The Defender (Studio One)

Last updated
"The Defender"
Studio One episodes
William Shatner and Steve McQueen.jpeg
William Shatner and Steve McQueen in "The Defender"
Episode nos.Season 9
Episodes 20 and 21
Directed by Robert Mulligan
Written by Reginald Rose
Original air dates
  • February 25, 1957 (1957-02-25)
  • March 4, 1957 (1957-03-04)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Hollywood Complex"		Next →
"A Child Is Waiting"

"The Defender" is an American television play broadcast live in two parts on February 25, 1957, and March 4, 1957, as part of the CBS television series Studio One . A courtroom drama, it was written by Reginald Rose and directed by Robert Mulligan. The cast included Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner as a father-son defense team, Steve McQueen as the defendant, and Martin Balsam as the prosecutor. Rose later spun off the concept into a full series entitled The Defenders , starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed in Bellamy and Shatner's roles.

Contents

Plot

Walter Preston and his son Kenneth, the latter fresh out of law school, defend Joseph Gordon, who is charged with felony murder. Gordon is accused of robbing the apartment of a psychiatrist, Victor Wallach, and strangling his wife. Francis Toohey is the prosecutor.

The story turns on Walter Preston's belief that his client is guilty, and his son's belief that the client is innocent. Gordon is consistent throughout by insisting he is innocent.

Gordon was the delivery boy for a butcher shop. He was assigned to deliver meat to the Wallach apartment on the morning of the crime. He did not return to the butcher shop after the delivery. The police found him at his home and arrested him there.

The victim's maid testifies that she was hit by an intruder, who she identifies as Gordon. When she regained consciousness, Mrs. Wallach was dead. Despite efforts to shake her story on cross-examination, the maid insists that Gordon was the man who struck her. She has no doubt.

Father and son have different views regarding how far to go to raise doubt in the minds of jurors. The prosecutor pursues the case aggressively. Walter is reluctant to use some aggressive tactics, telling his son that he has to live in this community. Kenneth asks, "Shouldn't there be someone to fight as hard to free him as Toohey fights to kill him?"

Walter agrees to use his son's proposed tactic. He recalls the maid to identify the man who hit her. She identifies the man sitting at the defense table. The defense then calls Joseph Gordon, who rises from a seat in the audience. The man sitting at the defense table, the man identified by the maid, is a law student having nothing to do with the case but who bears some resemblance to the defendant.

While expressing disapproval of the tactic, the court grants a motion for a directed verdict and frees the defendant. Walter remains unsure whether his client was guilty and whether he did the right thing.

Cast

The cast included performances by: [1] [2]

Betty Furness presents Westinghouse appliances in breaks after each of the acts. [1]

Production

The program aired as a live television play on CBS on successive Monday nights, February 25 and March 4, 1957. Herbert Brodkin was the producer and Robert Mulligan the director. Reginald Rose, who also wrote Twelve Angry Men (1954), wrote the story specially for Studio One. [1] [2]

It was reported to be the first live television drama divided for broadcast on separate nights, and one of the first cliffhanger television broadcasts. [3] [4] One critic objected to the decision, noting that splitting of dramas into multiple parts has the effect of "leaving audiences dangling on the cliff". [5] Writer Reginald Rose opted for a two-parter because he felt the telling of the story required nearly two hours of air time. [4]

Subsequent series

The story led Reginald Rose to develop a spinoff series, The Defenders , which began airing in 1961. E.G. Marshall played Walter Preston (renamed Lawrence Preston) and Robert Reed as Kenneth Preston. The Show ran for four seasons and 132 episodes. [6]

The program was revived in 1997 by the Showtime cable network. [7] Showtime producer Stan Rogow hearkened back to the original program, noting that Studio One in 1957 "had a stature and tone to it, and nothing like that is done anymore". [8] Three films aired from 1997 to 1998: Payback, Choice of Evils and Taking the First. Marshall reprised his role as Lawrence Preston for the first two films; it marked his final acting performance prior to his death. Beau Bridges played Lawrence's previously unmentioned son Don, whilst Martha Plimpton played the late Kenneth Preston's daughter M.J.

Clips of the play were incorporated into a 2007 episode of the television series Boston Legal , which also starred William Shatner. The clips were used as flashback sequences for Shatner's character, Denny Crane. "Son of the Defender" was episode 18 of season 3, and aired on April 3, 2007.

Reception

After the first hour, Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote that it was "not especially impressive" and was "consumed by rather tedious exposition that easily could have been summarized in far less time". [9]

Critic Bill Ladd was more positive. He praised the "superb" camera direction and Rose's "compelling" story, and compared the courtroom drama to Twelve Angry Men and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial . He also praised Bellamy's performance: "Bellamy is at his best, than which there is no better." [10]

After the second hour aired, critic Hope Pantell praised the "fine acting", and praised the courtroom scenes as "well done and fascinating". [5]

When the show re-aired more than 30 years later, David Bianculli called it "one of the best dramas of the so-called Golden Age of Television". [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>12 Angry Men</i> (1957 film) 1957 American film by Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American independent legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet in his directorial debut, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among the jurors forces them to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.

<i>Witness for the Prosecution</i> (1957 film) 1957 American film by Billy Wilder

Witness for the Prosecution is a 1957 American legal mystery thriller film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, and Elsa Lanchester. The film, which has elements of bleak black comedy and film noir, is a courtroom drama set in the Old Bailey in London and is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Agatha Christie. The first film adaptation of Christie's story, Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the screen by Larry Marcus, Harry Kurnitz, and Wilder. The film was acclaimed by critics and received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It also received five Golden Globes nominations including a win for Elsa Lanchester as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Additionally, the film was selected as the sixth-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute for their AFI's 10 Top 10 list.

<i>Judgment at Nuremberg</i> 1961 film by Stanley Kramer

Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American epic legal drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, and written by Abby Mann. It features Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift. Set in Nuremberg, West Germany, the film depicts a fictionalized version – with fictional characters – of the Judges' Trial of 1947, one of the twelve Nuremberg Military Tribunals conducted under the auspices of the U.S. military in the aftermath of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime film</span> Film genre

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 with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but also include comedy, and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as mystery, suspense or noir. It also includes mafia dramas.

<i>The Defenders</i> (1961 TV series) 1961 American television series

The Defenders is an American courtroom drama television series that ran on CBS from 1961 to 1965. It was created by television writer Reginald Rose, and stars E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys Lawrence and Kenneth Preston. Original music for the series was scored by Frank Lewin and Leonard Rosenman. The series was spun off from the Studio One episode "The Defender", which starred Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner as the Prestons.

<i>Upstairs, Downstairs</i> (1971 TV series) British drama television series (1971–1975)

Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for ITV. It ran for 68 episodes divided into five series on ITV from 1971 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. G. Marshall</span> American actor (1914–1998)

E. G. Marshall was an American actor. One of the first group selected for the new Actors Studio, by 1948 Marshall had performed in major plays on Broadway.

Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reginald Rose</span> American screenwriter (1920–2002)

Reginald Rose was an American screenwriter. He wrote about controversial social and political issues. His realistic approach was particularly influential in the anthology programs of the 1950s.

The Andersonville Trial is a 1959 hit Broadway play by Saul Levitt. It was later adapted into a television production and presented as part of the PBS anthology series Hollywood Television Theatre.

Goodyear Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the first Golden Age of Television.

<i>The Just and the Unjust</i> 1942 novel by James Gould Cozzens

The Just and the Unjust is a novel by James Gould Cozzens published in 1942. Set in "Childerstown," a fictional rural town of 4000 persons, the novel is a courtroom drama of a murder trial that begins June 14, 1939, and takes three days.

<i>Twelve Angry Men</i> (play) 1954 play by Reginald Rose

Twelve Angry Men is a play by Reginald Rose adapted from his 1954 teleplay of the same title for the CBS Studio One anthology television series. Staged first in San Francisco in 1955, the Broadway debut came 50 years after CBS aired the play, on October 28, 2004, by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 328 performances.

Twelve Angry Men is an American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in 1954. The following year it was adapted for the stage. It was adapted for a film of the same name, directed by Sidney Lumet, and released in 1957. Since then it has been given numerous remakes, adaptations, and tributes.

"Twelve Angry Men" is a 1954 teleplay directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and written by Reginald Rose for the American anthology television series Studio One. It follows the titular twelve members of a jury as they deliberate a supposedly clear-cut murder trial, and details the tension among them when one juror argues that the defendant might not be guilty. Initially staged as a CBS live production on September 20, 1954, the drama was later rewritten for the stage in 1955 under the same title, and as a feature film in 1957 titled 12 Angry Men. The episode garnered three Emmy Awards for writer Rose, director Schaffner, and Robert Cummings as Best Actor.

For the People is an American legal drama that aired on CBS from January 31 until May 9, 1965. The series starred William Shatner as a New York City prosecutor. It was shot on location in New York.

<i>Arc of Justice</i> 2004 book by Kevin Boyle

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age is a 2004 book by historian Kevin Boyle, published by Henry Holt. The book chronicles racism in Detroit during the 1920s Jazz Age through the lens of Ossian Sweet, an African American doctor who moves to Detroit during the great migration. While living in Detroit he eventually moves out of the ghetto and he and his wife move into an all-white middle-class neighborhood. When racist whites attack the Sweets' home, a white man is killed. Sweet and his family are persecuted by the legal system.

"Sacco-Vanzetti Story" is a two-part American television play that was broadcast on June 3, 1960, and June 10, 1960, as part of the NBC Sunday Showcase series.

Judgment at Nuremberg (<i>Playhouse 90</i>) 28th episode of the 3rd season of Playhouse 90

"Judgment at Nuremberg" is an American television play broadcast live on April 16, 1959, as part of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90. It was a courtroom drama written by Abby Mann and directed by George Roy Hill that depicts the trial of four German judicial officials as part of the Nuremberg trials. Claude Rains starred as the presiding judge with Maximilian Schell as the defense attorney, Melvyn Douglas as the prosecutor, and Paul Lukas as the former German Minister of Justice.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Credits are as listed on screen from the broadcast, as captured by the kinescopes.
  2. 1 2 ""Studio One" Presents Part Two Of "The Defender," Courtroom Drama Starring Ralph Bellamy, March 4". Altoona Tribune. March 2, 1957 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "'Tired Show' Given Cliff-hanger 'Hypo'". THe Minneapolis Star. March 4, 1957. p. 17A – via Newspapers.com.("So far as can be determined, this is the first time one of the regular live drama programs has presented a production in two installments.")
  4. 1 2 Jack Gaver (March 4, 1957). "Bellamy Says 'Defender' Unique Experience". The Charlotte Observer. p. 3B – via Newspapers.com.("Far as anyone seems to know this is the first 'to be continued' original TV script in the one-hour field ... this one definitely breaks new ground for serious TV playwrights.")
  5. 1 2 "To View". The Baltimore Sun. March 5, 1957 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 David Bianculli (November 6, 2000). "Best Bets". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 12E – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Two great shows are 'Due' to return". The Times Leader. January 30, 1997 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Howard Rosenberg (September 3, 1997). "Revived 'Defenders' back at bar". The Boston Globe– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "TV:'Defender,' Part I; Courtroom Drama by Reginald Rose on 'Studio One' Begins". The New York Times. February 26, 1957. p. 59.
  10. ↑ Bill Ladd (March 3, 1957). "'Defender' Fine So Far". The Courier-Journal. p. V-7 – via Newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.