Bad Movie Logo
"A website to the detriment of good film"
Custom Search
HOMEB-MOVIE REVIEWSREADER REVIEWSFORUMINTERVIEWSUPDATESABOUT
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 05:00:31 PM
713365 Posts in 53058 Topics by 7725 Members
Latest Member: wibwao
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Television  |  A Quinn Martin Production.... « previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: A Quinn Martin Production....  (Read 5234 times)
trekgeezer
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 0
Posts: 4973


We're all just victims of circumstance


« on: October 02, 2007, 10:48:57 AM »

If you've watched much television made in the last 45 years you're bound to have heard those words. Quinn Martin produced a lot of shows, many that will be familiar and few not so familiar.

Quinn Martin shows typically began with a prologue, an announcer would then give the title of the episode and introduce the guest stars. The shows were divided into  four acts (the title of each shown on the screen) and an epilogue. These are the only shows I've ever seen do that.



Here is a list of the most well known of the bunch:

The Untouchables (1959-1963) - The show tells the tales of Eliot Ness(RobertStack) and his crew trying to bring down Al Capone.  They just started releasing this one on DVD.


The Fugitive (1963-1967) - After being convicted of murdering his wife Dr. Richard Kimble (David Jansen) makes his break when the train taking him to deathrow derails. Kimble must find the one-armed man that really killed his wife. Lt. Philip Gerard is always a couple of steps behind him.

This show was an anthology show, with Kimble showing up and always being in danger of exposing himself while helping the people he encounters with their problems. It spawned a lot of imitaters, most familiar of which would be the 70's Hulk series.

The first season of The Fugitive was released on DVD in August 2007.


The Invaders (1967-1968) - Architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) stumbles onto an alien invasion and travels the country trying to foil the aliens plot.

His one problem is proof, the aliens and anything they are touching or have on them disentrigrates when they are killed. They can be recognized by the inability to bend their pinky fingers and not having a pulse (there were some higher end models who could bend their pinkies).

As far as I know this one's never been released on DVD.


The FBI (1965-1974)- Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist,Jr.) and his team work cases based on accounts of real FBI cases.

By way of  memos obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, it appears the FBI had casting approval on the show, in particular Bette Davis and Robert Blake were banned from guest starring.


Cannon (1971-1975)- William Conrad, probably known to some here as the Fatman on Jake and the Fatman, stars as an overweight PI who uses the money he earns from his high dollar clients to do free cases for the little guys.

This is one of my favorite shows from the 70's. Cannon drove a big Lincoln Mark IV and took crap from no one. 

The best line he ever uttered was when a hippy tells him "Man I'm getting some bad vibes from you." Cannon's answer, "Boy when I start vibrating you'll know it!"

Some trivia about William Conrad, he played Matt Dillon on the radio version of Gunsmoke. I wonder why didn't consider him for the tv version?

No word on DVDs for this one.


Barnaby Jones (1973-1980) - After solving the murder of son a retired PI (Buddy Ebsen) reopens his agency with his daughter-in-law (Lee Meriwether). Barnaby Jones and Cannon had frequent crossovers episodes.

No DVDs for this one either


The Streets of San Francisco (1972-1977) - A 20 year veteran Detective Lt. (Karl Malden) takes a rookie detective (Michael Douglas) under his wing.

This is the show that inspired me to write this little piece about Quinn Martin. I've been watching the show on our local RetroTv network.

Streets is a pretty good cop show even by modern standards. I especially likes seeing people who are pretty big stars now back when they were starting out.

Douglas left the show at the beginning of the last season (he had just won an Oscar for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). He was replaced by Richard Hatch.

As far as I know there are no plans to release this show on DVD.


Some of Quinn Martins lesser known shows:


Twelve O'clock High (1964-1967) - The story of the 918th Bomber Group during WWII. It was based on the Gregory Peck movie of the same name.


Dan August (1970-1971) - Burt Reynolds plays a Detective Lt. in a fictional California city.


Banyon (1972-1973) - Robert Forster plays a tough but honest PI in 1930's LA. Richard Jaeckel appeared as his cynical police contact.













Logged




And you thought Trek isn't cool.
RCMerchant
Bela
B-Movie Kraken
*****

Karma: 0
Posts: 30431


"Charlie,we're in HELL!"-"yeah,ain't it groovy?!"


WWW
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2007, 04:45:59 AM »

 The UNTOUCHABLES was rerun for years on uhf in the early 70's here in Southwest Michigan...I think it was channel 16. I t was followed by HIGHWAY PATROL.  I enjoyed both shows alot. Brodrick Crawford was the man!

  The INVADERS had a comic book!!! I enjoyed it as a kid!

   
Logged

"Supernatural?...perhaps. Baloney?...Perhaps not!" Bela Lugosi-the BLACK CAT (1934)
Interviewer-"Does Dracula ever end for you?
Lugosi-"No. Dracula-never ends."

Slobber, Drool, Drip!
https://www.tumblr.com/ronmerchant
Yaddo 42
Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
****

Karma: 153
Posts: 1629


Where's that brick.......


« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2007, 06:45:42 AM »

I've seen some Streets of San Francisco DVDs from the first season for sale at Wally World. Not sure if it was a volume or the whole season. Might have to look it up.

Some of these series I saw plenty of in reruns, some I've only sen a few of but would like to see more (like Cannon). I ssem to remember mom watching Barnaby Jones a lot when I was little.

The phrase "A Quinn Martin Production" and that closing graphic used during the credits of his shows became quite the pop culture references on their own. I know MST3K and Dennis Miller both used them from time to time. Miller still does from hearing his radio show off and on, although it means nothing to people under a certain age.
Logged

blah blah stuff blah blah obscure pop culture reference blah blah clever turn of phrase blah blah bad pun blah blah bad link blah blah zzzz.....
Pages: [1]
Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Television  |  A Quinn Martin Production.... « previous next »
    Jump to:  


    RSS Feed Subscribe Subscribe by RSS
    Email Subscribe Subscribe by Email


    Popular Articles
    How To Find A Bad Movie

    The Champions of Justice

    Plan 9 from Outer Space

    Manos, The Hands of Fate

    Podcast: Todd the Convenience Store Clerk

    Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

    Dragonball: The Magic Begins

    Cool As Ice

    The Educational Archives: Driver's Ed

    Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

    Do you have a zombie plan?

    FROM THE BADMOVIES.ORG ARCHIVES
    ImageThe Giant Claw - Slime drop

    Earth is visited by a GIANT ANTIMATTER SPACE BUZZARD! Gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet, or chuckle over the silly dialog. This is one of the greatest b-movies ever made.

    Lesson Learned:
    • Osmosis: os·mo·sis (oz-mo'sis, os-) n., 1. When a bird eats something.

    Subscribe to Badmovies.org and get updates by email:

    HOME B-Movie Reviews Reader Reviews Forum Interviews TV Shows Advertising Information Sideshows Links Contact

    Badmovies.org is owned and operated by Andrew Borntreger. All original content is © 1998 - 2014 by its respective author(s). Image, video, and audio files are used in accordance with the Fair Use Law, and are property of the film copyright holders. You may freely link to any page (.html or .php) on this website, but reproduction in any other form must be authorized by the copyright holder.