Peter Gunn - Set 1 (DVD, 2002)

Excellent product, excellent price, packed with care, very considerate seller, would buy from again at any time

Craig Stevens and Lola Albright head a cast of colorful characters, in this early b&w TV series entry. Stevens performance, as a high-class private investigator, is the epitome of suave sophistication and reminiscent of some of Cary Grant's most memorable roles. Lola Albright is the gorgeous personification of mellow, cool jazz, as the nightclub singer girl friend. The show is entertaining, action packed and devoid of unnecessary dialog. A must see for purists with good taste.

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REALLY GREAT MOVIE AND AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL TV SERIES
NOT ALL OF THE CUSSING AND REALLY EXTREME VIOLENCE AS ARE IN MOVIES TODAY
THIS ITEM WAS A GIFT AND THE PERSON WHO RECEIVED WAS VERY SURPRISED TO RECEIVE IT
IT IS MORE OR LESS GOOD CLEAN FAMILY KIND OF MOVIE

Two of my favorite CDs are Henry Mancini's Music from Peter Gunn and More Music from Peter Gunn. That being the case, I wanted to revisit the show (ca. 1958-61), to see just how it came across now, in the days of CSI/Law and Order/etc.: and it comes off pretty well: none of the constant chatter, multiple story-lines, blood-spatter and computerized murder. Add to that, of course, Mancini's music, which runs utterly counter to the canned themes that have been with us on TV forever. Peter Gunn gives one the choice of simply listening to the music, or watching the drama (note that I don't say <action>). The cast is sparse, the dialog equally so, the camera-work simple (and B/W, which actually adds to the experience)...and more often than not Craig Stevens overvoices at the end, wrapping up the loose ends as narrative rather than using unnecessary scenes/characters/verbiage. A show that was not so much ahead of its time, but rather somewhat out of it, above it. Peter Gunn comes across as a sort of Bogart type, but far more refined and thoughtful, and not nearly so much an in-your-face type. De Maupassant defined the short story as being composed only of necessary components: he said that, if in the first sentence of a short story, there was a gun, that before the end of the story that gun had to go off. The cast and other elements of Peter Gunn are just that: nothing unnecessary, but more than <just the facts> to quote from another TV show of that time. A very different type of show, different from anything then, different from anything now. Try it and see what you think.