CITY OF ANGELS – Parting Shot – 1976
"25 bucks a day, plus expenses"
This series is about a P.I. in 1935 Los Angeles. It features Wayne Rogers as the headliner. Rogers is a permanently broke Private Detective who goes by the handle, Jake Axminster. He works out of an office in the Bradbury Building. He is constantly at war with corrupt Police Lt Clifton James. Always in hot water, Rogers is aided by his somewhat loopy secretary, Elaine Joyce, and his lawyer pal, Philip Sterling. Some nice period detail and such help the stories along. (Rogers tools around in a beat up 1930's rag-top) The series only ran for 13 episodes. This particular episode is the 4th of the production run.
In this episode, Rogers has been hired by a wealthy businessman, Art Lund, to follow his young bride. Lund suspects that the Mrs, Corrine Michaels, has been stepping out with younger gents behind his back.
It is Rogers' first night on the job, and he has been trailing Michaels in his beat up auto. There is nothing odd here as she was just out to do a bit of shopping. He tails her back to the large mansion her and Lund inhabit. Right after Michaels enters the house, Rogers hears the woman screaming in terror. He rushes in to finds Lund laying in a pool of blood from a head wound. He calms the rattled Michaels down and checks on Lund. The man is still alive, so he calls the medical types.
Of course the Police are likewise summoned to the residence. While waiting for the authorities to show, Rogers has a look around the room. He finds a bullet hole in the window and a sees a pistol on the ground outside. Whoever shot Lund did so from outside. He knows it is not Michaels as he saw her enter the house.
Lund survives but is in a coma. The wife, Michaels is not all that forth coming with any possible enemies her husband might have. Rogers figures that maybe she did have something to do with it. Down at the Police station, Lt Clifton James has already grabbed up a suspect. The man, Joshua Bryant, turns out to be nothing but a night school teacher for a course Michaels had taken. There was no affair going on there.
Now Rogers roots around and comes up with Lund's daughter as a suspect. The daughter, Donna Mills, was not all that happy with her father marrying Michaels. Mills called her a gold digger who was after his fortune. He investigates Mills in order to rule her out. She gives Rogers a lead on another possible suspect, Lund's butler, Stefan Gierasch. Mills says Gierasch put the bee in Lund's ear about Michael's stepping out.
Back he goes to Lund's mansion for a friendly "by the lapels" chat with the man servant. Gierasch admits to starting the mess because he dislikes Michaels as well. Okay, but who the hell shot Lund? Rogers has another talk with the wife, Michaels. This time she admits that she had been involved in a tryst with another man, Tim Thomerson, but the brief affair had ended months before. Now Rogers hunts down Thomerson for confirmation. The man is soon cleared.
Lund has finally come out of his coma, so Rogers pays the man a visit. Lund is quite pleased that a man, Bryant, was arrested for shooting him. Rogers tells Lund that Bryant is not guilty of the offence. Lund lets slip that "nothing ever goes right" which Rogers finds rather odd.
Off again for another look at the room where Lund was shot. He roots around the man's desk and finds some interesting items. It now dawns on Rogers who the culprit was. It was Lund himself. He had rigged up the gun in a tree outside the window. He had used a cord to pull the trigger of the weapon, after lighting said cord alight. The cord burned without leaving any ash. The gun had then fallen to the ground.
Lund was so upset thinking that Michaels was stepping out that he wanted to die. He figured that the Police would then go after Michaels and whoever her paramour was. He had not planned on surviving the gunshot.
The red herrings in this one are laid on just a tad too heavy in my opinion. Still, all in all, it is a watchable episode of a rather unseen series. Donna Mills would hit the big time with a 200 plus episode run on the popular, KNOTS LANDING series
"25 bucks a day, plus expenses"
This series is about a P.I. in 1935 Los Angeles. It features Wayne Rogers as the headliner. Rogers is a permanently broke Private Detective who goes by the handle, Jake Axminster. He works out of an office in the Bradbury Building. He is constantly at war with corrupt Police Lt Clifton James. Always in hot water, Rogers is aided by his somewhat loopy secretary, Elaine Joyce, and his lawyer pal, Philip Sterling. Some nice period detail and such help the stories along. (Rogers tools around in a beat up 1930's rag-top) The series only ran for 13 episodes. This particular episode is the 4th of the production run.
In this episode, Rogers has been hired by a wealthy businessman, Art Lund, to follow his young bride. Lund suspects that the Mrs, Corrine Michaels, has been stepping out with younger gents behind his back.
It is Rogers' first night on the job, and he has been trailing Michaels in his beat up auto. There is nothing odd here as she was just out to do a bit of shopping. He tails her back to the large mansion her and Lund inhabit. Right after Michaels enters the house, Rogers hears the woman screaming in terror. He rushes in to finds Lund laying in a pool of blood from a head wound. He calms the rattled Michaels down and checks on Lund. The man is still alive, so he calls the medical types.
Of course the Police are likewise summoned to the residence. While waiting for the authorities to show, Rogers has a look around the room. He finds a bullet hole in the window and a sees a pistol on the ground outside. Whoever shot Lund did so from outside. He knows it is not Michaels as he saw her enter the house.
Lund survives but is in a coma. The wife, Michaels is not all that forth coming with any possible enemies her husband might have. Rogers figures that maybe she did have something to do with it. Down at the Police station, Lt Clifton James has already grabbed up a suspect. The man, Joshua Bryant, turns out to be nothing but a night school teacher for a course Michaels had taken. There was no affair going on there.
Now Rogers roots around and comes up with Lund's daughter as a suspect. The daughter, Donna Mills, was not all that happy with her father marrying Michaels. Mills called her a gold digger who was after his fortune. He investigates Mills in order to rule her out. She gives Rogers a lead on another possible suspect, Lund's butler, Stefan Gierasch. Mills says Gierasch put the bee in Lund's ear about Michael's stepping out.
Back he goes to Lund's mansion for a friendly "by the lapels" chat with the man servant. Gierasch admits to starting the mess because he dislikes Michaels as well. Okay, but who the hell shot Lund? Rogers has another talk with the wife, Michaels. This time she admits that she had been involved in a tryst with another man, Tim Thomerson, but the brief affair had ended months before. Now Rogers hunts down Thomerson for confirmation. The man is soon cleared.
Lund has finally come out of his coma, so Rogers pays the man a visit. Lund is quite pleased that a man, Bryant, was arrested for shooting him. Rogers tells Lund that Bryant is not guilty of the offence. Lund lets slip that "nothing ever goes right" which Rogers finds rather odd.
Off again for another look at the room where Lund was shot. He roots around the man's desk and finds some interesting items. It now dawns on Rogers who the culprit was. It was Lund himself. He had rigged up the gun in a tree outside the window. He had used a cord to pull the trigger of the weapon, after lighting said cord alight. The cord burned without leaving any ash. The gun had then fallen to the ground.
Lund was so upset thinking that Michaels was stepping out that he wanted to die. He figured that the Police would then go after Michaels and whoever her paramour was. He had not planned on surviving the gunshot.
The red herrings in this one are laid on just a tad too heavy in my opinion. Still, all in all, it is a watchable episode of a rather unseen series. Donna Mills would hit the big time with a 200 plus episode run on the popular, KNOTS LANDING series