Rip Torn with black hair and a baby-faced Tuesday Weld are on a killing spree.
"A Case Study of Two Savages" (S3, Ep18) aired Wednesday February 7th, 1962 at 10 pm on ABC. The previous show was Hawaiian Eye, and before that, Top Cat. Yes, the cartoon.
Tuesday Weld would have been 18 when this was filmed, and Rip Torn 30, though his 31st birthday would have been the day before the episode aired.
One of the more exciting "crime spree" episodes of the series. This post contains no spoilers and no scenes from the finale.
The massive old bridges leading onto Manhattan (or out of Manhattan if you prefer) always feature prominently in Naked City episodes.
Even though I think of Manhattan as being small and everyone walking or taking public transit, the Naked City is a feast of mid-century cars.
Detective Adam Flint runs into the pharmacy even though Detective Frank Arcaro had wanted to go, leaving Frank to point out Rip Torn's Arkansas license plate is loose. (How far in advance could you get your new plates for '62? Before December '61? Thinking about how tight their shooting schedule was that they already had the '62 plate on when this episode aired the first week of February.)
Wait until the end where she offers up an explanation for why her husband shot Frank!
As always, amazing location footage, and the show never tried to cover up street signs or business names, nor did it shy away from showing large crowds.
Adam gets emotionally involved interviewing a witness. After all, it's Frank we're talking about. Lt. Parker sets him straight.
Why do I suspect a Naked City remake (please don't!) would feature a Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack?
Young Tuesday Weld has a rag doll that her new husband doesn't like. Although it gets tossed on the sidewalk and they keep walking, the doll is reunited with her in a later scene. The image seems a bit forced but reinforces her role as the unbelievably naive child bride of a serial killer.
"Ora Mae" wants a wedding ring, so they take a horse taxi to find one. The man say it will be $5 an hour. $5 in 1962 works out to around $46 in 2021. I generally multiply all Naked City prices by 10 to understand them.
Adam takes Libby to visit Frank in the hospital. Of course there's a parking spot right smack in front. We get to see Frank's mother and brother Joe. Frank, high on morphine, won't stop flirting with Libby (please stop!)
Meanwhile, a young Charles Dierkop (later of Police Woman fame) finds a gun in the abandoned old Dodge, and detectives get their big break. Charles Dierkop appeared in nine Naked City episodes. "Hey, it's that guy! And he's so young!"
"Mrs. Roper" from Three's Company, Audra Lindley, appeared in three episodes. This was her second.
Young Tom Simcox in his first TV part as "Fred" the gun store employee. He appeared on Police Story twice, including in the excellent "Officer Dooly" episode with Paul Burke as the Captain.
At one point Mike brings up Bonnie and Clyde, and Adam brings up Starkweather (Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate -- the subjects of the 1973 film "Badlands" -- had been captured after their murder spree just four years before this Naked City episode aired.)
