director Fred F. Sears (THE WEREWOLF) and fu- ture Tarzan Jock Mahoney have bit parts. The script is by Tom Reed (THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE) and Clint Johnston (THE NAKED PREY). It’s a rare non-western directing gig for Ray Nazzaro (AL JENNINGS OF OKLAHOMA). Directed by William Berke (THE LOST MIS-
SILE), DANGER ZONE hints at its origins with a split credit which claims the Julian Harmon script is based on separate stories by Herbert H. Margolis (FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE) and Lou Morheim (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS). The stories were actually radio scripts produced on a Jack Webb-starring PI show, PAT NOVAK— FOR HIRE, for which producer Lippert shot six epi- sodes, replacing PI Novak with pipe-smoking San Francisco tough guy Dennis O’Brien (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER’s Hugh Beaumont). Lippert assembled three features by stitching pairs of shows together and gave them theatrical play while trying to sell the networks on O’Brien—evidently, they all passed (even DuMont!). A typical supporting cast runs to
gruff, two-steps-behind Lieutenant Bruger (Rich- ard Travis), who treats Dennis exactly the way Pat Chambers does Mike Hammer, and comically tipsy former professor Frederick Simpson Schicker (Edward Brophy), who chips in with helpful background information in cockeyed Damon Runyanspeak.
In his first outing, Dennis goes to an auction and is encouraged by a mystery blonde (BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN’s Virginia Dale) to make proxy bids on a locked suitcase and winds up with a pricey saxophone when the dame disappears at the sight of a passing cop. He is troubled by vari- ous parties who are as keen to get the sax as Gutman was to obtain the Falcon, though this is a case which would be solved much sooner if any- one thought to try to play—or even rattle—the instrument. With barely a fade, Dennis is into his next adventure. A sneaky private eye with with the Hammettesque name Spadely (DETOUR’s Tom Neal) hires O’Brien to squire a society lady (Pamela Blake) to a yacht party then snaps a
Frisco tough guy Dennis O’Brien (Hugh Beaumont) is played for a patsy by mystery blonde Virginia Dale in DANGER ZONE.
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