Ironside (1967)
Citizens of San Francisco are stunned by the news that Robert Ironside, the city's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives, has been shot and left for dead while vacationing at his friend the Police Commissioner's rural retreat. Ironside survives the murder attempt, but the bullet has damaged nerves in his spine, leaving him a paraplegic. Unable to gain reinstatement as chief of detectives, Ironside gets permission to continue investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield, and a newly-hired aide/driver, Mark Sanger, Ironside sets out to solve his first case as a civilian by finding the people responsible for the attempt on his life.
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Surprisingly incoherent and boring
How sad is this?
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
After being shot and left for dead near his house,Chief Ironside learns that he would never be able to walk again. He then decides to be a specific consultant fighting crime with his own team of handpicked assistants and policemen including Eve Whitfield and Sergent Brown. He will also introduce Mark Sanger to his team despite Mark dislikes cops and is reluctant. Ironside will discover and find who shoot him and left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. The action and the subplots were superb. Plus the filming on various the locations was done superbly. I recommend this film as a necessary introduction to the Ironside TV series.
Excruciating pilot episode that, somehow, spawned a successful internationally syndicated television show.Raymond Burr is cheerless. The plotting is baffling. The writing is astonishingly bad. The acting is mundane.Watching this makes you want to be shot, instead of Ironside.
Late 60's San Francisco is more than the backdrop, it's the fore-drop for this most remarkable 1967 TV-Movie. A haunting melange of establishment and counterculture, impeccably acted and scripted, this be one of the most cerebral movies ever made for TV. There's also no shortage of marvelous acting and character development.
Normally, I dismiss TV pilots as movies, but this is one notable exception; this is a great TV-movie that happened to lead to a TV Show. Raymond Burr is electrifying as he injects the character with many very real dimensions. The writing is taut and true. The Quincy Jones score is magnificent, and the movie is an extremely reflective time capsule of San Francisco in 1967 -- a most remarkable place.