude.
“The Grenade” proves good families can raise out of control kids. In this case the kid starts his troubled phase by tossing acid on Jan-Michael Vincent’s jacket during a movie. Joe Friday and his trusted sidekick Officer Bill Gannon (M*A*S*H‘s Harry Morgan) learn that this kid who can’t control his actions isn’t ready to play straight. He crashes a classmate’s party with the gift of a live hand grenade. Friday doesn’t back down when it’s time to disarm the idiot. “The Shooting Board” raises the heat on Friday. He ends up in the shoot out with a change machine thief. Friday ends up killing the guy. Trouble happens when SID can’t find any other thief’s bullets. Is Friday going to prison for killing a thief in cold blood. “The Badge Racket” sets up out-of-towners with a con involving a fake hooker and two cops. Gannon goes undercover to be nailed by the trio. “The Big Neighbor” is an off the work clock episode. Friday has dinner with Gannon only to have the meal interrupted by neighbors. Kent McCord plays a recurring officer role. He’d soon be starring as a cop in Adam-12 for Jack Webb’s production company.
“The Big High” goes after young couples that think smoking weed is cool. Even though they have a little baby, they see nothing wrong in inviting people over for a weekend smoke out. Friday gives them the lowdown about the evil of marijuana, but they don’t care. They think smoking dope isn’t as bad as pounding down booze. Since the couple are clean when Friday visits, he can’t do anything to them except give them a harsh warning. He returns to their place in the middle of a drug party. Not to spoil the episode, but there’s a harsh ending.
Dragnet might not have been a gritty cop show, but it had no problem being bleak. LSD gets to be the drug of the week in “The Big Prophet.” The subtitle for this ought to be Jack Webb debates Timothy Leary. Friday and Gannon arrive at the newly opened Temple of the Expanded Mind. The cops sense that Brother William Bentley (Liam Sullivan) wants to dose elementary school kids with acid. The episode turns into Friday rebutting the drug guru’s vision. You’re not going to walk away from this episode wanting to go to San Francisco to hang out with the Merry Pranksters. “The Starlet” gives the harsh tale of a middle America runaway who comes out to Hollywood for a career in movies. She gets her big break making a stage film. Friday has to find her before she falls even deeper through the gutters of Los Angeles.
Sgt. Joe Friday wasn’t cruel or indifferent cop. He had a heart and wanted to help people. But he also knew that if you didn’t take his advice, you were going to pay. The dope smoker, the acid fiend and the runaway weren’t going to have happy endings in his universe. Dragnet 1968: Season 2 isn’t about everyone ending up in smiles. Sgt. Joe Friday dished out law and order to keep his city from being destroyed by an authority higher up.
The Episodes
“The Grenade,” “The Shooting Board,” “The Badge Racket,” “The Bank Jobs,” “The Big Neighbor,” “The Big Frustration,” “The Senior Citizen,” “The Big High,” “The Big Ad,” “The Missing Realtor,” “The Big Dog,” “The Pyramid Swindle,” “The Phony Police Racket,” “The Trial Board,” “The Christmas Story,” “The Big Shipment,” “The Big Search,” “The Big Prophet,” “The Big Amateur,” “The Starlet,” “The Big Clan,” “The Little Victim,” “The Squeeze,” “The Suicide Attempt,” “The Big Departure,” “The Big Investigation,” “The Big Gambler” and “The Big Problem.”
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The color and detail is excellent. You’ll get a crisp view of the Los Angeles that Sgt. Friday protects. The audio is Mono. The levels are just right for the iconic theme notes and Webb’s delivery.
Dragnet 1966 – Pilot Movie (95:35) relaunched the series into the color TV era. The original series had gone off the air in 1959, but Friday hadn’t retired. He does get a new partner in Gannon. The duo’s first case is to hunt down a photographer that’s killing models. The pilot film didn’t get shown until 1969. It’s one of the best productions of Jack Webb’s career.
Jack Webb: The Man Behind Badge 714 (26:07) is a biography of the icon. He had a busy life that led to him making Dragnet, Adam-12 and Emergency!.
Dragnet 1969 Trailer (1:02) is a vintage NBC network preview.
Dragnet 1968: Season 2 gives us the one man who wasn’t falling into the grasps of the Woodstock generation. He wasn’t going to drop the laws to look cool with the kids. He wasn’t ready to let the hippies, the acid eaters and the runaway take over Los Angeles. The inclusion of Dragnet 1966 makes this boxset a must buy for fans of the cop action.
Shout! Factory presents Dragnet 1968: Season 2. Starring: Jack Webb, Harry Morgan and Kent McCord. Boxset Contents: 28 episodes on 6 DVDs. Released on DVD: July 6, 2010.
