Adventure Showcase "Brock Callahan" #1.1 (1959) (TV)

“If you put it all together, you couldn’t stuff an anchovy with it.”  17 July 2021

Retired football player and current P.I. Brock Callahan (Ken Clark) is hired to investigate the death of a designer.  The police think it’s a suicide, but Callahan’s not so sure.  

From what I can piece together, Brock Callahan was filmed as the pilot of a CBS television show for the 1959 season.  After watching, it’s little wonder it didn’t get picked up.  For a cop show, there’s just no excitement.  No real action, monotone line delivery, and characters that I had no real reason to care about - sounds like a winner, right?  The final solution to the murder is a bit interesting and saves the whole thing from being a complete disaster.

The only reason I watched Brock Callahan was that I noticed Ken Clark’s name.  I was hopeful as he made several movies I enjoy - specifically the Dick Malloy Agent 077 Eurospy films.  Admittedly, he doesn’t show much acting range in those movies, but here, his lack of animation reminded me of an appliance box with shoulder pads.   

There were a few interesting surprises in the cast and crew list.  First, this was directed by Don Siegel of Dirty Harry fame.  You wouldn’t know it from watching Brock Callahan.  Second, the supporting cast includes Richard Deacon and Brett Halsey.  Between them, they have 338 acting credits listed on IMDb.

  

3/10