Detective Story (1951)

“Can’t you say “Yes, sir” without makin’ it sound like an insult?” – Lieutenant Monaghan

“Yes, sir.” – Detective James McLeod

Number of Times Seen – 1 (11 Jul 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A day in the life of a group of detective dealing with the ups and downs of their work in the squad room.

My Take on it – This is a film that I have heard about for quite a while but never really got around to watching it until now.

It’s quite interesting that this film’s general idea of showing various detectives working on different cases from the squad room was quite innovative at the time yet has become so familiar to both TV and movie lovers over the nearly 7 decades since this film was made.

Shows like Barney Miller, NYPD Blue are prime examples of TV shows that have taken this idea and expanded on it and probably have this film to thank for the initial idea to have concurring cases all being dealt with together.

The group of characters in this film are all quite interesting to watch and I loved the way that they slowly expand our knowledge of what’s going on little by little because it allows us to get more deeply involved with and invested in everything that is happening.

The dialogue is superbly written and this also helps the story become even more enjoyable as things move along because the way they speak helps flesh out each of the individual characters even more.

This film is able to explore some great ideas and the way that they manage to juggle all of the various storylines quite well without losing lessening the level of interest in the way things move along.

Bottom Line – Really interesting film that obviously has been copied so many times over and expanded on in the 67 years since this came out. The characters are all quite interesting and keep things intriguing as we learn more and more about what is going on.  The dialogue is superbly written and also helps make this story even more enjoyable as things move along. They explore some very interesting ideas here and manage to juggle all of the storylines quite well along the way. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – At 20 minutes and 10 seconds, Eleanor Parker’s performance in this movie is the shortest to ever be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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