User Reviews

I will remind about this effective episode the name of the director: Norman Tokar, the Walt Disney productions great specialist, for saturdays or sundays matinees. What the hell did he do in this TV show? I checked and it appears that he directed ONLY one episode of this series. A pure crime and drama series, not family comedy. I find this rather funny, weird.

***SPOILERS*** With a gang of bootleggers brewing their moonshine in far off Fire Island it's the NYPD who's given the assignment to arrest them after they gunned down a Federal Agent who got a bit too close to their illegal operation. You at first wonder way did the NYPD get the job to apprehend the bootleggers when to local police or even FBI didn't! And why on earth were they sent some 60 miles out their jurisdiction from the 65 precinct in mid town Manhattan to Fire Island makes no sense at all! And even worse has nothing to do with the shows "Naked City" theme in the one of the 8 million stories that it has to show its TV audience every week.

The bootleggers headed by Alky, his name fits, played by former Wolfman Henry Hull are about as reliable in their operation as the cheap and possibly poisonous ,possibly from wood alcohol, booze that their brewing. As it turns out it's Alky's #1 and only gunman the mentally deranged, from injuries in WWII, Hartog, Michael Conrad, who blows their entire operation first by gunning down the Federal Agent and then in a fit of insanity the rest of his fellow bootleggers! The man was very unstable but his boss Alky seemed to overlook that fact which cost him his life.

***SPOILERS*** It was the sensitive and peace loving Lundy, George Maharis, who saw the futility in this half a** operation and wanted out together with Alky, who was like a father to him, and fellow and not too bright bootlegger Boz,Guy Raymond.But with Hartog completely going nuts and turning their hideout and moonshine factory into a free fire zone he made any chance of preventing the bloodshed that was to follow a total impossibility!

The opening documentary-style montage of people and places in Manhattan is missing from this "Naked City" episode, because the location is Fire Island, not part of New York City but classified as part of Suffolk County. It's about as exciting as a "Highway Patrol" segment, and writer Stirling Silliphant misses the opportunity to cover the place's fame as a tourist spot and since the 1950s a mecca for Gay folks.

Instead, this tale of moonshiners led by crusty old Henry Hull, using the remote island location, deserted in winter as a place to brew whiskey, aiming at producing $125,000 worth by March. He has two pals with him, George Maharis and Guy Raymond, plus a hired gun, one-dimensional heavy Michael Conrad and his Browning machine gun.

A government agent, posing as a poacher, is killed by Conrad, creating dissension as Maharis is pure of heart while Hull is a cynic who takes a sort of biblical attitude toward killing to protect his interests. Raymond goes along with Maharis as a good guy.

The series of events is dumb, including the arrival of our Manhattan-based cop heroes to investigate, replete with their iconic fancy Pontiac cop car, way out of place on Fire Island or its smaller neighboring islands. Maharis projects his future "itching for a fight" attitude coming up soon on Silliphant's "Route 66" series and even gets a sentimental crying scene.

Obviously filming there in the off-season makes sense, but the story would have been better shot in Appalachia reflecting actual moonshiner enclaves. Silliphant should have daringly addressed Gay subculture there IN SEASON as an episode of "Route 66". This being strictly a crime story, the fact that it's an all-male cast (not even a female extra on screen) is probably not significant, though the deep bond (worth tears) between old Hull and young George raised my eyebrows. You know me, always searching for significance even where none exists.