"Kill the Messenger"
Adam H. Kerman
Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
None of the comedy works. Dennis is paired with Officer Frank Dusenberg,
an uncreative character useless as a detective who is using his wife's
pregnancy as an excuse to get out of a sensitive investigation he's supposed
to work with Dennis. The wife of a high ranking police official was found
murdered. The case has landed on Dennis's desk, while he's trying yet
again for promotion to lieutenant.
The dead wife is a cliche, going after young men in the department her
husband is grooming for promotion, even going after the parolees she's
assigned to monitor. She's nothing but a slut.
A particularly unfunny scene with Dennis and Dusenberg at an hourly hotel,
trying to think of ways to write a report that doesn't tell any lies but
shields the truth.
Dennis avoids interviewing the prime suspect, the police official. When
he finally gets around to it, it's perhaps the best scene in the episode.
Dennis begins, terrified, but as the chief's answers become evasive, his
detective instincts kick in and he starts to intimidate the man a bit.
There's a nice bit with actor Byron Morrow playing the cuckolded husband,
realizing that the tables have turned, weakening. His face falls. Wish
the rest of the episode was like that.
Of course it turns out that he sits in on Becker's oral interview for
promotion. Yeah, this would happen in real life. Naturally, during
the interview, it comes out that higher ups in the police department hold
Dennis's association with Rockford against him, stalling his career.
Meanwhile, Peggy is putting a bit of pressure on Dennis because they're
entertaining old friends. She lets slip something personal that Dennis
has let Jim believe was complimentary to him, but isn't true at all.
Early in the episode, there's a typical Rockford scene with Jim pulling a
mild con to get information about the victim from her colleagues at the
parole office. Even this scene isn't fun. Character actress Nancy Parsons
seems like she'd be able to have some by-play with Garner, but the
department manager is dull and the scene isn't amusing. Rockford returns
to the parole office a second time and does play off Parsons, which does
work a bit better.
The main mystery has little mystery, disappointingly lacking a Rockford
twist. If Dennis had done any of the basic investigative work himself, he
would have drawn the same conclusions as Rockford did. In his bumbling way,
Dusenberg actually knows more about the case just from knowing backgrounds
of those involved than Becker.
Rockford walks right into a trap.
The only surprise in the episode is the variation on the car chase. Rockford
is being held by the murderer. Dennis gives chase, complicated by a retired
police officer who joins the chase. But the "comic" finish is just a chain
reaction crash, CHiP's style, unworthy of a Rockford chase scene.
The deputy chief ends up impressed with Becker who did bring in the bad
cop (once he finally thinks about the case).
I liked the last line, after Peggy announces Dennis's promotion at a party
at their house:
Dennis: There's only one problem. Lt. Chapman. Now, I have to call him Doug.
I always thought that Bartlett was a good writer, but she did turn in any
number of pedestrian scripts. So what are your top episodes that she wrote?
AlbertClarkson
I think "Guilt" is her best. Also very much like "Never Send A Boy
King To Do A Man's Job" and "Caledonia--It's A Fortune" (the latter is
for me terrific as one of those teleplays [ditto for screenplays] in
which a major conspiracy (Gerald Hyland's) is more or less implicit
and plays out for deduction with the chief conspirator not in much of
the action or only lurking about, if you can see him and it before the
end (a dawning), as in Townes's screenplay case of Noah Cross in
"Chinatown" (not one of your favorites because of Gittes's conduct
toward the delectable Mrs. Mulwray, as I recall) and both of which
sometime back I wrote admiring posts about as I also did about
"Guilt."). "Boy King" seems to me at the essence of TRF. "South By
Southeast" I like, as I said in another long ago post, because of the
nice sly little nominal and basic plot parallels to NBNW and because I
admire Hitchcock, so this one is probably sentimental because it seems
to me a fond and entertaining homage. "Hotel Of Fear," "The Farnsworth
Strategem," and "The Trouble with Warren" I also like; the latter has
some wonderful humorous lines and action in it from Warren/Rifkin (a
favorite actor of mine). Based on my recollection of long ago posts,
you and I probably don't agree about "So Help Me God" which I think
is, like the one about the bikers, not coherent with what I see as the
detective spirit of TRF, even though SHMG is idealistic and makes a
good point--eternal vigilance is the price.... When Bartlett's good,
she's really good; she flounders some, too, as though she just never
got her game going but had to turn something in by that damn deadline;
most of her poorer eps contain, I think, some gems (e.g., "Capucine"
in "Lions, Tigers...". I probably like others of hers besides the ones
I listed as favorites, but these I recall.
Pravda
> I rewatched "Kill the Messenger", a fifth-season episode written by
> Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
>
> he finally gets around to it, it's perhaps the best scene in the episode.
> Dennis begins, terrified, but as the chief's answers become evasive, his
> detective instincts kick in and he starts to intimidate the man a bit.
> There's a nice bit with actor Byron Morrow playing the cuckolded husband,
> realizing that the tables have turned, weakening. His face falls. Wish
> the rest of the episode was like that.
I agree that this is the best scene in a largely forgettable episode
because it shows that Becker has integrity as a cop. While other
detectives (like Dusey) avoid this homicide investigation because it
is a political hot potato involving things embarrassing to the Deputy
Chief, Becker doesn't dodge it despite the career implications. And
during the interview when the Deputy Chief tries to pull rank on him
to avoid answering embarrassing questions, Becker calmly and
steadfastly presses on, not letting the attempted intimidation get in
the way of him doing his job. And then in the end Becker gets the
promotion, largely due to the Deputy Chief's influence. I thought
that was a nice touch.
bcnmason
> I rewatched "Kill the Messenger", a fifth-season episode written by
> Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
I never thought that there was much comedy in this particular episode,
but I still very much enjoy it.
Grocery store manager: "I'm telling you officer, something's getting
'ripe' in there". Subtle, but fitting.
Chapman assigning the case over to Becker while he's bucking for
lieutenant,..heck, Chapman wouldn't be Chapman if he didn't. As far
as Dusenberg goes, how in the world did he become a cop in the first
place? They almost named his character appropriately the following
season, as in Dwight Whipple. Perhaps, "Wimp-ple" would have been
better chosen.
The chase scene was a little lackluster and unbelievable.
Um,..throwing your gear shift into "park" is not going to result in a
tire smoking, screeching stop. Not sure how much of a parking pin
you'd have left, mind you. But, I'd say many, if not, the majority of
people would expect that sort of thing to happen, nonetheless. So, in
essence, I guess it works.
Best scene is as you described. Dennis' confrontation, or rather,
questioning of Chief Towne. That could have easily turned into an
overly dramatic scene, but it didn't. I thought it captured Dennis'
true character and professionalism for the most part. I remember when
it initially aired, hoping at the end of the episode that Dennis would
make Lieutenant.
Favourite Juanita Bartlett script? Hmm,...I'll have to give that one
some thought.
Brian
Adam H. Kerman
>>I rewatched "Kill the Messenger", a fifth-season episode written by
>>Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
>The chase scene was a little lackluster and unbelievable.
>Um,..throwing your gear shift into "park" is not going to result in a
>tire smoking, screeching stop. Not sure how much of a parking pin
>you'd have left, mind you. But, I'd say many, if not, the majority of
>people would expect that sort of thing to happen, nonetheless. So, in
>essence, I guess it works.
But that chase scene was filmed for Rockford Files' audience, so we
expect a more entertaining auto chase than that one.
JJ Meeker
Funny, because I liked "Kill the Messenger" quite a bit. I enjoyed how
Rockford was trying to help Becker without his knowing at Peggy's
urging. The scene where Dennis finally stands up to the chief and
begins asking him questions that he knew were going to be
uncomfortable may have been Joe Santos' finest moment in the series.
I don't know how much humor is necessary for an episode that begins
with a decomposing body in a trunk. I thought the way Dusenberg kept
ducking out was not so much supposed to be funny as much as it was a
totally convienent way for a young cop to be part of a tricky
investigation.
If there was a weakness in the logic of the episode, it was Rockford's
attempt to confront Rudy (Ed Harris). Rockford had to know that it was
possible Rudy would get wind of the fact Jim was asking for him, even
if Rudy didn't know him. And wouldn't it be possible for Rudy to
recognize him as Rockford, who hung around the station a lot, not an
insurance salesman even if they had never met? That part was a bit
annoying.
AlbertClarkson
I guess after thinking about "Kill The Messenger," it may be weaker
moreso than usual for Bartlett, as you document in your detailed
scriptural analysis, but it dramatizes at least one important theme--
the general reluctance inside important organizations to confront
problems involving managers higher up, and the courage it takes to do
so because, well, messengers (e.g., whistleblowers) are indeed often
"killed", i.e., they lose whatever upward mobility they might have had
in said organizations because they're black-listed as stoolies and
snitches. (The wayward, embarrassing, sluttish wife may be pretty
familiar, not to mention in today's cable tabloid stuff the good-
looking female high school teacher who seduces some of her male
students, and Bartlett's wayward wife (dead, putrid and hence
obviously punished/judged by Bartlett) seems to remain almost as
topical as the philandering male executive; besides Bartlett, who
seems to me an often more serious than comedic teleplay writer--she's
notably tonally different from Cannell and Chase here, I think--with
some at least latent feminist tendencies, would, I think, typically
emphasize the wayward wives not the philandering husbands.) Is KTM
topical because typical? Look at today's US Financial Sector, the
denial of insane risk among the troops (e.g., traders) though "moral
hazard problems may not make them so "irrational," the inept risk
management at higher levels, and the disaster in the Financial Sector
of late, which failure to restrain management (and their enabling
pols) led to what Buffett calls "financial weapons of mass
destruction" which blasted many citizens who were productive and
working hard; several good books have come out lately about just this
obviously serious problem in human nature. As Brian posts, Chapman
characteristically chickens out as the typical risk-averse opportunist
organization man--the petty tyrant who is actually a cowardly
bureaucrat when it comes to currying favor from above. Dennis overall
comes off well; this ep does him some favors in showcasing his
integrity and hence how we look at him in other eps, even though he
jimmies that vending machine in another ep and is elswhere also very
human. Bartlett has a habit of sometimes wanting to break outside the
hip, comic post-noir detective flavor of Rockford, and she sometimes
becomes less formulaic this way, but also loses some of the spoofing
humor in much of TRF (or isn't that concerned with it to begin with),
tries perhaps strained blending of old ploys and new stuff, and takes
more risks in her teleplays, and in general otherwise fails sometimes,
but she does at least dramatize important themes. For example, she
likes strong or interesting female characters and she has a social
conscience--Chase, it seems to me, is much more likely to be
contemptuous and cynical, and Cannell in TRF is content to be a master
and humorous innovator of the detective story. I'm cutting Bartlett a
little slack in KTM and her other teleplays even though sometimes she
ventures outside what I expect in TRF. Overall, I'd give KTM a B-
here. Like Brian and JJ Meeker, I found it had some entertaining
moments and twists, and I'd enjoy seeing it from time to time.
bcnmason
> I rewatched "Kill the Messenger", a fifth-season episode written by
> Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
> I always thought that Bartlett was a good writer, but she did turn in any
> number of pedestrian scripts. So what are your top episodes that she wrote?
Ask me what I thought was her worst, and I could have answered that in
a heartbeat.
My favourite, are;
"The Girl in the Bay City Boy's Club".
"Never Send a Boy King to do a Man's Job".
"The Farnsworth Stratagem".
Brian
JG
> I rewatched "Kill the Messenger", a fifth-season episode written by
> Juanita Bartlett. It's really a mess of an episode.
With MeToo TV (wciu-UHF oldies in Chicago) currently running the 1979
episodes (which I saw within the last 1-2 years), I've gone to taping
The Streets of San Francisco. Malden's Lt. Stone is a likable
character and Richard Hatch replaced Douglas in this season, 1976?
Interesting shots of Frisco circa mid 70s, and tons of Fords (a
credited sponsor) in scenes. The plot story lines are an attempt by
Quinn Martin to match the standard 1970s cop show genre of post Nixon
edgy-ness.
The actor who played the Scorpio sniper in Dirty Harry appears in one
episode as a mobster's son. Looking at imdb.com the actor Andrew
Robinson appeared in almost every mid 70s tv drama except Rockford.
Adam H. Kerman
>With MeToo TV (wciu-UHF oldies in Chicago) currently running the 1979
>episodes (which I saw within the last 1-2 years), I've gone to taping
>The Streets of San Francisco. . . .
One of tv's all-time great theme songs.