By 1953 Hollywood's biggest threat was television, much like radio had been in the twenties. Films were coming up with different gimmicks, like 3D and widescreen ie Vista Vision etc but television came up with some interesting ideas as well, like the proliferation of realistic police shows such as "Dragnet" (which actually was developed from the noir movie "He Walked By Night"). It seemed that every crime division had a series - "Racket Squad", "Federal Men", "Decoy" had Beverly Garland as an undercover cop and there was even a "Code 3" series which was a nitty gritty show on police procedure that producers hoped would compete with "Dragnet" - but it didn't.
This movie starts with some graphic scenes of the aftermath of crashes, some statistics and some grim commentary - "this woman was on her way to the beauty parlour - she won't be so beautiful now", then the titles come up, trying to fool the cinema audience into thinking that they were watching a movie length "Dragnet" - but they were not fooled for long. This film was a tribute to the motorcycle cop and after 20 minutes showing the basic training of the rookie cop, it soon got bogged down in their personal lives - until the last 20 minutes. There are three buddies, Russ Hartley (Robert Horton), happily married but who can't bring himself to tell his wife he has applied for motor cycle duty, Harry Whenlon (Jeff Richards) whose father was killed in the line of duty and O'Flair (Ralph Meeker) a wise guy and skirt chaser. Keenan Wynn plays tough but fair Jumbo Culdane who can see O'Flair has the makings of a good cop.
It takes the death of Whenlon for O'Flair to come to his senses and the last part of the film has all the action as he tracks down and follows the cattle truck to it's destination. There are a couple of realistic fights and a shoot out all played out around a vat of quick lime. William Campbell, billed as "the killer" is not so lucky - he is one of the first to go. There is a pretty cheesy ending as luscious Elaine Stewart, whose performance in the film should have been a kick start to better things, promises to visit O'Flair in hospital again, but two seconds later he proves he has not lost his sleazy ways as he quickly chats up a nurse.
Sally Forrest, who had the very thankless role of Mary, Hartley's wife, was a discovery of Ida Lupino's and proved she was up to the high dramatic performances in some of Ida's ground breaking films. However when Ida stopped directing, Sally became just another pretty leading lady and "Code Two" was the beginning of the end. The rest of the cast was made up of actors who would make their own name in TV (Robert Horton, Chuck Connors in a bit part) and James Craig, probably hoping this would lead to a comeback.
With his easy going style (usually hiding psychotic tendencies) and his natural acting, it was hard to believe Ralph Meeker was not a film veteran when he made this. He was a stage veteran though and went on to star in the Broadway production of "Picnic". I always thought he was the perfect "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" leading man, starring in the very first episode "Revenge".
This movie starts with some graphic scenes of the aftermath of crashes, some statistics and some grim commentary - "this woman was on her way to the beauty parlour - she won't be so beautiful now", then the titles come up, trying to fool the cinema audience into thinking that they were watching a movie length "Dragnet" - but they were not fooled for long. This film was a tribute to the motorcycle cop and after 20 minutes showing the basic training of the rookie cop, it soon got bogged down in their personal lives - until the last 20 minutes. There are three buddies, Russ Hartley (Robert Horton), happily married but who can't bring himself to tell his wife he has applied for motor cycle duty, Harry Whenlon (Jeff Richards) whose father was killed in the line of duty and O'Flair (Ralph Meeker) a wise guy and skirt chaser. Keenan Wynn plays tough but fair Jumbo Culdane who can see O'Flair has the makings of a good cop.
It takes the death of Whenlon for O'Flair to come to his senses and the last part of the film has all the action as he tracks down and follows the cattle truck to it's destination. There are a couple of realistic fights and a shoot out all played out around a vat of quick lime. William Campbell, billed as "the killer" is not so lucky - he is one of the first to go. There is a pretty cheesy ending as luscious Elaine Stewart, whose performance in the film should have been a kick start to better things, promises to visit O'Flair in hospital again, but two seconds later he proves he has not lost his sleazy ways as he quickly chats up a nurse.
Sally Forrest, who had the very thankless role of Mary, Hartley's wife, was a discovery of Ida Lupino's and proved she was up to the high dramatic performances in some of Ida's ground breaking films. However when Ida stopped directing, Sally became just another pretty leading lady and "Code Two" was the beginning of the end. The rest of the cast was made up of actors who would make their own name in TV (Robert Horton, Chuck Connors in a bit part) and James Craig, probably hoping this would lead to a comeback.
With his easy going style (usually hiding psychotic tendencies) and his natural acting, it was hard to believe Ralph Meeker was not a film veteran when he made this. He was a stage veteran though and went on to star in the Broadway production of "Picnic". I always thought he was the perfect "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" leading man, starring in the very first episode "Revenge".