Customer Reviews

Brenner

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The release of 15 episodes of "Brenner" is quite a coup for 50's-60's crime drama fans. The series, starring the terrific character actor Ed Binns as veteran NYPD cop Roy Brenner and James Broderick (later the patriarch of "Family") as his rookie officer son, was shot on location in the Naked City in 1958 and aired on CBS during the summer of 1959. Additional episodes of "Brenner" were shot in the fall of 1963 and broadcast during the summer of 1964. Like other outstanding shows of the era ("Ben Casey," "Combat!," "Naked City," "The Defenders") you will get to see many New York actors getting their start in the business. Among the guest stars in this set of "Brenner" are -- Keir Dullea, Robert Webber, Simon Oakland, Mitchell Ryan, Jerry Stiller, Frank Overton, George Grizzard, Lonny Chapman, Fred Gwynn and Frank Campanella. Hopefully TMG will release the remaining episodes of "Brenner," because future Oscar winners Gene Hackman and Martin Balsam were featured in those programs, in addition to Lee Grant, Sydney Pollack (yes, as an actor, before he became an Oscar-winning director) Lois Nettleton, Michael Constantine, George Maharis, Warren Stevens, and William Daniels.

Episode 1 -- "Crisis," with Keir Dullea and Hildy Parks
Episode 2 -- "Unwritten Law," with Robbert Webber and Frank Campanella
Episode 3 -- "Laney's Boy," with John Karlen and George Matthews
Episode 4 -- "False Witness," with Frank Overton and Michael Conrad
Episode 5 -- "Thin Ice," with Stanley Beck
Episode 6 -- "Departmental Trial," with Kermit Murdock and Crahan Denton
Episode 7 -- "Record of Arrest," with Mitch Ryan and Michael Strong
Episode 8 -- "Monopoly on Fear," with Walter Greaza and Milton Selzer
Episode 9 -- "Charlie Paradise," with Gerald O'Loughlin and Fred Gwynn
Episode 10 -- "Small Take," with Simon Oakland and Gene Saks
Episode 11 -- "The Vigilantes," with David Opatoshu
Episode 12 -- "Good Friend," with George Grizzard and Diana Van der Vlis
Episode 13 -- "Point of Law," with Bibi Osterwald and James Patterson
Episode 14 -- "The Plain Truth," with Lonny Chapman and Jerry Stiller
Episode 15 -- "I, Executioner" with Sean Garrison

I love those 50's crime shows. I bought this thinking it would be more tough, brutal cop stuff like M Squad or Tightrope. It's a little different, though, more of a "smart" cop show.
Brenner and his son: both cops, both very likable. The shows have great writing, and are truly entertaining, not just empty blather.
Which it had lasted longer....

if you were child during golden age of television,then, this is more than worth it. just to relive the happy times of that era is very nostalgic. if you are not from fifties, then it's poor transfer, camera blurrness, immature lighting,the black and white is not crisp, but like I said if you were child during golden age...GET IT!!!!

It's a shame that today's TV programming cannot be up to the standards of this 1959 summer replacement series. Of course, this is just one man's opinion.

This is so typical of the studios, which continue to rip off the consumers. "Brenner" was a series that originally had fifteen episodes during its short 1959 run. Five years later, an additional ten episodes (featuring the same stars) were produced. Now that a series set is coming out, only the first fifteen episodes are included, and the studio is charging thirty bucks. Many of us are disgusted with the way the corporate owners are parceling out series in half season (and less) sets. Is it any wonder that the bootleg DVD market is doing so well?