Johnny Staccato (1959)

A young singer is faced with the loss of his promising career because of a scandal magazine's blackmail scheme.

A bandleader, making a comeback, learns that someone is trying to poison him. But four people might want him killed...

""The parents"" have agreed to sell their child to a black-market racketeer. Now they tell Johnny they want to keep the child.

Investigating the murder of a Japanese friend, Johnny uncovers a scheme to swindle immigrants by promising them citizenship papers.

Dave, the new young bartender at Waldo's, comes under suspicion when a number of blonde women are slashed nearby. Johnny uncovers some darkly disturbing information.

When a Puerto Rican boxer goes missing just before a championship fight, Johnny suspects foul play.

Johnny Staccato learns from his friend Barney that Barney's sister has given all her money to a local mission house. Knowing that the mission wouldn't ordinarily accept so much, Staccato suspects a bunco scheme.

An underworld boss forces Waldo to hire singer Barbara Ames. Then Johnny gets interested in the girl--and is beaten up by a couple of thugs.

Johnny is hired by tough-guy millionaire Guy Fletcher to transport a locked valise containing valuable gems to Arizona. Once aboard the plane Johnny meets Nina, who turns out to be Fletcher's beautiful wife. This is no coincidence, however, as Johnny learns he isn't carrying jewels after all. Fletcher has provided him with a bomb set to explode during the flight, in an insidious plot to murder her.

Elizabeth Montgomery plays a rare pre-Bewitched role as a floozy jazz groupie who's the ex-wife of one of Staccato's former band mates. Out of the blue she shows up at Waldo's the jazz club (and Staccato's ""office"") to enlist Staccato's help, telling him she's almost just been robbed of expensive jewelry she was taking from work. What she was doing with the jewels and why she was taking them from the store she works at piques Staccato's interest (as does the fast-talking and shapely Ms. Montgomery). He's immediately suspicious, but cautiously takes on the case. While he's escorting her home (supposedly with the jewels) they're accosted by a mugger who knocks Staccato out, grabs the jewels, and takes off. The next morning, nursing the bump on his head, Staccato gets a visit from an insurance adjuster who reads him the riot act. Unfazed, Johnny tells the adjuster to take a hike, goes into the bathroom and viola! pulls the jewels out from the soap dispenser. Who set him up? Could it have

Working on a murder case, Johnny Staccato trails two suspects to their hideout. With them is beatnik poet Dick Potter, whom the men attempt to implicate in the crime.

A dance-hall girl is murdered, and Police Sergeant Joe Gillan suspects ex-jockey Stash McGill, a friend of the dead girl. Gillan asks Johnny Staccato if he can help locate McGill.

Korean War veteran Eddie Dasko escapes from a mental hospital. Dasko is sure that his wife has been seeing another man, and he intends to kill her,

Johnny tries to help a musician who, while moonlighting as a department-store Santa Claus, is being pressured by his ex-con brother to help set up a robbery at the store.

A man called Red Top kills Hannah Green, but pianist Romeo Jefferson is the chief suspect until Staccato suspects that Romeo has been framed.

A young man enters Waldo's and attacks Pete, the trumpet player. Johnny Staccato learns that the youth thinks Pete is his father, who deserted the family years before.

Wealthy racketeer Barney Buford calls Johnny Staccato to ask him to look after his young sister, Karen. As he approaches Buford's apartment, Staccato is shot at by a gunman. Then inside, he finds Buford dead.

To evade Federal agents, a gang of counterfeiters hide their plates. Convinced that Waldo knows the hiding place, they threaten his life.

A bowling-alley proprietor is found murdered, and Johnny Staccato is identified as the killer.

Jessica Winthrop, a noted pacifist, is accused of killing her husband. Solomon Bradshaw, the lady's lawyer, comes to Johnny Staccato for help.

A hunted criminal hires Staccato as a bodyguard and promises to turn himself over to police in exchange for letting him visit family members.

Ventriloquist Thad Clinton drops in to ask Staccato if he'll help locate his missing wife. Johnny finds out that the woman has been murdered.

Johnny becomes concerned when an ambitious young man, whose family he has known for years, starts working in a bookshop that is just a cover for a criminal enterprise.

Johnny is hired to bodyguard an aspiring actress who is being terrorized by a man with a horribly scarred face.

When a former soldier returns home after having defected to Red China, he is murdered by a group of vigilantes.

When Frankie Aspen's saxophone-playing takes a sudden turn for the worse, Johnny determines to find out what is bothering him.

Staccato is mistaken for a concert pianist who has come to the United States to avoid his repressive government.