Show Cover

What are you going to do?

Kill you. Sooner or later that phone is going to ring. If Mother is dead, then so are you.

# Review

Peter Gunn is a noir detective TV series centering around the titular character solving crimes in a gritty waterfront city. Always ready with a snappy one-liner and draped in dapper suits, Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens) is the epitome of cool. There are 38 largely stand-alone episodes in this season with certain recurring characters, including Gunn, his girlfriend Edie Hart (Lola Albright), and Lieutenant Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi). Peter Gunn has the distinction of being the first detective character created for television instead of being adapted from other media.

My favourite aspect of this show by far is the musical score, which featured sultry jazz music composed by Henry Mancini; one interesting bit of trivia is that the main piano theme is played by future composer John Williams himself (yes that John Williams). I especially liked how Gunn’s main base of operations is a jazz club owned by Mother (Hope Emerson). Another highlight for me is the dialogue, which is snappy and clean when Gunn deals with the seedy underworld but suave and charming when he converses with Edie and Mother. I also enjoy the comedic exchanges between Gunn and Jacoby. The score and the dialogue combined does an excellent job in setting the atmosphere in each scene.

The show is in black-and-white because of its age and it actually holds up extremely well today, as the lack of colour accentuates the gloominess and darkness of the settings and plots. Due to the show’s age, there are no fancy special effects nor crazy cinematography tricks and the pacing can feel slow by today’s standards. Furthermore, character development is also minimal due to the episodic nature of the show and there are no deep themes nor meaning behind the show. This show was meant to be superficial entertainment and it delivers.

# Conclusion

A dated but still entertaining show.

# Overall rating: 7.7

What does the rating mean?