When a little girl on her bicycle is seriously injured after being hit by a car, it's not the driver (who didn't stop) made the villain right off, but the doctor who had her transported for operation but realized that it was too late. Richard Basehart is the doctor scandalized by past performing of abortions (pretty daring for 1963, a decade before Roe vs. Wade), and considered a butcher because she doesn't survive. His wife (Julie Adams) stands up for him, but family secrets are revealed to detective Ben Gazzara and defense attorney Chuck Connors that make the case all the more scandalous as his past has created more animosity in the public eye with Adams' domineering grandmother (Isabel Randolph) making demands before the inquest occurs.
Another impressive episode thar builds in tension, with Basehart and Adams providing great characterizations revealed in their performances, with Adams bursting in venom as the scandal just becomes too much for her to handle along with family interference and her husband not leaning on her like she obviously wants. The episode scores with the issues of the public demanding a certain outcome of their version of justice without knowing the facts or the law, and thinking through angry emotions rather than with reason or compassion. These unofficial TV movies (longer than average episodes) focus more on the guest stars than the regulars (nothing revealed at all about regulars Gazzara and Connors' personal lives), so there's no connecting mass to tie the series structure together. Good use of minor characters fleshes everything out to make this an above average episode.
Another impressive episode thar builds in tension, with Basehart and Adams providing great characterizations revealed in their performances, with Adams bursting in venom as the scandal just becomes too much for her to handle along with family interference and her husband not leaning on her like she obviously wants. The episode scores with the issues of the public demanding a certain outcome of their version of justice without knowing the facts or the law, and thinking through angry emotions rather than with reason or compassion. These unofficial TV movies (longer than average episodes) focus more on the guest stars than the regulars (nothing revealed at all about regulars Gazzara and Connors' personal lives), so there's no connecting mass to tie the series structure together. Good use of minor characters fleshes everything out to make this an above average episode.
