Ironside (1967)
Citizens of San Francisco are stunned by the news that Robert Ironside, the city's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives, has been shot and left for dead while vacationing at his friend the Police Commissioner's rural retreat. Ironside survives the murder attempt, but the bullet has damaged nerves in his spine, leaving him a paraplegic. Unable to gain reinstatement as chief of detectives, Ironside gets permission to continue investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield, and a newly-hired aide/driver, Mark Sanger, Ironside sets out to solve his first case as a civilian by finding the people responsible for the attempt on his life.
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Reviews
That was an excellent one.
Sorry, this movie sucks
Great Film overall
Fresh and Exciting
The pilot for the long running(1967-1975)TV crime show,with the irascible,wheelchair bound chief of San Francisco police,Robert Ironside.After years of playing villains in Hollywood movies,Raymond Burr oddly became a major TV star with this and 'Perry Mason'.The film is well-directed by the under-valued James Goldstone and nicely photographed,admittedly on rather studio-bound locations.What only really grates is flashy editing by EW Williams.The various plot strands and sequences(angry black youth treated sympathetically by Ironside,the chief victim of a revenge shooting,San Francisco's hippie culture)are interesting enough without the editor having to cut frantically and wildly;some cuts last but a few frames,and it often has the feel of a TV commercial for breakfast cereal!These irritations aside,Burr's dominant portrayal ensured a highly successful TV series that aired until the mid 70's,and as a bonus there's a highly unexpected and bizarre turn by cultish singer Tiny Tim during Ironside's investigations!
Excruciating pilot episode that, somehow, spawned a successful internationally syndicated television show.Raymond Burr is cheerless. The plotting is baffling. The writing is astonishingly bad. The acting is mundane.Watching this makes you want to be shot, instead of Ironside.
This 1967 TV-movie captured the spirit and substance of mid-60's San Francisco far better than anything essayed by big budget Hollywood. Goldstone's use of music and cinematography and choice of backgrounds are all superb. The script is taut, witty, fast-paced, and wise. The dialogue is completely credible. And, the acting of the team was so complementary that the series based on this movie ran for six years. But make no mistake, if no series ever followed, this remarkably taut character study would stand on its own merits.
Normally, I dismiss TV pilots as movies, but this is one notable exception; this is a great TV-movie that happened to lead to a TV Show. Raymond Burr is electrifying as he injects the character with many very real dimensions. The writing is taut and true. The Quincy Jones score is magnificent, and the movie is an extremely reflective time capsule of San Francisco in 1967 -- a most remarkable place.