Dragnet [Blu-ray]

Director: Tom Mankiewicz Tom Mankiewicz

Overview

Dan Aykroyd must have practiced for months to perfect his Jack Webb inflections for Dragnet. Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz's directorial debut (also written by Mankiewicz, along with Aykroyd, and Alan Zweibel) is a gentle spoof of the legendary '50s television police drama -- pitting '50s conservatism smack up against the attitudes of the '80s. Basically, the film is another 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop clone. Aykroyd stars as Joe Friday, the nephew of the original Friday. But with his brown suit, fedora, and lockjaw, he could just as well be the incarnation of Jack Webb. He is involuntarily assigned a smart alecky, street-wise partner, Pep Streebeck (Tom Hanks), and they are charged to investigate a series of religious cult murders in L.A. The two cops follow the trail to a phony televangelist, the Reverend Jonathan Whirley (Christopher Plummer). From there, they are only at step away from uncovering an Orange County-based religious cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness and Normalcy). After sneaking into a secret ceremony, Friday falls in love with the sacrificial victim Connie Swail (Alexandra Paul). So much so that even after his superior Captain Gannon (Harry Morgan, reprising his role from the '60s revival of the Dragnet program) orders him off the case, Friday continues on, with the requisite car chases and crashes that usually climax any '80s cop movie or comedy.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/30/2018
UPC:	0826663189865
Original Release:	1987
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	5,676

Special Features

New "A Quiet Evening In The Company Of Connie Swail": An Interview with Co-Star Alexandra Paul; New Audio Commentary with Pop Culture Historian Russell Dyball; "Just the Facts!": A Promotional Look at Dragnet with Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks; Original Theatrical Trailers & Promos; Photo Gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dan Aykroyd	Friday,Phoney Cop #2
Tom Hanks	Streebek
Christopher Plummer	Whirley
Harry Morgan	Gannon
Alexandra Paul	Connie Swail
Jack O'Halloran	Emil Muzz
Elizabeth Ashley	Jane Kirkpatrick
Dabney Coleman	Jerry Caesar
Kathleen Freeman	Enid Borden
Bruce Gray	Mayor Parvin
Lenka Peterson	Granny Mundy
Julia Jennings	Sylvia Wiss
Lisa Aliff	April
Fred Asparagus	Tito Provencal
Joe Altmark	Milkman
Nina Arvesen	Motor Cop
Jim Boeke	Nectar Pagan
Donald Craig	Announcer
Gray Daniels	Crewman #1
Gary Davis	Leggings Pagan
Sandra Eng	TV Reporter
Ava Fabian	Baitmate
Kimberly Foster	Betsy Blees
Rubén Garfías	Tough #2
Chester Grimes	Pagan
Bert Hinchman	Night Watchman
D.D. Howard	Officer Robin Gilbert
Peter Leeds	Roy Grest
Margaret Lenzey	Baitmate
Lisa London	1982 Redhead
Christopher Mankiewicz	White Coat
Maurice Marsac	Maitre d'
Stuart Quan	Tough #3
Casey Sander	Phoney Cop #1
Ray Sharkey	Drug Pagan
Bill Wittman	Narrator
Meg Wyllie	Mrs. Gannon
Jimmie Skaggs	Caterer Pagan
Dona Speir	Baitmate
Josh Cruze	Police Officer
Sydney Urshan	Officer Conklin

Technical Credits

Tom Mankiewicz

Dan Aykroyd

Alan Zweibel

Tom Mankiewicz	Director,Screenwriter
Bernie Brillstein	Executive Producer
David Permut	Producer
Robert K. Weiss	Producer
Dan Aykroyd	Screenwriter
Alan Zweibel	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Tom Mankiewicz's amiable big-screen version of the long-running and immensely successful Dragnet series took a far more satirical and tongue-in-cheek tone than the original. Dan Aykroyd stars as the nephew of the inimitable Joe Friday as he goes after a shady religious cult with the help of irreverent new partner Pep Streebek Tom Hanks. Jack Webb, who produced the original Dragnet, played lead detective Friday, specializing in a kind of wooden non-acting that set the tone for a series whose technical primitiveness and emotional flatness evoked an Army training film. Aykroyd, who clearly loves this character, has excised Webb's only known expression, a grimace of perennial disgust, while keeping the '50s attitudes and uptight bearing, and adding his own talent for spouting bureaucratic arcana at the speed of light. Hanks is a perfect audience surrogate as the low-key partner constantly shocked by the behavior of this archaic fish out of water. The plot, which revolves around the activities of a not very frightening cult, is that of a thousand buddy-cop movies, but the two comedians take their battered vehicle for a hilarious ride.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello